No itching now at all. Using the Ivarest during the day, and Cortizine 10 at night. The Ivarest cream is sort-of rubbery and comes right off if you brush up against something. Using alcohol pads to clean thoroughly before each treatment. Looks none too pretty though, but does seem to have stopped spreading.
Thanks for all the tips!
Good for you.
Last outbreak I had prednisone (pills), just don’t with that. My blood pressure spiked 40 points.
Interestingly my reactions spike weeks into the exposure. Two weeks in and I’m raw and in danger of skin infections.
I still have a poison ivy “scar” ( darkened patch) from my pi that was cured two months ago.
If you dump a container of nasacort in your Ivarest, it stays on better 
There isn’t any way to dump anything in there - its a tube (like neosporin comes in). My husband didn’t get the spray type. 
I added it with a syringe. I have the same type. It’s not hard.
Well, I never would have thought of doing it that way! :lol:
The allergen from poison ivy, oak and sumac are all very close to the molecular structure of animal fat. That is why they penetrate skin so well. I have found it effective to smear bacon fat on the affected area and rub it in, for a few minutes. The allergen molecules link up with the similar fat molecules and are then much easier to scrub of, with dish washing detergent, hot water and a knuckle brush. This works, even after the rash has appeared.
I’m not aware of any medical evidence that topical antihistamines make rhus dermatitis (the medical term for poison ivy/oak) worse, but they do have a tendency to lose their effectiveness fairly quickly (tachyphylaxis) which may be the source of the claim. It might help a little, so it’s probably worth trying. Oral antihistamines are also helpful and don’t usually lose their effectiveness.
OTC topical steroids aren’t very potent so to get much effect from them you have to start them at the very first sign of poison ivy/oak. You also need to cover a considerably larger area than the area that itches right now because inevitably the area affected is much larger than you first think.
Heat causes the mast cells in the skin to rapidly degranulate releasing all their histamines at once. This is why a hot shower will cause a minute or two of very intense, often almost painful itching and then it gets a lot better. It then takes a while for the mast cells to “recharge” as it were and the itching comes back. If topical antihistamines are going to help, the best time to use them is right after the mast cells have degranulated and the skin pores are open to help with absorption. Heat isn’t going to cause any harm unless you turn it up enough to scald yourself and it can give quite a bit of temporary relief.
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