Poison Oak really really really really really really sucks

Post #41,542 by drewk 6/7/02 11:55:33 AM Reply	Poison Oak really really really really really really sucks I mean really it does. I had some stuff growing through the fence out back. Went next door and talked to the neighbor about cutting it down. He said he had tried the year before but it came back, so we got some tools and went to work. The trunk was about 3-1/2 inches across at the base, coming up right under the corner of the fence. I took a small hand saw, because it was the only thing that would fit in the space, and went to work at the base while the neighbor pulled the top away from the fence to give me a little more room. Took about 15 minutes and I worked up a good sweat. Wiped the sweat from my face and neck a couple of times. (From the subject line, I assume you know why this was such a bad thing.) Monday morning my hands were a little itchy. I had flea-dipped the dog over the weekend, too, so I assumed it was from that. Figured it would go away in a day or two. Tuesday, I started noticing little bumps between my fingers, which were getting really itchy by this point. By Wednesday night, my wife realized what it must have been. I happened to mention it to the neighbor on the other side and he said, "Oh yeah, Clay [the previous owner of my house] and I took a bunch of Poison Oak out of there a couple years before you moved in. Messed my arms up for weeks." Sooo ... that's why I now love the guy who invented Calamine Lotion. === Microsoft offers them the one thing most business people will pay any price for - the ability to say "we had no choice - everyone's doing it that way." -- [link\|http://z.iwethey.org/forums/render/content/show?contentid=38978\|Andrew Grygus]
Post #41,545 by admin 6/7/02 12:06:46 PM Reply	Had a big poison ivy growing on the house The trunk of the vine was a good inch through, giant leaves a foot across on it. We paid a tree trimming service to remove it. ;-) When I was a kid, we cleared a few hundred square yards of land for a garden at my parent's cottage. Well, the roots we were pulling out turned out to be poison ivy, and I spent the next two weeks with my entire body swollen (ENTIRE body...). I am very about touching that crap now... Regards, -scott anderson "Welcome to Rivendell, Mr. Anderson..."
Post #41,548 by folkert 6/7/02 12:14:14 PM Reply	Poison sumac really really really really really sucks.... I just hope and pray you didna take a leak before you washed your hands... OH the HORROR... I took down a whole grove of Poison sumac quite a few years ago... I thought it was something else... What I dunno... Well I guess that is TMI... And yes, the affinity for Calamine Lotion is a side benefit of that occurance... any Silver Oxide lotion works well for calming the burning of it also... Those friends I had then, that I still have now, still cackle about it from time to time... `greg, curley95@attbi.com -- REMEMBER ED CURRY!!!`
Post #41,560 by drewk 6/7/02 1:18:33 PM Reply	Well, Oak seems to get an extra "really" But that's all that would fit in the subject line, I'm sure. And no, I don't think I took a leak before I washed my hands, but I was wearing shorts while I was working. Luckily only two small spots on the legs, though. It's my hands that are driving me crazy. In between the fingers and on the palm of my right hand. (Yes, of course I'm right handed.) === Microsoft offers them the one thing most business people will pay any price for - the ability to say "we had no choice - everyone's doing it that way." -- [link\|http://z.iwethey.org/forums/render/content/show?contentid=38978\|Andrew Grygus]
Post #41,572 by Another Scott 6/7/02 3:12:53 PM Reply	Cortisone may work better than calamine lotion. At least when I had poison ivy last year it seemed to help more. My allergist gave me some sample tubes of some stuff to treat blisters on my arm, but even the over the counter 1% stuff may help. Calamine just turned my arm pink and left flakes everywhere as it dried and fell off, though [link\|http://www.aad.org/pamphlets/PoisonIvy.html\|this] dermatology page says OTC hydrocortisone doesn't help as it's not strong enough. YMMV. I've heard from several people that eating poison ivy when you're young gives you immunity, but never tried it myself. Itching is a nasty thing... Of all my childhood illnesses, I hated chicken pox the worst. :-( Best of luck. Cheers, Scott.
Post #41,577 by hnick 6/7/02 3:39:30 PM Reply	Poison ivy... When I was young, maybe 8 or 10, I got poison ivy over most of my body. I was really a mess. I have been immune ever since. While I was in the medical racket, I mentioned this to an internal medicine resident, who told me that if the immunity ever broke down, the reaction would probably be strong enough to kill me... I haven't tried to test my immunity for a long time now... Hugh
Post #41,618 by morganek 6/7/02 11:01:37 PM Reply	Hydrocortisone Dirty bastard trick: Go to the pet aisle in your grocery store. Hartz makes a 1% Hydrocortisone pump-spray for pets that costs much less than the OTC ointments. Works like a champ. Or, is that "works for a chimp"?
Post #41,631 by Ashton 6/8/02 1:58:35 AM Reply	Just be aware that it is a steroid Whatever is your attitude to overuse of such - and I have no info about the range of side effects if one is sensitive to such. (Of course with terminal itching.. WTF some risks are worth taking) IANAT (Toxicologist) Ashton
Post #41,644 by morganek 6/8/02 12:00:00 PM Reply	Thanks, Ashton Seriously. Thanks for this info. I always kind of assumed it was a non-steroidal, OTC, weak sister preparation commercially named to ride the coattails of Cortisone. Your post made me look deeper: [link\|http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/sci/A0824711.html\|Hydrocortisone at Infoplease]. I think you're very right that intense itching made me shut-off the risk-assessment parts of my brain. I'm not one for medication--I think I average fewer than eight aspirin tablets per year. The only time I've ever used this stuff was on a rash on my neck that broke-out from spider mite bites. I only used it once-a-day (before going to sleep) for three days. The human version of it was somewhere around $10 per ounce while the pet version was about $5 for a big 'ol pump spray bottle. I liked the pump spray because my reaction to the mite bites was such that even the application of the cream was irritating. Thanks again.
Post #41,659 by admin 6/8/02 5:15:03 PM Reply	Re: Just be aware that it is a steroid Steroids are suspected to exacerbate eye problems such as I had. Be careful with them. Regards, -scott anderson "Welcome to Rivendell, Mr. Anderson..."
Post #41,674 by Ashton 6/8/02 7:37:26 PM Reply	Many years ago I used it for (at least several months) for some minor skin thingies - which it sorta seemed to 'treat the symptoms of' = perfect allopathy. It was of course, hawked everywhere -- the panacea du jour. (We suffer then from, a er 'cortisone deficiency' normally?) When I heard a bit more from a biochemist, I stopped. I have heard only vagueness re alleged length of time the effects remain in the body, thus far. These range from, "quite a while" through - forever. (kind like Herpes Simplex ??) What I see is: when used around the knuckles (for ex.) the cream had the effect of erasing! the natural creases there, leaving that skin smooth. Permanently. Now whatever Else that 'might mean' - it has certainly given some New instructions to the skin maintenance machinery. What Other machinery got new Instructions ?? Ashton
Post #41,690 by a6l6e6x 6/8/02 11:33:52 PM Reply	Another helpful medication is diphenhydramine - Benadryl... and the generic variations of it sold at drug stores. This is a alergic reaction, after all. My wife got strong reaction to poison ivy, and took diphenhydramine, on a doctor's recommendation. Alex "Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing had happened." -- Winston Churchill (1874-1965)
Post #41,623 by ben_tilly 6/8/02 12:15:41 AM Reply	Something like that happened to me once... Only it wasn't poison ivy. When I was about 11 or so, I took a leak into some bushes. Hit a honeybee. Said bee wasn't so happy about this, and managed to follow the stream to the source. Owowowowow... I never have forgotten to look first since. Cheers, Ben "... I couldn't see how anyone could be educated by this self-propagating system in which people pass exams, teach others to pass exams, but nobody knows anything." --Richard Feynman
Post #41,691 by a6l6e6x 6/8/02 11:45:31 PM Reply	Similar story. Except I was outside, eating a peanut butter and jelly (fruit preserves for non US) sandwich. I didn't know it at the time, but a bee was helping with the jelly. When the bee found itself inside my mouth it stung the tongue (the other sex organ, if you will :) ). Alex "Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing had happened." -- Winston Churchill (1874-1965)
Post #41,697 by ben_tilly 6/9/02 1:05:28 AM Reply	Two related stories One mildly amusing, one sad. At about the same age I had a peanut butter sandwich, and went outside without properly cleaning my face. A wasp landed and ate it off while I sat there petrified. I took no harm, but it was not an experience that I intend to repeat. The other story is the sad one A friend of my mother's in the 60's was drinking a cup of coffee in which (unbeknownst to him) a bee had drowned. The corpse stung his throat as he swallowed. He choked to death. :-( Cheers, Ben "... I couldn't see how anyone could be educated by this self-propagating system in which people pass exams, teach others to pass exams, but nobody knows anything." --Richard Feynman
Post #41,776 by a6l6e6x 6/9/02 9:36:04 PM Reply	Re: Two related stories The sad story is that indeed. No question about getting a big fat tongue after the sting. Alex "Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing had happened." -- Winston Churchill (1874-1965)
Post #41,575 by Silverlock 6/7/02 3:24:01 PM Reply	Two words Toilet paper. Always bring some when in the woods. Relying on the friendly looking leaves is not smart. (This happened to a good friend of mine.) "As people do better, they start voting like Republicans... ...unless they have too much education and vote Democratic, which proves there can be too much of a good thing." KARL ROVE
Post #41,592 by folkert 6/7/02 5:51:40 PM Reply	OW-OW-OW-OW-OW-OW-Ow-Ow-Ow-Ow-oW-oW-ow-ow-ow-ow-ow-ow-ow-ow! `greg, curley95@attbi.com -- REMEMBER ED CURRY!!!`
Post #41,622 by Silverlock 6/7/02 11:31:39 PM Reply	Those were his exact words "As people do better, they start voting like Republicans... ...unless they have too much education and vote Democratic, which proves there can be too much of a good thing." KARL ROVE
Post #41,624 by kmself 6/8/02 12:49:29 AM 6/8/02 12:53:06 AM Reply	Heiney Screw the Calomine. Screw the cortisone creme. Get thee to a doctor and have a shot of hydrocortisone injected in your nether parts. When I lived on the hill in Sausalito, the cats or the Blessed Ex would manage to get the stuff on me. Cats usually seemed to produce mild symptoms. The Blessed Ex.... I say "*DON'T EVEN* TOUCH THAT!!!!**" as we pass a bush. "What, this?" she says, touching it. Fortunately, she was a doctor (that's the D in EPBKDGFH). So she's all apologetic and procures some hydrocortisone, though I think she took a bit too much pleasure in administering it. That's about the only thing that deals with the stuff for me, and if you were actually hacking away at it, I'd strongly recommend same. After the first day, symptoms are drastically reduced, by the end of a week, it's pretty much all gone. Without, the stuff runs for weeks with me. Past three years, away from her, and well away from any visible quantities of PO, I've been clear. `-- Karsten M. Self [link\|mailto:kmself@ix.netcom.com\|kmself@ix.netcom.com] [link\|http://kmself.home.netcom.com/\|[link\|http://kmself.home.netcom.com/\|http://kmself.home.netcom.com/]] What part of "gestalt" don't you understand? Keep software free. Oppose the CBDTPA. Kill S.2048 dead. [link\|http://www.eff.org/alerts/20020322_eff_cbdtpa_alert.html\|[link\|http://www.eff.org/alerts/20020322_eff_cbdtpa_alert.html\|http://www.eff.org/...a_alert.html]]` Edited by kmself June 8, 2002, 12:53:06 AM EDT Expand All History
Post #41,651 by orion 6/8/02 4:25:53 PM Reply	Trust me, I know that it does which is why I don't go outside very much unless I know there is no posion oak or poision ivy or mosquitos, or whatever. If I go camping, I might just get an environment suit or spacesuit. :) I am not sure why, but nature doesn't like me. I always get bit even when nobody else does. Allgeric to grass, mold, ragweed, fungus, insect bites, spider bites, etc. *I am free now, to choose my own destiny.*
Post #41,675 by Ashton 6/8/02 7:41:35 PM Reply	Well.. it's just possible that the planet Tralfamador is in the constellation Orion. Could this be your problem? A Cosmic UPS misaddressed zygote-kit delivery? Ashton
Post #44,455 by wharris2 7/4/02 12:04:48 PM Reply	Re: Poison Oak really really really really really really suc This year, I've had a couple of spells of illness and have basically hired one of the neighborhood kids to cut my lawn. I always enter through my garage (garage door opener, driving into garage, closing garage, all done.) It wasn't until a couple of weeks ago when I ordered pizza that I quite realized how bad the weeds and shrubs and foilage around my front door were. I went out to wait for the pizza guy and I sorta stared at everything not on the immediate front porch and it was a "Holy Sht" moment. Now, I'm pretty sure none of this is poison ivy, oak, or anything else - just riotous weeds and stuff that's choking out what used to be carefully maintained azaleas, but I'm damn well going to wear some heavy work gloves, sweat headband, heavy jeans, and so forth before I tackle this job. (Not to mention at least some* relief from this Gawdawful 95 degree/95% humidity weather.)

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