Cortisone may work better than calamine lotion.

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

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