My entire family is severely allergic to poison ivy and poison oak, so I sympathize. Wash and wash frequently is my advice, using Tecnu or those little drugstore brand bars of poison ivy soap or even just regular soap as a preventative measure. (I can get a mild case just by walking in the woods on a paved trail.) If you know you've been exposed, try using the Tecnu or Super Ivy Dry as soon as possible.
Zanfel is another product we swear by. It's expensive but we've found it works better than calamine or any of the other OTC treatments. Unfortunately sometimes you just have to get the steroid treatment.
I'm interested to know if you've ever tried sticking yourself with an epi-pen! I'd never heard of anyone doing that for poison ivy before now. I'll give anything a try; poison ivy is horrible stuff!
Nope, never tried :) Just something came to mind as it could possibly work? Although one needs an immune-suppressor to overcome poison oak, not antihistamine... but who knows?
Thansk for Zanfel! I have never heard of it but will give it a try!!!
My husband is severely allergic also. We don't carry anything special with us while we're backpacking; we just try hard to avoid the plant (sticking to the trails whenever possible) and so far we've been lucky.
I have heard that rubbing dirt on your skin if you think you've touched the plant is one way to prevent a breakout, if you don't have anything else on hand. We were cutting through some bushes once and noticed (once we were in the middle of them) that the area was covered in poison oak. We weren't sure if we had touched any, but we rubbed our legs thoroughly with dry soil and we never broke out.
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Zanfel is another product we swear by. It's expensive but we've found it works better than calamine or any of the other OTC treatments. Unfortunately sometimes you just have to get the steroid treatment.
I'm interested to know if you've ever tried sticking yourself with an epi-pen! I'd never heard of anyone doing that for poison ivy before now. I'll give anything a try; poison ivy is horrible stuff!
Reply
Thansk for Zanfel! I have never heard of it but will give it a try!!!
Reply
I have heard that rubbing dirt on your skin if you think you've touched the plant is one way to prevent a breakout, if you don't have anything else on hand. We were cutting through some bushes once and noticed (once we were in the middle of them) that the area was covered in poison oak. We weren't sure if we had touched any, but we rubbed our legs thoroughly with dry soil and we never broke out.
Reply
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