Poison ivy/oak, Old timers treatment WORKS Options

[poprivit2]

This I think will help a lot of the poison ivy/oak sufferes..
When I was a kid I would get into poison ivy all summer...finally got smart.. well almost smart..must of lost it over the years.. But wait heres the "rub".. if you get a rash there is an old time remendy that worked for me.. this fellow about 80 was working on my dads place and saw that I was rashed on my arm. told me to get some Rubarb and cut the stem down by the Green end into a 4" chunk, then mash that end on the sink to make it soft and let the juice out,,then select a finger to do the itching,, rub that finger nail in the juice an go ahead and itch even scratch to my hearts content, BOY did that sting.. then rub the area with the rubarb stick in the broken skin and let it dry..more stinging.
next morning all dryed up kind of scabby, no spreading 2 days later gone entirely.. always works.. rubarb is hard to find in the south but should be available most other places..Oh yea..after the treatment it also DOSEN'T itch any more either!!
POP

[Woody]

Some lessons are best learnt the hard way.

A few years ago I was gold panning out in California in a section of a stream that was new to me. I knew only that recent rains had swollen the stream and a large Cottonwood tree had been washed away from the inside section of the bank. I found the large crater where the tree had stood and quickly started to work. While digging I had to clear away numerous roots from the old tree. I never once gave thought that there might have been other roots mixed in with the Cottonwood.

I worked that section for two days and was finding good gold. By the end of the second day my hands and arms started to break-out. I quickly figured that some of the roots where probably Ivy or Poison Oak but had no idea how bad it was going to get. I got it bad, real bad. I had it from the tips of my toes to the cheeks of my face. My legs and hands were extremely swollen and my face was horrible to look at. "Ya, ya Chris I know but this was above and beyond the norm"

I was traveling at the time and I will always remember when I went to Mc Donald’s in Reno Nevada. I handed the cashier my money at the drive thru and she gasped and took a step backward. She was really freaked out and it took her a couple of seconds to take my money. In the pics you can see how my hands and arms looked. My face was just as bad and this pic was taken over a week from first getting it.

Several thoughts for those of you who might think they are immune to the stuff;

First just like many other types of irritant plants Ivy are more potent in the early spring before it produces berries or seeds. Stinging Nettle is the same way, after it produces a tassel it has lost much of its stinging power.

Second it is not contact with the plant that causes a reaction; it is contact with the Oils inside the plant. The oil can even stay on your clothes for months and still give bad results. The oil is absorbed into the blood stream and a rash can develop in places that did not touch the stuff. Once you have a bad dose of the stuff you become more and more susceptible to outbreaks.

Inhaling the smoke from burning Ivy is the worst. In at least one case a couple of youngsters died when trying to smoke the stuff.

I strongly agree with the guy who’s Grandpa said avoidance is the best cure.

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