An aquaintence recently informed me that she takes a homeopathic type of Poison Ivy preventative each year late in winter or early spring. Gelatin capsules filled with immature shoots from poison ivy plants are ingested and thus she is immune, after the recommended dosage, for the coming year from any reaction to contact with the volative oil of the poison ivy plant. Has anyone else had experience with this type of prevention? If so could you give precise details for the whole precedure? Thanks.

-- John Fritz (aeon30@hotmail.com), June 15, 2000

Answers

That doesn't sound like a homeopathic remedy.

When I get poison ivy I take Rus Tox 200X immediately. This usually clears it up without much of a rash. Rus Tox lotion is also good to wipe on the rash.

You can get these products from Washington Homeopathic Products and other manufacturers.

Earlier this spring I tried somethig new to me for poison ivy.

I rubbed Pine Sol on the poison ivy. It provided immediate relief. It did not, however, eliminate the poison ivy as the homeopathic remedy does. But it's very good. Repeat the use of the Pine Sol often, perhaps daily.

-- Walt (longyear@shentel.net), June 15, 2000.

Can't remember where I read the article - Backwoods Home? Wilderness Way? Well, anywho, the article showed a slightly different approach to your homeopathic technique. The author suggested starting in the early spring, ingesting a small piece of poison ivy leaf on a daily basis, increasing the dosage gradually. This guy just swallowed leaves WHOLE!!! Personally, I have not tried this and wouldn't reccommend it (visions of blisters lining my innards...), but on the other hand, there is some logic in there, somewhere. Just won't be trying it on myself or those I would have to nurse back to health. Has anyone else heard of these techniques - or tried them?? Successfully or (gulp) otherwise?

Judi

-- Judi from CT (ddecaro@snet.net), June 15, 2000.

I have some Indian logger friends who practice this method. Early in the spring when poison oak buds start to swell before they leaf out, they pick one and swallow it like a pill, chasing it with a beer or a shot of liquer. They have never gotten poison oak in their whole lives and this was passed down through their family.

There used to be a product called IMUNOAK that worked from the same principle, to be taken orally a few weeks before possible exposure. It too, covered the entire season. There were some old medical studies done showing that pregnant women taking Imunoak passed this immunity to their children. This used to be standard issue for firefighters and brushcutters.

Another method that also works is drinking goat's milk from a goat who grazes poison oak.

I have done all three methods and never had a rash in spite of serious exposure. I hope this information can be of some use to you and you find some protection from that nasty stuff!

-- Laura (gsend@hotmail.com), June 15, 2000.

These "swallow the leaves" probably "work" because the folks weren't alergic to the stuff in the first place. I get it REAL bad, and I'm not about to put it anywhere near my mouth on purpose. Maybe it works for some folks, but I'm not going to risk getting a reaction on my insides. It's bad enough on the outside. I have read of folks trying these methods and being hospitalized for weeks.

-- Les (lvaughn@suntransformer.com), June 15, 2000.

I use Tecnu, an over-the-counter cleanser (deodorized mineral spirits mostly) that helps decontaminate me and my equipment. I get the family size, and it is worth the $10.

I will never eat it as I have become HIGHLY sensitive. Four years ago I could sit in it and not get it. I understand that the more you are exposed to it, that you will eventually become susceptible.

I try to keep clean (Fels Naptha soap) and wear long sleeves and pants, and socks and shoes. Hot but worth the avoidance factor. My current problem is the "straw mite" to whose bite I am allergic. In this drought they resort to people. Ugh.

-- Anne (HT@H.com), June 15, 2000.

I have read about people swallowing the leaves or capsules made of them and their throats closing up and making it difficult or impossible to breathe. I'd vote against trying that.

Once you get a rash of poison ivy, you can try rubbing the inside of a banana peel on it. It feels nasty, but it gives quick relief, and for me one application has always been enough.

Although I was always so allergic to it when I was a child that I couldn't even be in the smoke where it was being burned without breaking out, I don't have it nearly so bad any more. None of my children has ever been allergic to it. Neither of parents were allergic either. I don't understand why some are allergic and others are not, and how a person can be one way and later it will change, although I know it happens. Maybe someone on here can explain it.

-- Green (ratdogs10@yahoo.com), June 16, 2000.

I can't explain it, Green, but allergies of all types can crop up in someone who has never been allergic -- or disappear unexpectedly. I have found over the last few years that several things give me hives - - sometimes! But I've never been allergic to poison ivy (yet!!) and mosquito bites or flea bites hardly even make me itch anymore. (Black flies and no-see-ums are a different story!)

-- Kathleen Sanderson (stonycft@worldpath.net), June 16, 2000.

A remedy my old daddy used for poison ivy/oak. After he would break out with a terrible rash on his arms--he'd head for our neighbor's blacksmith cooling tank. Wash his arms in the water that was used to cool the hot steel in. Worked every time and one washin was all it took. Pappy would get it by the wind blowing from the woods where it grew. I suppose I could lay in it and it wouldn't bother me. Of course, that's NOT on my agenda just to prove a point!!! Matt. 24:44

-- hoot gibson (hoot@otbnet.com), June 16, 2000.

I remember reading the article on the remedy with the capsules either in a past issue of countryside or Mother earth, can't remember which. I do remember the ingesting of the young leaves. I wonder what happens when you drink the milk from the goats when they eat it. I do know I read it can increase milk production. But I am wondering if it would help in building up the immunity. I get it bad from the goats, I hand milk them and they browse in some curover. My forearms are itchy and i use hydrocortisone cream.. seems to help. The other day on the news I caught a bit of a dr mentioning to not use the benedryl cream but missed why.

-- Bernice (geminigoats@yahoo.com), June 17, 2000.

I would think that taking Rhus Tox X 200 before exposure would work as a preventative using the same principles as these other methods. It is much more pleasant to prevent the rash than to treat it.

-- Laura (gsend@hotmail.com), June 17, 2000.

My family always used a cup of bleach in our bath water when we "thought" we had come in contact. If we already had an outbreak we put the bleach (undiluted) right on the infected areas. I hate to recommend something that might hurt someone, and certainly wouldn't use it near the eyes or hair, but we've done this for years and never had to use anything else for poison oak or ivy.

-- Lenore (archambo@winco.net), June 17, 2000.

I have used a 50% deluted bleach solution right after a treck in the woods. This works very well for me in preventing an outbreak rash, and I'm hypersensetive to the stuff. I thank my uncle from Chadron, NB for this from-the-farm advise.

When I was a kid, they gave me the tablets to build up my immunity to the stuff. I got poison ivy from the inside out. This was not fun.

-- John Brickner (LibertyWMA@excell.net), June 21, 2000.

I'm almost afraid to admit this after reading all the other posts, but: Euell Gibbons is the one who wrote about eating poison ivy early in the spring to develope an immunity. As soon as the new, reddish leaves appear in the spring, I eat one. A couple days later, two. I'll work up to the point of eating three young leaves whenever I chance across them, every two or three days. I try to leave enough time between doses for whatever reaction is going to occur. So far, there's never been one. I've been doing it for several years. I don't deliberately expose myself to poison ivy, but I work outdoors constantly and haven't gotten it since. Yesterday I rode my horse through an ocean of the stuff, then took the boots off his legs and put shipping boots on for the trailer ride home. No sign of a rash this morning.

-- Brad (Rodent@worldpath.net), June 22, 2000.

No opinion on the preventative measures - just watch out! But, as to over-the-counter relief, the BEST I have ever found is IVAREST. It does an excellent job of killing the itch, for up to 8 hours. I used to get poison ivy really bad as a child - complete with huge running blisters -yuck! But when I was in college, I took a dendrology class, and in the course of an outdoor quiz (during the cold months) I chewed on a poison ivy twig thinking it MIGHT be sassafras (should have studied harder that week), and got an interesting case of it. Following that, my doctor gave me a series of desensitization injections. I still get it, but only a rash, not the huge horrible miserable blisters. Good luck.

-- Yolanda Breidenbaugh (ybereiden@peoplepc.com), June 22, 2000.

I don't know of any good remedies. I break out like crazy when I come in contact with the stuff! I have tried most of the over the counter stuff to no avail. I usually use Calamine lotion and wash with rubbing alcohol everyday, but it takes a month or more to get rid of the rash! A friend of mine washes with bleach everytime she works in the yard just to be sure, and she says she doesn't break out since she started doing that. Maybe I should try it. I am wondering how to get rid of the plant? Does anyone have any suggestions? I have some around a tree in my yard (the only place I've found it so far).

-- Linda (botkinhomeschool@yahoo.com), June 22, 2000.

ok, i gotta great one, AND IT WORKS TOO! ok, what you do is go to your local drug store and buy some pill swallowing capsules. then you take some rubber gloves and get one leaf and crush it to a mulch, and then stuff the pill with it! just once a day before you got to the garden! G.L. ! Joshie-Boy

-- Joshie-Boy (joshie_boyis21@hotmail.com), June 24, 2000.

oops, someone else said that? sorry

-- Joshie-Boy (joshie_boyis21@hotmail.com), June 24, 2000.

I have recently discovered a preventive for poison ivy, sumac, and oak. I bought it on the internet to try it out. And it works great. Why dont you check it out for yourself at www.poisonivyprevention.com ???????? Good luck!

-- Andrew Styer (sty_dogg28@hotmail.com), April 12, 2001.

My local health food store sells assorted types of honey and in addition to the regular varieties like clover & alfalfa, I've noticed they carry poison oak honey. Do you think that using it would eventually pass on some immunity??

-- Mary S. (1deal@quik.com), April 13, 2001.

EATING POISON IVY I have always been very allergic to poison ivy and ever since I've known about it I have used Tecnu and felt it was the best after treatment on the market. I just read about this stuff called Zanfel, it is also supposed to be an excellent treatment for poison ivy, but I haven't tried it yet.

After getting my last bad case of poison ivy about a month ago from working in it and forgetting to wash with Tecnu. I am an archaeologist. Most of my work is in N. & S. Carolina. I am always walking through, cutting, and digging into poison ivy roots. I have become completely fed up with poison rashes and blisters. This crap had ruined my last summer. I decided to try the homeopathic route that a friend of mine swore by. She swears by it and now I do as well.

This is not a recommendation, this is only what I did. Try it at your own risk. This is simply a homeopathic way to do it with out having to buy the pills. It worked for me: Find a poison ivy plant. Clip a very small amount of a small/new/baby leaf off with some scissors. It is good to start with a piece that is less than a half an inch long or even much smaller if you are very sensitive or nervous about it. Catch the piece in a bowl or something so you don't have to touch it. Now you want to swallow it, but you don't want the leaf to touch you mouth or throat. Probably the most reliable way to do this is to put the leaf in a gelatin capsule with something like a pair of tweezers. Not having any capsules around I rolled mine in a small corner of a piece of paper napkin and swallowed it with lots of water and waited two days to make sure I wasn't going to have a reaction.

Then I took a second dosage, but only slightly larger and waited two days. On my third dosage I took a good one-inch section and waited two days. I was sure that this one-inch piece was enough to have caused a reaction if I was going to have one, so on my fourth dosage I increased the amount to about one and a quarter inches (1 ¼"). The next day I took the same amount again.

On my sixth dosage instead of cutting off of a baby leaf I took some off of a much larger leaf, but I reduced the size back down to about a half an inch (1/2") and I waited two days.

My seventh dosage was an inch section of a large leaf and I waited two days before I took another slightly larger section.

About the time of my fourth dosage I was working in an area that had a very thick stand of poison ivy around its perimeter. I had to walk through this patch many times over a period of a three days, came in contact with it, and honestly watched it brush across my arms several times. I definitely had it all over the legs of my jeans. I wore the same jeans for the three days and I never got it. I am not sure how often to take it, I am in the process of contacting a friend of mine who has done a tremendous amount of research into American Indian remedies and many forms of homeopathic medicine, for her recommendation. From what I understand at this point, I think that consuming a dosage several times a week will be enough to keep my resistance up. Feel free to email me if you have any questions about my progress or sanity.

-- LJ Errante (jerrante@yahoo.com), May 07, 2001.

I had been breaking out with it every year so badly that I had to go to the doctor to get injections and/or pill. I break out in the spring just from (I suppose) pollen and do not even have to touch the plant. I read an article which I found on the internet about eating a piece of leaf as described by others here. I was in really bad shape and decided I may as well try it as I was desperate. After eating some leaf, the stuff cleared up within a day or two!! I did not get it again that year. Last year, I ate it in the spring, before I expected to break out. I did not get it that year!! This year I started to break out, ate a leaf and cleared up. No doctor!! Works for me!! The first time I tried it I found it hard to swallow. Next time(s) I just made sure I had a glass of water with me. It can not hurt your insides.

-- Thomas Townsend (ttownsend@ellijay.com), June 27, 2001.

My mother told me that wherever Poison Ivy grows there is another plant that can counter act it.

The only one I know of is called Jewel Weed and grows in moist, shady areas. You break the steam and rub the milky sap on yourself.

I've never tried the internal preventative measures but since my kids play around our property and get some degree of the rash on a regular basis, I just might try it. They've been picking wild black raspberries for me and almost always have to wade through P.I. to get to the berry vines.

-- LBD, Maryland (lavenderbluedilly@hotmail.com), June 27, 2001.

for many years, anytime I come upon poison ivy, I crush a few leaves and rub it on my arms. This seems to keep my immunity up. I've never gotten are reaction to it since. I've made quite a few peoples jaws drop by taking a handful of leaves and rubbing them all over my face and arms. For those who do get an allergic reaction, Jewelweed does work good.

-- nobody (nothing@nowhere.no), June 27, 2001.

I heard of something called Zanfel--a prescription.

-- noname (kristineduvall@earthlink.com), April 19, 2002.

Although this topic has been discussed before and I've mentioned this solution, I thought I'd add it here again.

I am highly suseptible (sp) to Poison Ivy....I walk outside and I get it. Once I see the first sign of a breakout, I dab full strength Pine Sol or other pine cleaner (a generic of Pine Sol) on it and that really seems to control it.

I bet people think I'm really into cleaning my house when they smell me, but hey, if it works......

-- Lisa in WI (llehman16nospam@hotmail.com), April 19, 2002.

About that jewelweed- I'm not allergic to poison ivy, but I'm extemely allergic to jewelweed. Think it would work in reverse? Just kidding-I wouldn't tempt fate.

-- Gayle in KY (gayleannesmith@yahoo.com), April 20, 2002.