What's worse than Poison Ivy???

Glaucus

Glaucus

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Nothing! I went camping this weekend with my gf and her friends. I've come to the conclusion that camping in Manitoba sucks ass. It was 30C+, very humid (rained every morning just enough to max out the humidex, and then the sun would pop out to make life hell), and zero wind - all ripe conditions for mosquitoes! Armies of mosquitoes. After swatting a few hundred you'd think they'd learn, but nope! I'm one of those who refuses to use DEET although I did cave in and put some on Saturday night when the mosquitoes literally LOLed at our double ring of citronella and roaring campfire and attacked without mercy. And on top of all that, I somehow managed to be the only one in our group of 6 to get poison ivy all over himself. And not just anywhere, all it's all over my face - nose and cheeks hit the worst, but even got some on my lips (got it on my hands too and I'm thinking I must have touched my face and spread it that way). Hope I didn't ingest any - that would be REAL bad, but not as bad as breathing it in. Still, either way, life sucks right now. And it doesn't help that my doctor is away on vacation and my sis is on call and her cell phone broke when she dropped it last week and the thought of waiting a few hours to get into a walk-in after work doesn't exactly excite me. :evil:

On the positive side, I came in early from camping to play hockey on Saturday (the PI inflammation didn't really kick in until this morning). it was the playoff championship game. Our team ended the season undefeated in the playoffs. So my face may be too fucked up for me to want to venture outside right now, but I at least have a lovely championship trophy to comfort me. :mrgreen:
 
Re: What's worse then Poison Ivy???

..... worse *THAN* poison ivy, dagnammit! :hammer:

Sorry Mike.
Maybe I need a cold lager. Hey, maybe you do too?
:pint:

Sorry to hear about your accident with the stinging plant but congratulations on the hockey front, sir!
 
Robert said:
..... worse *THAN* poison ivy, dagnammit! :hammer:
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Fixed. Can't type with all those blisters... :roflmao:

Maybe I need a cold lager. Hey, maybe you do too?
:pint:
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Oh I had my fair share of those this weekend. I even managed to track down some Samuel Adams, which I think Red once recommended. Pretty good.

Sorry to hear about your accident with the stinging plant but congratulations on the hockey front, sir!
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Thanks and Thanks. :-)
 
[quote:8hrljv39]Maybe I need a cold lager. Hey, maybe you do too?
:pint:
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Oh I had my fair share of those this weekend. I even managed to track down some Samuel Adams, which I think Red once recommended. Pretty good.[/quote:8hrljv39]

Yeah, Sam Adams isn't too bad. My uncle always has a supply of that (and various other beers) in when I visit Ontario.

I'm actually supping orange juice right now. Forgot about the beer, which I suppose is probably for the best - school night and all that.

I was a little frustrated earlier at failing get OSX.6 installed on my Hackintoshed PC. Hence the over the top pedantry and lust for bevvy. (Well, that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.)

Still, it's only 11pm and there's a dozen cold ones in the fridge....
 
Day 5:

This is driving me CRAZY!!!! :firedup:

Well, my face is all swollen, sorta like what you'd look like if someone punched you in the face a bunch of times. Poison Ivy on the eyelids REALLY SUCKS! Luckily it's only on one eye. At least today it seems that the oozing out of the blisters on my face has decreased significantly so it's not as gross looking as it was yesterday. But the blisters on my right arm seem to be lagging behind by a day or two and they're still quite ominous. Trying not to burst the blisters as once they burst they just continue to ooze out clear liquid (blood plasma actually).

I did go see the doctor (at the walk-in) and he gave me some hydrocortisone acetate cream (1%) that I apply twice daily. He told me that it should clear up in about 5 days (started it on day 3, so still have another 3 days or so before I can expect this most diabolic rash to dissipate). Interestingly he gave me 150ml of the stuff, which would probably be enough to last me for the rest of my life assuming I get the rash once every couple of months. I hope that's not the case. It seems to help control the blister oozing and is supposed to help speed up recovery - just can't get it in the eyes. Also using this Aveeno Calamine & Pramoxine cream with oatmeal extracts to control the itching. It sorta works but you still itch. Claritin in the morning and Benadryl before bed also helps with the itching. However, intense heat seems to be the best in terms of completely eliminating the itchiness, and by extreme heat I mean sitting in the shower with full on hot water. Trust me, it feels great! The heat actually depletes the histamine in your skin and for several hours afterwards you're simply incapable of being itchy. But the heat also causes the blisters to ooze uncontrollably, so a little cold water helps calm things back down - the cold causes the capillaries to constrict, which reduces the blood flow and the amount of blood plasma being pumped into the blisters. That also means I keep the AC cranked and stay out of the sun. Good times.

Overall, I do see some reduction in the intensity in some of the older blisters on my face. I'm hoping the doc is right and things will start clearing up by the weekend. And tonight we're supposed to go out to celebrate our championship, but I'm feeling a little hesitant... Not too keen on going to the pub looking like the Elephant Man. Yuckers.
 
Ouch, Mike, that sounds absolutely horrendous, squire.

I'd still go to the pub though. Get a few sherbets in you and you won't be quite as worried about what you look like. And you are the champions, after all.

On that note, I'm having a lovely little nip of Highland Park right now. I'll toast your speedy recovery!
:pint: To Mikes' health! :pint:

Ahh.. lovely....
 
Day 6:

Face has finally stabilized. Still look like I've been beaten to a pulp, but at least I don't have all that gross liquidy stuff oozing uncontrollably down my face. My right hand however is still the worst hit and remains under heavy bandages. My shoulders are ultra sensitive today though, my shirt feels like it's made of SOS pads stitched together. I wonder if anyone at the office would mind if I go topless for the rest of the afternoon...

And get this for bad timing. My drivers license came up for renewal today. That includes a new photo. I tried to talk them out of it but I had no choice. Can't wait to see what that's gonna look like. For $10 I can have it redone once I heal up, but either way I'm gonna have a lovely driver's license for a few months. Or I may just leave it that way, people will think I'm a bad ass and not want to mess with me! :roflmao:
 
Mike,
Man that sounds nasty and nightmarish, hope you feel better soon.

I've never been in contact with Poison Ivy, but I can kind of related because I had Chicken Pox as an adult in my 20's. It was a BAD case of Chicken Pox, I was going nuts for a week+.
 
Ya, any kind of skin problem is a pain. Skin takes forever to heal. Burns are of course the worst, thankfully I never experienced that - other then minor scalding and burns from hot exhaust pipes etc. But just to give you an idea of how bad this itching is I often fantasize of burning the blisters off with a torch. Of course the reality is I'd screw myself over a lot more if I did that, but maybe for a few seconds I could enjoy some revenge!!! :twisted:

What I can't believe is that we don't have a drug that can neutralize the effects instantly. I hear poison ivy is a serious issue in places in California where not only is PI everywhere, but quick burning shrub fires are common. This means that people do inhale the smoke from time to time and have to be put on a respirator. I read somewhere that in California around 50% of short term disability is from poison ivy, oak or sumac. That's insane!

Anyway, there's a product called Ivy Block that can prevent the effects but you gotta use it beforehand. I'm game with that, but I can't seem to find it at any store around here. :cry:
 
Today is finally the first day I don't need to wear any bandages, and all the gross oozing of blisters finally ended yesterday. I attribute this mostly to the amazing effects of prednisone, the drug MY doctor prescribed, who I was able to see on Monday (he admits that cortisone is mostly useless for a rash like what I had). What a miraculous change it made as my poison ivy was only getting worse in some areas - I developed a massive outbreak right behind my left knee about the size of my wide open hand, and it was oozing uncontrollably, and new rashes were starting to form on my back. But now on my second day of prednisone all my rashes are fading and some have already entered the final stage: dead skin. Pealing like a really bad sun burn. Only unfortunate side effect of the pills is that I had a hard time sleeping last night, but I'll gladly take that over this absolutely evil rash. I should be all clear by the weekend! Can't wait! Now all I can think of is that I needlessly suffered all last week. Damn that walk-in clinic Dr for not giving me the pills from the start.
 
I don't think Poison Ivy is native in Florida...

Note to self, learn what Poison Ivy looks like and remember to look out for it when out of FL.
 
redrumloa said:
I don't think Poison Ivy is native in Florida...

Note to self, learn what Poison Ivy looks like and remember to look out for it when out of FL.
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Sorry Jim but Poison Ivy is indeed in Florida. Not sure that it is a native plant however. Poison Ivy is active across much of the US, with the exception of desert areas (Arizona, New Mexico, etc...). It's especially bad in the southern US for many of the same reasons that Mike originally listed (humidity, heat...).

All the best to you Mike.

Regards,
Ltstanfo
 
I thought I knew what it looked like but I guess not. The problem is it can look different depending on where it is. It can look like a small little plant, it can be a vine growing up the side of a tree or fence, or it can sprout up from an old tree stump and look more like a bush. It does however have one key characteristic: three leaves (like the old saying goes, leaves of three, let them be). Unfortunately there's also poison oak and poison sumac which look very different and sumac especially looks like any other bush. It may have a small cluster of white or grey berries in the center of the three leaves. Usually the stem is a darker color then the leaves which are usually a nice deep green, but can be red in the spring and fall. If you're lucky you may notice a bit of shininess on the leaves, which is really the oil it produces (which btw is toxic for at least 5 years). This oil exists on the leaves, but also in the stem and in the roots, so there's no part of the plant you want to touch with the bare skin. I'm really not even sure how to properly kill the plant as even if you use Roundup to kill it, the dead plant is still very toxic and you'd want to dig up the roots to fully clear the area. Goats however eat the thing like there's no tomorrow, so if you can borrow some goats once or twice a year, they can keep the poison ivy at bay for a while. :wink:

See here for more info: https://www.nysdot.gov/dangerous-plants/poison-ivy
 
or

1) figure out what the goat has that makes it immune to the toxin

2) become a goat

LOL
 
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