I learned to identify poison ivy at a very early age. I seemed to be especially

[Atticus]

Last edited Mon Apr 27, 2020, 06:38 PM - Edit history (1)

susceptible to catching it from even the slightest contact. So, when, at about age 12, I was hiking through some river bottom woods with some friends and we encountered a huge patch of the stuff all across our path, I warned them to stay away from it. Everyone---except Bobby---back-pedalled and started to give the ivy a wide berth. But, not ol' Bobby.

"Who the hell are you to tell us where to walk" he sneered. (At 12, cussing was considered both rebellious and manly in that era) "Just 'cause you're a candy-ass doesn't mean I am!" he tossed over his shoulder as he waded into the chest high tangle of poison ivy. "Besides," he said as he turned to face us, "I ain't 'lergic to this shit. Never had any in my life!"

As we stared in disbelief, he crushed handfuls of the poison leaves and smeared the sap all over his face , neck and bare arms.

Later that night, our phone rang after dinner and my mother had an emotional conversation with Bobby's mom. They had persuaded their family doctor to open his office after hours to deal with Bobby's "first ever" poison ivy. His eyes had swollen shut and, even scarier, his nasal passages and throat had nearly closed. He recovered after several days without any lasting effects, but never again accompanied us on our woodland jaunts. He did continue being a obnoxious loudmouthed know-it-all until we graduated high school and went our separate ways.

The point of all this? If he is still alive, I am reasonably certain Bobby is one of those assholes out in the street of a state capital toting an AR 15 and screaming that "NOBODY, BY GAWD, CAN TELL ME TO STAY AT HOME!"

I wonder what would have happened if we'd dared him to eat some of that poison ivy.

[SoonerPride]

1. I liked this story very much. Thanks for sharing.

I'm sure he never changed.

I think we all have known people like this.

[MyOwnPeace]

2. Are you sure his name wasn't Donnie?

Sounds like him!

[riversedge]

3. Every community has one of those. I know one in mine.

[mitch96]

4. When I was a kid I did not have any reaction to Poision Ivy...

My playmates would get it and it seemed I was immune.. I was stupid enough to wipe it on my arm on a dare.. yup.. stupid move but I did not get the rash...
As for today I would not get it on me for love or money.... Leaf of three, let it be..
m

[captain queeg]

37. Me too. I've never experienced it but my brother was always highly susceptible.

But I stay away, your reaction can always change. Though to tell the truth I’m not sure I’d even recognize it. If someone points it out I take them at their word.

[mitch96]

38. " I'm not sure I'd even recognize it"

The old adage works... "Leaf of three, let it be"
m

[ProfessorGAC]

45. Learn The Leaf Shape!

I kid you not, nearly 100% of the poison ivy in the woods around the golf course I play, had FIVE leaves!
It it, without question, PI. The leaf shape is identical.
Apparently it was very rare, but may be becoming more common.
Here's a cite.

https://www.poison-ivy.org/blog-entry/poison-ivy-leaves-five

[Igel]

5. I was the kid who, like you, broke out from the merest contact.

I could pick up something that somebody who'd pulled up poison ivy wearing gloves had picked up and just moved, before setting it down on the workshop bench. The next day my palm would break out from poison ivy. One day walked through the smoke from a fire where somebody had dumped poison ivy. Where the smoke could reach, I broke out. Scalp, behind ears, eyelids, inside of nose. Hurt like hell. Don't know how much calamine lotion I had caked on me at any given time.

I avoided the plant stuff--not too much of a problem until I was almost 12 and joined the Scouts. Then we were out camping and hiking a lot, and it was a major perceived threat.

Then, one day when I was 13 or 14 and out hiking with my patrol, this one idiot decided it would be funny to push me off the path--into a thicket of the stuff. This was Maryland, you could get patches of poison oak. We were at least an hour away from any place I could scrub, and of course we were wearing t-shirts and short pants. Nothing to do, I grabbed some and shoved it in his face.

Next day, nothing. (The other guy had a bad rash.) I tried touching it to a bit of my arm--and nothing the day after that. Rubbing it on my arm? Nope. No effect. Should have known--I'd been allergic to fur and feathers, but the allergy just vanished when I was in 6th grade.

After that, if any poison ivy/oak was in the way of hiking, in our yard, whatever, I was one of the people who would be responsible for moving it, hacking it, pulling it up. (My mother shared this odd trait--not allergic to something that pretty much as a human we should be allergic to. And my son's the same.)

The point is that for years I was deathly afraid of this stuff and gave it wide berth, all the more terrified because of the incident where most of my upper body was covered in the rash. I continued my paranoia long after it was no longer a threat. Sure, from time to time I'd accidentally touch some, but race to where I could scrub the area. It just happened I was always in time and scrubbed hard enough to get the offending allergen off of me. At least that's the story I told myself--it wasn't that the poison ivy wouldn't hurt me, it's because I followed the best advice and my actions kept me safe.

There's a middle ground between fear and cockiness.

[Atticus]

7. My very worst bout with poison ivy was when I, like you, walked through the smoke

from a smoldering brush fire when the local park district cleared some adjacent land it had just acquired. The "brush" was mostly poison ivy. As you said, everywhere the smoke touched I got blisters.

When I was about to go off to my first Boy Scout camp for a week, my parents had our family doctor give me one injection a week for three weeks of some sort of "desensitizer". It worked. I can still get it, but not as easily and not as severely.

Jeez---that was 60 years ago!

[ProfessorGAC]

48. I've Heard That, Too

The smoke is a potentially really serious.
In some people, the toxin directly attacks the respiratory system and mimics a massive asthma attack. Very serious.
In addition, the resin is a branched alkylated catechol. Catechols are considered sensitizing agents, meaning one gets progressively sensitive.
85% of people are actually allergic to this compound. People who haven't gotten the rash are just in the waiting room. Enough times & you'll get it. (Translation-I mean me!)
The smoke concentrates the agent because it's activation energy of combustion is higher than some of the cellulose already burning. The heat volatilizes the urushiol but doesn't burn much. So the smoke is LOADED with it!
Glad you didn't breathe too much of it. Could have been much worse.

[Wounded Bear]

6. Some folks never learn. Really, some folks never do...

[Goodheart]

8. Leaves of three, leave it be!

[LeftInTX]

9. I was Bobby..LOL

I didn't get it as bad as Bobby, but I wanted to get out of school and I did.

Because of poison ivy, I now get contact dermatitis from mangos

I'm also allergic to tegretol. I don't know if it was triggered by the poison ivy allergy or just a weird allergy. I'm very allergic to it..burning ears, lips etc. Went to the ER the first time and they couldn't figure out what I was allergic to. They told me to eliminate a few things and introduce them. As soon as a took the tegretol again...bam Also the tegretol had no dyes. (Dyes have been implied in some allergies)

[marked50]

10. Okay,my poison ivy story has got all the twists of stupidity with "Florida Man" including- wait 4 it

As a Boy Scout we had lots of outdoor adventures. One of those almost cost me the most coveted of prizes- A Scout canoe trip to the Barrier Waters of Minnesota. Somewhere along the line to do that I contracted to most virulent of cases of poison ivy. I can't tell from where it came but it almost keep me from qualifying for the trip since it was so bad and I was not allowed to engage in any required swimming type requirements. Man, was it bad. All over my body. Finally, at the last minute, I got all of the needed requirements when it abated enough.

Now, here is the stupidity part. Many years later me and a couple of friends were in the Angels Forest Mountains and we partook of the weed to great excess-oops. We crossed paths with a couple of other people and we started up some conversation. One of them asked the question- "We hear that there is a lot of poison ivy around here but we don't know what it looks like." Stupid me said- " I know!". I promptly went over to the first convenient plant, plucked some leaves, and showed them. I didn't really think it was a poison ivy plant but boy was I wrong. A couple of days later-- another worse case of ivy- days of misery.

No more botany lessons while stoned for me.

One other lesson on this is that I developed a severe allergic reaction to cashews later. Didn't really know this until I had what I would call almost a death experience after eating some many years later and it happened more than once so I could define the source. I have had no cashews since and no similar reactions. Turns out cashews and poison ivy come from the same family of plants. Wow, Some kind of learning.

[LeftInTX]

25. Unfortunately, you are probably allergic to mangos

I went to the dermatologist after getting a stubborn rash on my face. There was some enlightening reading material in the waiting room. I solved my mystery on the spot.

Fortunately, I don't have the cashew allergy.

[marked50]

42. An Interesting conjecture.

I wiki'd the connection between poison ivy and mangos and found that they too were from the same family. This complicates things for me in my understanding. I have had no reaction to mangos and I have had billions of them in all forms, except to pits of course, and have had no adverse reactions. Maybe the cashew connection is something else but I know I have had no similar near death experiences since avoiding cashews. Maybe just a cashew allergy not related to poison ivy. Thanks for the post.

[LeftInTX]

44. With mangoes for me, it's only contact dermatitis

From the juice running down my face. I was eating a whole bunch of them at the time. I eat them in moderation without any rash and I'm careful with the juice and peels etc.

https://www.accordingtoelle.com/mango-mouth/

[flying_wahini]

11. A trick I learned about poison ivy as a Master Gardener is

If you are exposed BEFORE you try wash it off with soap and water
is to use a DRY microfiber hand towel
and mop up over any exposed areas carefully, folding the towel as you go to capture the oils.
The dry microfiber towel is really effective at picking up errant oils.
Get the 2 for a dollar at Dollar General, if it ever opens again.

[FailureToCommunicate]

14. I do that, but then use LOTS of Technu brand lotion and scrub scrub scrub.

Mostly works.

[oldsoftie]

16. Dollar General never closed down here; they sell food!

[FailureToCommunicate]

12. I knew I was allergic also at an early age, always playing in Midwest fields. And TWICE...

both times blinded by love, I got bad bad cases. A tryst with my girlfriend in a patch of ivy during high school got my mom wondering how in the world I got blisters ALL OVER my body.

That was a bad case, but the worst was also my judgement clouded by love: The outdoor location for my wedding was covered with poison ivy along the walls where all the guests would be standing. The owner of the inn said he wasn't going to have time to deal with it, so I took a gas weed-wacker and cleared it out while only wearing shorts. It didn't take long to start blistering...

During our honeymoon my legs swelled up so badly that all my glads were also swollen. When we got back home and rushed to the emergency room, the doctor asked if I minded letting others medical staff in to also examine my body. He had never seen a case that bad, and wanted to share how awful it looked.

It turns out that folks, like Bobby, that think they are immune, may actually be at first, but apparently every contact with the toxins can break down your immunity, till one day you become a Republican. I mean get poison ivy.

[Lars39]

13. My husband got the "walked thru smoke" case from hell.

Miserable. I happened to be at the kid's pediatrician (an old codger) the next day and mentioned it. He gave me a syringe of a pre-op shot. Cannot remember it right off, but recognize the name when I see it. That stuff literally cleared it up overnight.
Made the present day steroids treatment look like a joke.

[MineralMan]

15. I've never reacted to poison ivy or poison oak.

However, I avoid those plants whenever I encounter them, and have done so since I was a child. I'm not willing to take the risk.

[Happy Hoosier]

17. Neither did I, until....

I rented a house with a lot of it in the back yard.

I wasn't concerned. I had literally camped in the stuff once, and while everyone else reacted, I did not.

So I happily moved the back yard without a care in the world. HUGE mistake. I got such a terrible case of it, that I STILL have scars 25 years later. The doc had to give me Prednisone to stop the reaction and she explained that our immunue system changes over of lives and in my case, it became a bit more jumpy.

Ugh.

Now I get it if I walk within 50 feet of it (it seems like).

[MineralMan]

19. I figure it's better to be safe that to be sorry.

So, once I learned to identify the plants, I have avoided them religiously.

As a teenager, I quit a job when the work I was supposed to do involved clearing poison oak from an outdoor area. $1.25/hr. just wasn't enough to take that risk, I decided.

[LeftInTX]

26. Risk for allergies increases with each exposure

[Happy Hoosier]

39. Yup. My allergy bucket got full. NT

[Goodheart]

18. My boss had a lot of poison ivy in his backyard at a house he just purchased.

He thought he'd get rid of it all by incinerating it.

BIG MISTAKE.

He had to be hospitalized. Almost lost his life from respiratory failure.

[Maggiemayhem]

21. Have a friend whose Aunt threw some poison on a brush fire

She breathed in the toxic fumes and almost died. I live in the mountains and worry about wildfires.

[forgotmylogin]

20. I've read that 1 in 3 people actually *is* immune to poison ivy.

Whether due to body chemistry, or perhaps oil-skin content. I have been around poison ivy as a child where other kids caught it and I didn't, but I'm still tentative around it. I have had one nasty case of what I believe was poison oak, but that required getting snapped in the eye with a branch where it actually scratched the skin of my face and the swelling around my eye required a steroid shot and a followup Medrol dose pack to make sure it went down.

Conversely, my father is RIDICULOUSLY vulnerable to plant-based irritation, in fact I'd suspect he might have an additional allergy to poison ivy beyond normal. I've always seen people get red itchy rash, he develops horrible red blotches and enormous weeping scaly scabs that I've never seen on anyone else nor gotten myself despite being exposed to it likely when he has been.

I wonder if this lil' dude might have busted his own skin-based immunity by rubbing it in his eyes.

I guess that's why the Darwin Awards exist.

[Maggiemayhem]

22. I have heard poison oak and poison ivy are genetically the same

Depends on the sunlight and environment.

[forgotmylogin]

23. That's likely.

And as I said, the only time I actually got a case of it was when it hit me in the eye and left a scratch.

I still don't go frolicking in the woods though!

[soldierant]

29. The same, or very close,

and the family also includes poison sumac and poison wood (this last one is, or was when I learned about them, limited to Florida - as if Florida didn't have enough problems. They all have the three leaves, though. It was poison oak where I gre up.

[dixiegrrrrl]

40. Wonder if poison sumac is in that family. n/t

[Mugu]

43. Yes.

I have tons of poison sumac as well as poison ivy and a bit of poison oak on my property. They all have the same toxin.

Fortunately, I'm not allergic, but my girlfriend is. She learned the old saying "hairy vine, no friend of mine" the hard way.

I've always found it amazing that the local deer population love to eat the stuff.

[dixiegrrrrl]

51. Never saw any of those plants until we moved into our current house.

the poison ivy grows among the real ivy

The poison oak was cleared out but my neighbor has it, and we have poison sumac.

So, maybe you know this, too....people who are allergic to peanuts say they are allergic to other nuts as well
but peanuts is not a nut, it's a legume.

So what is that allergy really about, I wonder.

[Mugu]

52. Unfortunately, I do not know the answer.

I know people that claim to be allergic to both peanuts and tree nuts, but they generally are allergic to many other items as well.

I'm just thankful that I have very few allergies.

[Collimator]

24. I'm not a doctor. . .

. . .But I DO know how to read. And when I am just musing and speculating, I am willing to admit that.

It seems to me that allergic reactions can worsen or lessen with repeated exposure. And those touching on the subject of body chemistry may indeed be onto something.

I have friends who were not particularly allergic to spring time pollen before one pregnancy, suffered miserably after the first, then back to breezing through pollen season after a second pregnancy.

Or course there could be other variables at work, so the subject is worth study, but with an open mind as any inquiry should be conducted.

I experienced a bee sting as a child--on my foot--and was sore enough that my mother had to carry me home. (Oh, the times of going barefoot in the summer.)

The year that I was twenty, I had another sting, and had a large, red bump (like an extra muscle) on the underside of my arm. It was warm for days, but otherwise, I was fine.

It may have been the very next year when I was stung again, repeatedly. I went into anaphylaxis and had to be shot up with adrenaline, then benadryl. I was on my second date with a guy and I went from laughing hysterically, hyperanxiety and then down to woozy goofiness. (It's okay if that turned the guy completely off from me--he later turned out to be a Republican.)

The doctors said that the next sting could kill me.

So, my point is, you never know; which is not quite what Rosanne Rosanndanna used to say, but again--I'm willing to admit that I'm no expert.

[soldierant]

30. Anaphylaxis after a period of non-exposure is a well-enough known phenomenon

to have been used as a murder weapon in mystery stories.

Handbook for Poisoners, by Raymond T. Bond is not in print but is available used and in libraries - one of the stories he used includes this method, I believe. But his introduction is the real treasure in the book. I may forget the stories, but I shall never forget his remarks on the effects of buckwheat on sunlight on blondes (human and animal.) There's definitely a plot in there.

[Aussie105]

27. Don't burn it!

Wear disposable gloves, pull up, bag, bin.
Wash gloves before removing.
Bin them too.

[Grokenstein]

28. No one is ever so wrong...

...as the one who tells himself he CAN'T be wrong.

[soldierant]

31. Had he eaten some, my guess is that

it would have done a number on his esophagus, but his stomach acids would have stopped it right there. It's not that kind of a poison. The respiratory effect is the real danger, and especially when it is burned, as several have already commented.

[Haggis for Breakfast]

34. A dear friend of my mother's accidentally "ate" Poison Ivy.

She was immune to the touch, and she had been sitting on some of the plant. But then she ate a peach from our picnic lunch, which she had been rolling around in her hands before she ate it. She suddenly grabbed at her throat, saying that it was "burning." We raced her to the ER, but not before she went into anaphylactic shock. We got there just in time.

[soldierant]

41. Well, yes. There is that. Thanks. So glad you got there in time.

Mucous membranes are very sensitive. I tri[[ed once, fell face forst, arms out, and got a little on my hands (which I washed) and apparently more on my underarm (which I didn't wash because I had no idea.) I was 9 or 10. And underarms are't the most sensitive. But I wouldn't want any irritant on them either.

[BobsYourUncle]

32. Treating poison ivy rash

My go-to treatment for the rash is aloe vera sap. Break off a leaf of aloe vera and squeeze the juice on the affected area and just spread it over the rash. This frequently relieves the itch and can reduce the blisters. I have kept aloe plants in the house for ages and also use this treatment for other blistering mishaps such as minor kitchen burns, sunburn of varying degrees, and those blisters you get this time of year in the garden. I repeat the application if the pain or itch returns...I don’t think there’s any possibility of overdose.
The sap doesn’t smell good but is not repulsive. It isn’t poisonous but it is an ‘emetic’...something to look up, so I wouldn’t Ingest it.

[BobsYourUncle]

33. I looked up emetic...

It’s not what I thought it means, but still would not recommend ingesting it.

[Blue_true]

35. For some reason, I am only sensitive to poison ivy in the fall.

Any other time of year, I can get the juice from the plant on me and not have a problem. But there is no way that I would play around with poison ivy, never had.

Bobby does seem to be the type out protesting, likely carrying an AR15. Based upon your recollection of him, he seems to be the lost, anti-social type.

[BlueTexasMan]

36. How to kill it

I was working on a team clearing out a beautiful river side spot for a music festival and noticed there was a lot of poison ivy growing down by the river bank. People would be swimming around it and I wanted to get rid of it. I called the county agent and asked what to do ( I didn't want to put weed killer on it because of the proximity of the river). He told me to put a lot of nitrogen fertilizer on it and burn it out. The folks up top mowing and burning brush got it on their legs and one woman got it in her lungs. I had it bad as a kid from a naked adventure and ended up at the doctor because my lips swole up so much I couldn't eat and I started looking like John Holmes. You may be immune, but that immunity breaks down suddenly if you're not careful.

[Mugu]

46. The best way to be rid of it is to bring in a herd of herbivores

deer, goats, sheep, cows, whatever. They love the stuff and it doesn't bother them at all.


ETA: If cows eat any, it's probably best to throw out their milk. However, there are some people that believe drinking small amounts of milk from goats that have consumed poison ivy could possibly help desensitize some people to the toxin.

[GulfCoast66]

47. My mother and her father grew in S Arkansas before electricity on a small farm. Both become immun.

I got it as a kid a lot playing in the woods and as a young adult as I work in the landscaping field. But around 25 it stopped bothering me.

I still don’t tempt fate and avoid it if possible. But have come in contact in the last 5 years with no ill effect.

[we can do it]

49. I have some now.

[Meowmee]

50. A lot of people will not learn or refuse to learn from such an experience

I was never susceptible to it until I had a very severe case in my 20’s, mostly on my legs after walking in a wooded area in shorts and sandals. I had huge blisters and skin damage, nurses cringed when they saw my legs. The itching was so bad I could not sleep and I had to sit with my legs in buckets of ice water in ac. I was on oral steroids for a few weeks. I went to the emergency room one night in tears asking for an injection of steroid but they said it would be too much. They gave me a strong antihistamine which helped and allowed me to sleep finally.

It took 6 months to start healing- I have permanent scars from the skin damage. Since then I am extremely careful- I do not go into any wooded areas anymore. I don’t even garden the same way that I used to. I put poison ivy block on, cover my entire body and then shower as soon as I come inside. I’ve had it a few times since then but fortunately only mild exposures where I was able most of the time to manage it without an oral steroid and used the foam instead.

These people really are bat shit insane, no cure for it.