mutha efin skin
 

Major flair-up today after mtn biking. My legs were on fire. humidity, mud, dehydration, allergies, caffeine? who friggin knows, I don't really know what's going on. I did a cold water rinse of the mud and it was off to the races. I'm forcing fluids and took a zyrtec and seem to be sorta okay after an hour or so of nonsense. thanks for listening

Mountain biking....sounds nice. What race were you in? I hope you're feeling better.

Thanks LB. The itching was "off to the races". I was just doing my normal Sunday morning ride. I feel okay now but am still drinking water. I don't know how Dana can handle long-term flair-ups. Short ones make me crazy irritable.

Dude, I'd get serious-ass hives from tall grass brushing my legs. Like a million paper cuts rubbed with salt, lemon, and tequila. That was back in the days of benadryl. I'd fall asleep and wake up a few hours later looking like a catnip flavored scratching post.

I feel your pain, but I'm not sorry about ur legs.

Hihihi...I get it now. :p:

Skin disorders are the worst form of torture ever! My psoriasis is really bad at present. Cortisone ointments are helping somewhat, but they don't make it go away completely.

Yesterday I had to put an oil treatment on my scalp to soften all the dead skin cells so I could scrape a nit comb over my scalp to lift it off. Not entirely effective, but it stops me from feeling like I've got a helmet on my head.

I find it painful to kneel down because of the psoriasis on my knees, so mostly I squat down if I have to get low and my legs and arms and torso are constantly itchy and flaky. I mentioned in another thread about the itchiness in my ear canals also.

Anyway, just thought I'd try and make you feel better Griff. ;)

Misery loves company. :)

My legs from the knees down are covered in poison ivy. I am ready to rip the flesh off, pour gasoline on them and set them ablaze - heck they feel like they are on fire already.
Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

The answer to this is to go into the shower, make the water as hot as you can stand, and put the affected areas into the hot water. It will be an amazing feeling. Keep them there as long as you can stand it, then get out. You will have relief for up to 4 hours and they will heal faster.

Or, you could man-up and have relief for the rest of your life.

Not that I have personal experience with that or anything, but that's what I read on the intarwebs, so it's probably true.

My solution has been to hold the effected area under cold running water and scrub with a bar of Fels Naptha.

yeh, thanks - I have tried several diff products over the last years or so. That is one of them. I like this the best, but at $40 a tube...
http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:A...mSRe9VBTybW-MT

Store brands seem to work as well. The issue with this case is that my legs were all cut up from thorns and the Ivy immediately got under my skin, pun intended.

FWIW - Hot water is apparently the worst thing you can do because it spreads the oils further. <shrug>

While I'm on my rant ... The doc won't refill my prescription without seeing me. :mad2:

Next time I may go old school
1) scratch the crap out of it
2) pour alcohol, bleach and/or ammonia onto it.
They seem to really kill it or at least stop the incessant itching.

Yes. Yes. Yes.

As a kid, I had terrible bouts with poison oak. What I learned is, you do NOT want to use hot water to wash with, as the active ingredient in poison oak/ivy is oil based. Using hot water just spreads the oil to other unaffected areas of skin, so avoid it at all costs.

And yes, Fels Naptha is the way to go. It dries out the oils (along with your skin, but hey).

As a last resort, cortisone shots work wonders. Apparently I'm also highly allergic to poison oak, in addition to just being itchy from it, so on three different occasions I had to go to the doc for the shots. Unfortunately, they leave big divots in your skin.

As my ass can attest.

Hot water is as effective as UT says for subduing the itch, but only after the area has been cleaned of the oil like every one else has mentioned. The best way to clean off the oil is is with dawn dish soap - but really only right after exposure of course. Afterward the $40 cream Classic mentioned works to shorten the lifespan of the attack.

Several years back I was practically covered from head to toe - it took a month to go away. I was on the internet EVERY DAMN DAY looking for relief suggestions.

A course of oral prednisone works well, too.

Just left work - got some more crap... was looking on the net and found this ...
http://www.poison-ivy.org/rash/sourc...e/the-king.jpg

OMFG - I'd probably shoot myself.

I was/am so allergic to poison ivy that for several years in my tween/early teen years I got a series of 4 weekly shots that was supposed to help reduce my sensitivity.

OK, this time I am being sincere and I will share my remedy. It takes about a week to prepare so it won't be much help this time around, but it will keep for years.

You will need:
1 Quart of cheap vodka
2 cups of whole cloves
Two, 1 quart jars or one, half gallon jar.

If using one jar, just dump everything into a single jar, cover, shake briefly once or twice a day for a week or so.

If using two jars, measure equal amounts of Vodka and Cloves into each jar. Cover, shake briefly once or twice a day for a week or so.

You can strain out the cloves or you can keep them in the jar, topping it off with more vodka as it is depleted. The tincture should be as black as coffee.

You now have tincture of Clove which is a fairly strong anaesthetic. Flood some cotton balls (No, I just walk that way) with the tincture and dab it on the rash to 'numb the area.'*

*Joke not included.

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Learn what poison ivy looks like. Practice spotting it while outside. I see it everywhere around here. I saw some yesterday in my back yard, but was too tired to get rid of it. A tiny little plant sprouting up in the back corner of the yard. I need to remove it before my son's birthday party this weekend.

It's a tricky bastard. Sometimes the vine grows up a tree and blends in with the leaves of that tree.

I avoid touching any plant until after I've confirmed it isn't poison ivy.

OK I didn't express this well enough.

Look: I have actually seriously considered re-infecting myself so I can do the hot water trick again. I was actually sad when I healed and it stopped working!!!

It is a feeling of intense pleasure. I give it my second-highest endorsement... only because there is no orgasm at the end. I bet if that dude with the arms does it...

But I had the benefit of working from home, and so I could water it every four hours and not have itching.

Even scratching doesn't spread poison ivy/oak, despite popular belief:

http://knoledge.org/oak/

@glatt. I totally agree. Excellent advise. I am constantly surprised at how many have no idea what it looks like.

I too just noticed some out back of my place. I buy a bottle of bleach and put a spray nozzle on top. I liberally hit as much of the plant as possible. Leaves, stems, vineage (yes I made that up) ... It is usually dead in a day or two.


FWIW - my exposure was know and happens almost every weekend. There is no getting around it. The reason I got it this time is because there were thorn bushes mixed in with the ivy. The oil was in my bloodstream and under the skin before I even got home.

You expect us to believe a link that cant even spell the word knowledge correctly :eyebrow: :rolleyes:
Humor intended

It's too bad that it's poisonous, because poison ivy is a really attractive plant. All green and lush with perfect leaves. I'd plant it around the house otherwise.

It's just some advise. :eyebrow::rolleyes:

humor intended

Maybe knowledgeDOTorg was taken.

I was just joking IM...
I thought it was kind of ironic that they have a web address with the word spelled incorrectly, yet their site used to get correct info - no?


ETA - nevermind - I just looked at the rest of the site... EEK!

I know. Them's sum bad spelers.

But I was joking too, the irony of ur badd spilling then ponting oot MAI badd spilling. ;)

Did you not catch that? Advice? Advise?

Please advise. :lol:

nah - I missed it.

There must be a masochistic side to you because if I remember correctly the sensation is so over the top that it is pain and pleasure at the same time.

You mean you can have them separately?

For me it was a bit of pain at first, then it was the sensation of itching a full hours' worth of scratching the itch, but all in 60 seconds. You know how itching is. It's annoying but then when you get to scratching it, well that part can be pretty good.

I've never had the poison ivy.

I'm feeling a little left out.

Don't.

Poor Jesus. What a childhood. :(

.

The Barbarino in the Plastic Bubble.

Moops.

http://images.wikia.com/seinfeld/ima...ing_George.jpg