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.