Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Need Advice: Poison Oak

I doubt that anyone could burn it and breath the fumes without problems.

Yes, same experience. It is almost orgasmis feeling to get hot water on the urushiol itching. From what I understand, the hot water helps disolve histamin and that eases the itch. When I get poison ivy I take hot shower once a day to help me get through it.

One of the best things I've learned is to keep a clear eye when in the woods and stead clear of it! One year at the rifle range during qualification (Camp Swift, local NG base) maintenance shredded 200 meter firing line. Unbeknownst to many of us, poison ivy was creeping along the ground. Worst case I ever had as a result of firing from prone position!!!!! The Two sons doing archaeology field school at Camp Beauregard Louisiana had to quit (thought we were going to havta put one in hospital) because of the ivy!!!

Bad sh*t!!!!

Bob

The Indians had some sense and kept the woods burnt off. They didn't suffer the ivy.

I've been in the woods in just about all the southeastern states and North Carolina has more of the stuff than I've ever seen before. Moved here from Alabama and I can tell you there's probably more PI here in Iredell County than in the whole state of Alabama.

On another note about treatment, I recently cut down and made firewood lengths from some wild cherry trees by our church. One had been covered in PI till a couple of years ago when the main vine was cut and the shoots all died. After chainsawing it and removing the limbs my face began to feel tingly. My wrist area between long sleeves and gloves had the same feeling. Soon as I got home I rubbed face, forearms and hands with vegetable oil and left it on for 5 or 10 minutes before showering. Thought process was oil would mix with oil and I could wash it all off. I came away free of PI rash except for one small patch on lower forearm. Ancedotal but seemed to work.

Try Dr. West's Poison Ivy, Oak, Sumac Skin Cleanser...
Been using it for years...

TECNU!

This stuff really WORKS for me!

When you make contact with poison oak, wash with this stuff as soom as you can.

Was cutting some brush on my property a while back, and clipped off a poison oak vine 1/2" thick and about 10 feet long.
Pulled it out of a tree, and it came down on top of me.

Went in and took a shower, scrubbing with Tecnu.

Never got ANY poison oak!

Virgil B.

Dawn dish washing liquid works as well as anything to get the oil off your skin.

There was a study here in NC at Duke University a few years back to try and come up with a vaccine or cure for the allergic reaction to poison oak / ivy. They were paying good money for local people to collect the vine and deliver to the test site. They also advertised for workers that were not allergic to the evil weed.

As I remember all of the folks collecting the vines and the workers employed to work with it eventually became allergic to it. One of the outcomes of the study was that it is evolving; spreading faster, growing larger and is becoming more toxic.

Blame Monsanto...

Burning it and breathing the fumes is NOT recommended...I've known several guys who claimed to be not allergic to it but they eventually succumbed.

Wife had 2 guys with bad PI rash come in the clinic she works at as a nurse. They had just put down a lot of mulch in the outside play area of a day care / kindergarten a couple of days before. That was their only possible exposure point. Appeared they would have to go back and take it all up. Moral, mulch is kinda like chicken nuggets; you really don't know what's in it till it's too late.

In college, I had three roommates that did not heed my warnings about burning some "wood" they'd found while out on an overnight camping/mass beer consumption trip. I told them it sure looked a lot like a big ole section of Poison Oak vine, but they wouldn't listen.

They got lucky, in that they didn't develop any respiratory issues. Though they were so entirely covered by the rash, that all they could do was lie about and moan. One individual would head up to the Health Center, and get some medicine, enough for 3 days ( or in this case, for 3 dopes). The next day, dope # 2 would go, and so on. Repeat for 10 days...

At the time, I was pretty darn immune to the stuff, and wound up with a patch the size of a quarter on my stomach. I did not say "I told you so", though it was written in size 72 font all over my face, every time I walked by them.


I don't press the issue now, though, and just last year wound up with some sort of minor rash on my arms, after brushing up against some vegetation while fishing out in CO. It wasn't Poison Oak, maybe Poison Ivy?

Scott

Lidex gel script from the doc. Two days and all set.