poison ivy

[shor]

I am usually very careful poison ivy wise.
Long pants and shirts while in the woods.
leaves= if its three, leave it be and such.
I have never had it before.

We were putting new trees and shrubs in front of the house so before we dug i called that free 1 800 utility service center. The guy comes with the little vinyl flags and spraypaint and he marks out all of the electric/gas telephone underground lines.

well the next day the guys came to cut the grass and they took out all of the little flags out and and rested them off to the side.(guess where!)

i get home from work and i am pissed and i get all the little flags and i am putting them back in the grass as best i can because the spraypainted marks on the grass are hard to see because they just mowed all of the grass.

turns out the oil from the poison ivy(urishoil) was on the vinyl flags and as i was putting the flags back in the ground the flags were rubbing on my forearms. My dressshirt sleeves were rolled up, and that is where i got it. from my writs up to my elbows.
and my one thigh, which i cant figure out because i had long pants on.

so i am probably the only person in the country that got poison ivy from those little red flags the read "buried underground utilities"

the good thing is my daughter wanted to help me put the flags in but i wouldnt let her help me because the ends are pointy and i thought she would prick herself.

[Tim Penton]

I get poison ivy terribly and the best treatment that I have found is Tecnu Oak & Ivy Brand Outdoor Skin Cleanser. All of the professional loggers around here use it. I get mine at Duluth Trading.

[COPO]

My brother and I used to get it really bad as kids. We used a paper towel soaked in Clorox on it several times a day. I'm sure there is something better these days, but it did the trick 30 years ago.

[ORIGLS6]

Thanks for bringing that up Charlie. That's what I've used for years too. I first noticed that the rash seemed to dry up when we spent time in the pool. I figured if a little chlorine was good..........

The worst case I ever had came from a campout with our Scout Troop. The kids had gathered firewood after dark and we all stood around the fire all evening. In a matter of a couple of days most of us were covered! The oil travels quite well in the smoke!
My hands were like raw meat so I put on light weight cotton gloves, then vinyl gloves over them. Just poured straight bleach inside and let it cook. Burns like HE!! but within a few days I was on the mend.

Can't recommend it to anyone else but I know it worked for me!