December 26, 2007

Poison Ivy Treatment

You now get to experience my inexperience of my early years in camping in the great outdoors. I started the morning deciding whether to bring the Pop Tarts and the Twinkies or the trail mix and energy bars. Well, guess which ones I chose? And I can only claim ignorance in the earlier stages of my outdoor experiences.

Ok, so right away I choose the bad stuff and that means a bad start. It was a cool partly cloudy day with no real chance of rain…. great! Several of us set out on our hike trying not to trip over falling logs or the mass amounts of rocks. Oh, and how could I forget those damn roots. Someone put those there intentionally. Just as your legs are getting tired and you feel like you can’t lift them one more time, someone slips a root under your foot forcing you in the prayer position to taste a little Terra Firma.

So, after a day of sweating, falling, complaining, bitching, soon comes the itching. Why you ask. After eating all those Pop Tarts and Twinkies, it has to go somewhere. Besides its biodegradable. Now it’s dark, so I wander around looking for the perfect tree to lean against or dare I try the leg cramping squat position. I decide to try the leg cramping squat position. In the privacy of the deep dark scary blackness, I get into this perfect position and I proceed with my……business. After a couple of minutes, I decide I’m finished and I have a moment of panic!!! For the first time I realized I don’t have any TP. As I think about my interesting problem, I have to stand because my feet are numb and my legs feel like I’ve been wading through lava. I’m standing there holding my pants up, I dig in my…….pocket for my standard issue police rated mini-mag light. I remember my friends telling me just use a leaf if you don’t have toilet paper. Great, there are leaves everywhere. But I can’t use old dried up brown leaves, I decide in my infinite wisdom to use a pile of nice new green leaves. So I proceed to grab a hefty handful of the nearest green foliage. I wipe in a proficient military manner, to ensure my mother would be proud to call me hers. I finish burying my…..business and proceed back to camp feeling like I just crossed into manhood. After some manly conversation, I crawl into my 30 degree down filled bag to catch some ZZZZ’s.

The next morning comes way to early with something I can only describe as the morning itch. No, I’m not scratching myself, it was a little farther south of the north pole. This wasn’t an itch you can scratch and it goes away. I tell my friends of my problem and one them makes a comment that I probably used poison ivy to wipe! Oh no!!! I think I did!! I did!! Itchy butt forever! At least that’s what I’m thinking. After plenty of cussing, we pack up our stuff and began walking all the way back to the truck. If you had a video camera It would have looked like I’d been walking with a sticker bush between my legs. As I stand there having a wonderful case of burning itching buttocks, I’m asking myself, is there a poison ivy treatment? Don’t do what I did. Be prepared. Take a look at the information I found below.

Poison Ivy Treatments

If you are exposed, according to the FDA, you should quickly (within 10 minutes):
  • first, cleanse exposed areas with rubbing alcohol. (this was definitely not my chosen method)
  • next, wash the exposed areas with water only (no soap yet, since soap can move the urushiol, which is the oil from the poison ivy that triggers the rash, around your body and actually make the reaction worse).
  • now, take a shower with soap and warm water.
  • lastly, put gloves on and wipe everything you had with you, including shoes, tools, and your clothes, with rubbing alcohol and water.

Unfortunately, if you wait more than 10 minutes, the urushiol will likely stay on your skin and trigger the poison ivy rash. You may not be able to stop it on your skin, but you might still scrub your nails and wipe off your shoes, etc., so that you don’t spread the urushiol to new areas.

Remember that poison ivy isn’t contagious though, so touching the rash won’t actually spread it.

Since your kids will probably get poison ivy a lot you might want to have a “poison ivy treatment kit” ready, with rubbing alcohol, a large bottle of water, and some soap. Since rubbing alcohol can be poisonous, children should be supervised with it though and it is not something you should send off into the woods with them.

Preventing Poison Ivy

In addition to getting rid of poison ivy when you find it, you can avoid poison ivy by:
  • wearing long pants and a shirt with long sleeves, boots and gloves when your kids will be most at risk, especially when playing in wooden areas, around lakes, or going on hikes



If it is too late and you already need a really good poison ivy treatment then I recommend you try this!

Let me know what you think.

John