Poison Ivy vs Bed Bugs

The irritant in Poison Ivy is an oil. You do not need to come in contact with the vine, only come in contact with something that has come in contact with the vine. I once got a significant case of poison ivy by playing with my dog who liked to play in the poison ivy.

If the oil is >>I told you I thought it wasn't BB's. I kind of figured it was something else

Reply to
keith_nuttle
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My poison ivy appeared in patches, not evenly all over my body. This may not be poison ivy. A lot of the bumps have been scratched and could become infected, so something is needed to remove the itching. If it is poison ivy you may need a hormone shot. You can tell a bedbug infestation by their feces they leave behind. Skin breakouts can be difficult to diagnose and may be a symptom of something more serious--see the best dermatologist you can find.

Reply to
Phisherman

Wow, didn't even think of poison ivy/oak.

Also - I wish I was half a buff as you. :D

Reply to
Happybattles

what do you think about that diagnosis?

I sent the pictures to my primary physician, and he said it doesnt look like it. But I sent it to a friend who is also a doctor and he said it looks like it.

So half the people thinks its poison ivy, the other half says its not. Very frustrating.

lol, I wish I was. I have not worked out in 3 weeks since this whole episode started, I've just been sitting in the hotel room staring at the bed spread trying to see if anything is moving. (and last night, something was!)

Reply to
tforms1

If you were hot and sweaty this may not have been soon enough for clean-up. I've heard less than 20 minutes for bathing to be effective.

You don't spread it around by scratching the sores. This is an old myth that refuses to die. Scratching can cause an infection and possible scars though. It acts much like an allergy and is in your bodies system. Antihistamines can provide some relief. The most likely points of breakout are sensitive skin which came in contact with the oil. However, you can break out in other areas too, most commonly where your skin is soft and thin.

I have had individual small spots similar to yours and large areas on other occasions. My last tangle with PI was a mere year ago. I had small spots scattered all over my upper torso and arms. There were a few areas that looked more like welts. I know exactly where I got into it. I was mowing through a "nature trail" in our field and could see the plants 6-10 inches tall. There wasn't a lot of them, I washed up within an hour or so and I never got off the mower while in their vicinity. It was a hot day, I was sweaty and there must have been mowing debris thrown into the air. Some spots looked like welts, never blistered. Others did blister. The later appearing spots were less likely to blister.

Urushiol is really strong stuff. I've heard/read that a teaspoon full would be plenty enough to make everyone in NYC plenty uncomfortable...

I would be curious to see some photos of the area around where the Bamboo was cut. PI isn't hard to identify and would still be in the area where you most likely got into it. Especially of any three leafed plants growing 4 to 12 inches high. PI has alternate leaves with either smooth or irregular edges on an oval shape. Most other harmless three leaf plants have opposite leaves. If you take picts, be really careful and watch where you step and touch.

Here are some links for PI I posted for someone else awhile back:

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page is good for identifying the plant. Note I don't agree with all of the comments on it:

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us posted on how you come out with this. It usually takes a month for it to become but a bad memory...

Reply to
Leon Fisk

When my son got the poison oak on his leg, it looked like he was wearing a bright red sock up to his knee. No spots, just one contiguous raised red area. The first time he got it it was on his arm and trunk and was a large connected mass, too. I think he might have had some little blisters too, but I'm not certain. This was 16 years ago.

--Jenny

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Reply to
Jenny

But if I was hot and sweaty (pores opened) wouldnt I get the affects sooner than 1 week? =) Plus every morning more appeared. So it started 1 week later, and everyday there was at least 5 more bumps. Thats why I have some doubts about the PI diagnosis.

So your last tangle with PI looked like how mine looks? Interesting.... I hate THIS!!

2 docs said it was, and 2 said it wasnt.

the backyard has a fence, about 100 feet long. I was on the right side/corner (I hopped over the fence) Years ago (3-4?) a friend of my mother's helped cut the bamboo on the left side and he got poison ivy.

To be honest, I dont care about the bumps/itchiness/etc I HOPE it is poison ivy. Cuz I am paranoid that I brought bugs home into the house. THAT is what I concerned about. =(

Thanks

Reply to
tforms1

Why do I need a hormone shot?

The dermatologist did say the reaction was severe so I got a cortisone shot. Is that what you mean?

Thats only once there a alot. =(

Thats what I am afraid of. But Im not sure what else it could be. and two dermatologists gave 2 answers (bed bugs and poison ivy)

Reply to
tforms1

But if the chemical irritation is bad enough that you get blisters that fill with liquid, the area is so sensitive that the mere act of scratching and irritating the area spreads the inflammation and makes it worse. It is not the urushiol spreading the poison ivy, it is the scratching and irritation spreading the inflammation. It heals much faster if you don't irritate the area mechanically by scratching. The itching may drive you crazy, but it will heal faster if you don't scratch.

Most poison ivy medicines just treat the itching. This in combination with allergy pills and steroids is about the only treatment. In any case, if you don't scratch it and get an infection, it usually starts to clear up in a week.

The urushiol is fairly slow acting. When I was in the Forest Service we used a prophylactic gel soap. We covered ourselves from head to toe with this soap before a shift on a forest fire. Then when we got back 13 hours later, we took a shower in a steam and washed the soap off. This prevented us from getting poison ivy everywhere except in our eyes and lungs. We had to wear face masks when we were in areas where poison ivy was burning since the smoke carries the urushiol in the air and it gets in your eyes and lungs.

Once the oil is on your skin and/or clothes, you can touch it and spread it around. You can get the oil on your hands when you take your clothes and shoes off and then spread it to tender parts of your body. If you sit on furniture with contaminated clothing, other people who touch it with bare skin can get urushiol on them. If you take a good shower after working in poison ivy with a brush and a strong soap it usually will remove most of the urushiol and any reaction will be rather minimal. Be sure to scrup in tender areas like between your finger and around your wrists. Some people have hours before a visible reaction, others have days. However, once you start seeing the reaction, it is too late to prevent it.

However, clothing that has urushiol on it can still spread the reaction. After working in poison ivy, I take off my clothes in front of the washing machine and put them in myself and proceed directly to the shower. My wife is very allergic, so I can't risk letting her touch my contaminated clothes.

Reply to
Stephen Henning

The reaction/incubation period between individual people varies greatly. A week would seem a bit long to me, but... Is it possible that you had some early spots and just didn't put together that something was wrong right away? I know what a poison ivy reaction looks like and quite often I notice it before it begins itching like the dickens.

Take a look at this site/search output. Near the top are several links to decent photos of peoples' reactions/rashes.

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there is a lot of good, informative links to articles on that page. The more informed you become the better you will feel about it. Very few doctors are experts on poison ivy. Most of the people sitting in their offices don't really need to be seeing a doctor, so they don't really have to do a thing...

I still think this is key to putting your mind at ease or not. If there is obviously poison ivy growing where you were working it is a safe bet that you probably got into it. If you can't find any evidence in the area then you should pursue the insect idea more. Crushing, cutting, mutilating PI plants is just begging to get it. Merely brushing against it and not breaking it open to its sap is less likely.

Go look for the poison ivy plants. If they are there it is almost a sure bet that that is what you have.

Reply to
Leon Fisk

Has anybody had any luck with the product called "Zanfel"?

It's fairly new, and very expensive - about 40 dollars for a one ounce tube. It's a special wash for poison ivy rash. The manufacturer claims it stops the itching by bonding to the urushiol and removing it, even after the oil has bonded to the skin and your immune system has started attacking it (creating the rash and the itching).

I have a tube of it here. I have used it with mixed results.

Reply to
Ether Jones

The washes work best as preventatives after exposure but before the rash. Nothing except time is a cure. Treatments just try to contain the itch, the inflamation, and the other allergy symptoms.

Reply to
Stephen Henning

Yes, I know this used to be the conventional wisdom.

But the point I was making is that Zanfel claims to have changed all that.

Have you ever heard of Zanfel? Have you ever tried it? That was my question.

I bought a tube of Zanfel a year ago to keep in the medicine cabinet when a friend swore by it, since I have 10 wooded acres with serveral patches of poison ivy.

I've had occasion to use it 3 or 4 times, and I've not been impressed. I was wondering if anyone else has tried it with better results than I obtained.

Reply to
Ether Jones

someone else mentioned that. especially since I do wrestle while I am out of town for work. and ring worm and staph is not uncommon in wrestling.

but I thought staph enters through a cut and infects it. so it would be around the area of the cut...not spread all over.

Reply to
tforms1

NO! but I might not have given it a fair test. Last PI attack may have gone systemic with in hours of exposure.

Cheryl

Reply to
Cheryl Isaak

Zanfels claim and only claim is: "Zanfel helps lift the toxin, urushiol, common to poison ivy, oak and sumac from the skin where it has come into contact and bound to the epidermis. This binding of plant toxin creates the allergic rash known as poison ivy. By washing the urushiol oil out of the skin cells, relief comes more quickly."

As one reviewer explained: "The scientific claims in the product description defy belief. By the time the symptoms associated with poision oak (ivy or sumac) show up, the urushiol has already been metabolized and gotten rid of. If you're itching, you don't need something to bind to and defeat urushiol, you need something to relieve the skin that has reacted to one of the already-excreted breakdown products of urushiol metabolism."

If you read reviews by users, you will find that some claim that it relieved the itch. Others found it did nothing. You decide. Remember most reviews are published by places that sell the product. However, by the time you can get it from most pharmacies or mail order, the allergic reaction would be clearing up on its own. Since it is very expensive many pharmacies don't stock the stuff.

Reply to
Stephen Henning

What is an "excreted" product of urushiol "metabolism" ??

My understanding of the mechanism of poison ivy rash is quite different. The skin is not "reacting to" an "excreted product" of "urushiol metabolism". Rather, the urushiol binds to the skin cells, and the body's immune system no longer recogizes them as being part of your body... so the immune system attacks the cells, causing the rash and the itching. Once the affected cells have been destroyed, the immune reaction stops and the rash clears up.

Is the above description now history, and the new theory about excreted products of urushiol metabolism now the accepted explanation?

Reply to
Ether Jones

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