Poison ivy

[Jon Danniken]

I've always done this in the shower, with increasingly hot water.

Jon

[Jon Danniken]

Old news from the alarmists, getting dredged up in time for summer.

Jon

[David Nebenzahl]

On 7/28/2010 5:30 AM teabird spake thus:

This is what's called a distinction without a difference.

Detergent *is* soap. (Of course, not all soap is detergent.) You could look it up.

All soaps work basically the same way, by attracting and binding oils. They may do it in different ways, or better or worse, but they all will remove oils to some extent. (Soap is actually fairly magical stuff, consisting of molecules that have one end that's polar and one that's non-polar: the polar end is hydrophilic and attracts water, while the non-polar end is hydrophobic and attracts oil.)

Soap and water *will* work, given enough soap and elbow grease.

Hey, I even ran across a web page that describes all this as it regards poison ivy:

[hallerb]

ALWAYS WASH WITH COLD WATER, hot water opens the pores, making any exposure worse...

And avoid vigirous scrubbing so you DONT rub the poision oil into it.......

[DerbyDad03]

With the blow dryer working for 6 - 8 hours, I blew it before I left for work, then again right after lunch - in the men's room at work. Taking showers isn't always possible but finding an AC outlet is usually pretty easy.

[ransley]

When I was pulling and burning poison ivy vines I didnt shower that night, I was partying big time, My face, arms, where I scratched and used the bathroom, about everywhere in a few days got me, 2 treatments of seriods failed, my arms has 250 or so welts some the size of dimes and 1/4"high, the hospital wanted me admitted and said its so bad it has to be something else. It affected my health from breathing it for years and spontaniously re appeared every 6 months for maybe 3 years on my fingers. I felt for along time like I would die and couldnt work. Itching was a nightmare. Then I didnt know poison ivy grew as a vine, I was clearing land and soaked in the poison and in the smoke as we burnt it. That day ruined the rest of my summer. I wonder what the Indians did. I could imagine it being used to torture people, by being tied into a patch for a few days. So any 3 leaf plant scares me, but I pulled some the other day by mistake and just used a bar of soap amd water and im fine.

[mm]

The same stories didn't mention global warming, only the hot summer. They might have run the same stories in other hot summers, but that doesn't mean they're false, and your urls below don't suggest they are false.

The last story of every network evening new show is rarely very important. They're called "human interest" stories, and I found it interetsig that these three things are flourishing this year. I'm not alarmed, and I don't think they intended to alarm anyone.

If the stinging jellyfish are closer to shore, as they are some places, the lifeguards or someone will probably tell the swimmers. Is that all right with you?

[norminn]

I followed the instructions religiously, and I have a cast iron stomach :o) Can eat just about anything, although more than half a head of cooked cabbage might keep me awake half the night :o) Love it!

I had had the tendonitis for quite some time, second shoulder to have it, and I was worried about "frozen shoulder". After I couldn't tolerate the anti-inflam., I went back to the doc, thinking he might order a couple of ultrasound sessions. His final reply was, "Well, at your age things sometimes don't work right". #@^#$!(& SOB! Mebbe he has a shoulder he can live without, but I need both of mine. I don't go to the doc unless heat/cold/rest fail to cure what ails me...so far, I've kept all of my body parts except tonsils....lost those only because I wanted to go along to the doc when my mom took my little brother. We went to hospital together to have our tonsils out, ether anes. Gack!

Suffered through a probable cracked pelvis, a couple of serious back strains and a fall from a skate board. Had to do level-of-conciousness checks every two hours after the skate board fall on cement floor...small lac. back of head....just went to work that night and stayed awake all night (at hospital:o)

[norminn]

They have been having a hell of a time with sting rays in FL, gulf.

[Tony]

Yes, I already knew that. Actually I think it can remain potent for more than a year. And it's not just the leaves, the whole dang vine has urushiol in/on it.

[Jules Richardson]

Ouch! It's strange stuff; two of my kids get it bad (although not that bad), the other could roll around in the stuff and not have any problem. Me, I can run my hands through it and expect four or five little bumps a few days later, but that's it. I've heard that "immunity" (or the opposite) can come and go in people, too.

That Zanfel stuff works great for treating it on anyone I've known who gets it bad, but it's insanely expensive :-(

It's all over in the woodland around our property, so no chance of ever completely getting rid of it.

cheers

Jules