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Readers try careful washing, homeopathic remedies and hot-water rinses to minimize the agony of poison ivy Date published: 6/8/2009
BY LAURA MOYER
John Lippincott wore long sleeves and gloves when cleaning out vines from under a tree in his Stafford County front yard a couple of years ago. But despite his precautions, a rash appeared on his arms a few days later--poison ivy, with all its loathsome itching and blistering. His wife, Shelley, suggested Rhus Tox, a homeopathic remedy in pill form. Lippincott took the recommended dose and thinks the pills helped clear up the rash faster than usual. And for the itching? Shelley recommended hot water from the tap--as hot as he could stand for as long as he could stand. Lippincott was skeptical but stuck his arm under the faucet anyway. Didn't that hurt? "You'd think it would," he said. "But after you cut it off, it's just relief." After he cut off the water, that is--not the arm. Homeopathic products and the hot-water approach are two of the most popular home remedies recommended by Free Lance-Star readers in response to a Life story last summer about a reporter's recurring battles with the merciless rash. Several people said side effects deter them from taking the oral steroids commonly prescribed by doctors to relieve a poison ivy rash. And they said over-the-counter products such as calamine, cooling gels and antihistamine creams work briefly or not at all. Relieving the itching with hot tap water was by far the readers' favorite home remedy. Many who responded swear by it. "I couldn't believe how much it did relieve the itch," wrote Lippincott, 62. But running hot water over an itchy, oozing rash isn't for the faint of heart. Reader Jacob Atkinson tried it as a last resort, and at first the steaming water made the itching even more intense. Then, almost instantly, he felt relief--a reprieve from itching that lasted four to eight hours. "It kept me from scratching, which helped it to heal faster. It also allowed me to get to sleep much easier at night," Atkinson wrote. Using water from the tap--not water heated on a stove or in a microwave--is key, readers said. The aim is to subdue the poison ivy, not end up scalded.
Date published: 6/8/2009
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