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It looks pretty in the morning light, but one touch of poison ivy can leave you itching like crazy.
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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.
Sally Marcus wrote that with a hot-water heater set to a maximum of 125 degrees, three or four seconds is about all you can stand. But the benefits are immediate. "The itch simply disappears for a while."
Homeopathic remedies such as Rhus Tox and Oral Ivy were favored by several readers--nutty though the idea may sound. The concoctions' manufacturers claim that small amounts of poison ivy extract, taken internally, provide some immunity and shorten the duration of a rash.
Readers agreed that the best approach is prevention.
Learn to recognize the plant by its three shiny leaves, they say, and avoid it. And if you do run afoul of it, wash off the urushiol as soon as you can, using cool water.
Reader Chris Waller recommended keeping the poison ivy washes Tecnu and Zanfel in the medicine cabinet--and Tecnu in the car, too, since it can be used without water.
But when no Tecnu is available, a person knowledgeable about common woodland plants can use the crushed leaves or stem of jewelweed to clean off the oil.
Be certain of your identification; some other plants might exacerbate the problem by spreading the urushiol further.
Readers say they use common sense when treating their own cases of poison ivy. Home remedies are for minor outbreaks over small areas of the body.
Poison ivy rashes over large areas or on the face, particularly around the eyes, should be examined and treated by a doctor.
Laura Moyer: 540/374-5417
Email: lmoyer@freelancestar.com
| Poison ivy is common around here, and once you get a rash from it you may be willing to try unconventional methods to calm the itch.
Readers suggest: Prevent the rash in the first place Homeopathic remedies such as Rhus Tox Relieve the itching by running hot tap water over the area for several seconds. It may provide a respite for a few minutes or a few hours. |
