Is Poison Ivy Resistance Real?

I swear I have it, now. Idk sometimes if I'm imagining it bc I didn't full on touch it but I know I touched it..I don't exactly wanna test it though.

Yes I've been exposed a lot to a super ivy both oak and sumac for months on end w no running water and I tossed and turned all night with the poison affecting me neurologically as well as physically. It was a literal hell. The skin scabbed and bled too and left scarring. When I moved to a slightly more temperate area I noticed I seem to be less sensitive to it but the locals had said in the other area that it was an especially toxic kind of ivy bc it was able to evolve there undisturbed. So maybe I'm just mentally less sensitive to this kind of "regular ivy" but haven't actually built any tolerance.

Some people are more resistant, but my understanding is that allergic response to PO/PI/PS increases with exposure over time, similar to latex. I had almost no response for awhile, now it is mild-moderate for me after working in central-northern California for over a decade.

I used to have horrible reactions as a teenager.  Now I get a couple of blisters and they're not very itchy. My mother has become more sensitive over time and repeated exposure.   She needs a steroid shot after most exposure.  Poison ivy allergies are just plain weird

Allergies are weird and can change over time.

I seem to have hardly any reaction to poison ivy. But I also have hardly any reaction to bee stings and scorpion stings. But as I know people whose allergies get worse with repeated exposure and others whose reactions get milder with each repeated exposure. My take is don't press your luck and try to avoid these things.

I was always an avid whitewater kayaker, always within contact of poison ivy. Very frequent exposure to it, as it was everywhere and not once got poison ivy. Now that I do not come in contact with it near as much, I get poison ivy.

Growing up, we were always in the woods & surrounded by those common 3 PO/PI/PS, along with fireweed (Stinging Nettle), Locust trees (4" thorns), a slew of ticks, chiggers, mosquitos, & a few venomous snakes.  All were best avoided.

On one occasion, my Grandmother was bank fishing in a lawn chair on the river.  She was casually passing the time waiting on a bite by rolling the leaves of grass between her fingers.  Turns out the leaves were poison ivy and she never got it.  She seemed immune to it.  My Mom on the other hand, could look at it & get it.  I myself have only had it once, but I knowingly temped fate.  So, to answer the question, I think genetically some people could be immune to the effects, just as some people are highly sensitive to them.  

Living in the eastern woodlands, I wonder about how native Americans dealt with these things in primitive times.  I think the old thin coat of dried mud on the exposed skin protected folks from a lot of things like poisonous plant oils and bug bites until protective clothing came into play.  Our practice was always to try to avoid poison ivy if possible, and as soon as you got home, do a tick check and wash with soapy water to get any oils off your skin.

I can relate to my own personal experience.  More than one physician told me that this couldn't happen, but in my experience doesn't bear it out.  I worked for a company 50 years ago that made the composite material for clutch friction discs.  They used cashew nut oil that was reacted with acid to make a version of phenolic (they also used raw asbestos, but that's a memory worth forgetting.)  Cashew nut oil contains the same toxin, Urushiol, that poison ivy does.  I was told at the time that I might, or might not, have an allergic reaction to it (yea...this was 50 years ago, different world.)  I should have listened to the guy...

Needless to say, I got it and got it baaad.  My paperwork from the hospital said the diagnosis was "99% acute dermatitis."  That doesn't BEGIN to describe it, I still have bad dreams about it.  About two weeks of being sedated and rubbing old-school Benadryl creme all over, and I mean "all over."  

But, after I was 'cured' I went on with my life which included working on a farm in Pennsylvania, a farm replete with loads of poison ivy.  Having a PI rash for me in the summer was standard procedure, if the leaves were out, I had it.  Since that experience, I can honestly say that I've never, ever, had it again, not even a little.  I can recall brushing up against ripe, green PI and waiting for the inevitable.  We have more poison oak (Toxicodendron diversilobum) in Oklahoma than poison ivy, but I don't react to that either.  

I say, yes, you can build a tolerance for it.  

Eric, the local folklore where I live claims that the natives here originally covered their babies in it. After any possible first massive reaction, they were unaffected for the rest of their lives. You make me think that may have some truth to it.

I always had terrible reactions to it. Direct contact caused boils that took weeks to heal and could leave scars. I quit having reactions all of a sudden, and I noticed it was exactly at the point in time that I got a dog. I don't know if he just made me happier that boosted my immune system, or he exposes me to more germs that boosted it, or the oil on his fur is a natural defense against the urushiol oil, but I no longer have an issue. He runs through it, rolls in it, and I often sleep with even my face against his fur, but I have no reaction. That's all I know.

I worked beside a gentleman clearing land. When we came upon a bunch of poison ivy, he told me he would take care of it ...he claimed to be immune to it.  He spent the next few hours clearing it with his bare hands.   I never did see him have a reaction.

As a child I would get covered in it. I have pictures when I was on the park board soccer team where my face was red with it and my eyes nearly swollen shut. As I got older I started to not be as affected by it, but this may be due to the fact that the older you get the less likely you are to be crawling around in it while playing in the woods. I had also learned what it looked like so got much better at avoiding it. I had convinced myself though that I had developed more of an immunity although immunity isn't really the right word I think because a lot of people have no reaction it is technically an allergy that affects 50-75% of the population.

Last week I mowed a trail through a field and mowed through a large patch of poison ivy, I then walked my trail immediately after. I must have come into contact with a significant amount of the poison ivy oil that head been chopped and splattered through the trail from the mower. I i'm currently recovering from one of the worst full body outbreaks I have ever had.

I say all of this because I think individuals have a wide spectrum of resistance to the stuff. I can usually touch it carefully and not end up with much more than a couple of small spots that I can shrug off, this has been the case for most of my adult life. But If I go thrashing it then roll around in the sap i'm going to break out worse. I just get an itchy rash. Some people have much worse reactions requiring steroids or hospitalization, I also know people who can rip it out by hand and have no reaction.

I also know people who mistakenly think Virginia creeper is poison ivy because it makes them breakout.

People are allergic to the chemicals in plants to different extents just like with food and pollen. So it is perfectly possible that some people have no reaction at all.

It is definitely in TN.

I made the mistake of telling my trail crew boss at Pinnacles National Monument "I seem to have almost no reaction, at least not any worse than the dozens of native trees I am allergic to". I was then put on Poison Oak detail for a month when I had a sprained ankle that made me useless for most other trail work. After that, and another 10yrs working, hiking and gardening around it, I have more of a reaction, but still pretty mild It's a lot like the residual itch of a bee sting. My wife on the other hand went from virtually no reaction to Poison Ivy growing up on the east coast and hiking the entire Appalachian trail, to having major regional swelling from mild exposure and some systemic inflammation as well.

Be careful out there, and remember it is native and an important wildlife plant, so if it's not an immediate nuisance to you, it may be better left alone.

I get it bad!  I remember back in the 90s I had a case so severe that my husband insisted on taking me to the ER and the physician on duty first thought I was burned from the massive blisters on my forearms.   Eyes were nearly swollen shut, skin was swollen and stretched to the limit, blisters had busted and were constantly oozing and I felt physically sick.  Insurance refused to pay because "contact dermatitis" wasn't considered a medical emergency.   Of course this was years before the quick care places and weekend clinics.  The next year he once again took me to the ER and I asked the physician if they could send photos to the insurance company and explained what happened the year before.  He said I shouldn't have any issues with insurance and I didn't. For some reason the peak of the rash always happens on the weekend.

My dad and grandma used to get it bad too, but never to the extent I do.  My mom and husband can pull or cut it with no issues, though mom gets a similar rash from bean vines and has to wear long sleeves and gloves when harvesting.   I usually have a bit of a rash during the warm months, but nothing major for about ten years.  However we are planning to tear down a building this fall that is covered in it and while I'll do what I can to keep from touching it, I'm sure I'll end up with a minor rash by the time we're finished.  I'd hoped my daughter would be immune but I've spotted a bit of rash on her legs a time or two. Just hoping she doesn't get it as severe as I do.

I 100% believe it is a real thing. I used to be so allergic to it but since making this poison ivy tincture and taking it anytime I had been around the vines, I haven't gotten a rash any more. And that has been years ago since taking it.
https://youtu.be/98ITQlv8wJY

Hollie Yang wrote:I 100% believe it is a real thing. I used to be so allergic to it but since making this poison ivy tincture and taking it anytime I had been around the vines, I haven't gotten a rash any more. And that has been years ago since taking it.
https://youtu.be/98ITQlv8wJY

If I were to witness someone I know taking the tincture for a few weeks with no after-effects and subsequently rolling around it poison ivy afterwards, I might try it.  I know the amount in a drop of tincture is minute and I'd be more likely to try it than to chew on a leaf as others have done.  Still I have reservations about ingesting it.

I used to rash up pretty badly to contact with it as a little kid. Then I (and a bunch of other kids) rolled down a hill covered in it several times one day. I got no rash, and I've never had one from it since.

I do however treat it with respect - cover up before working with it, and clean up well immediately afterward. People and pets who are especially sensitive to it can rash up from exposure to the oil on my clothes or skin.

I heard some people eat small amounts of it to build resistance, but it’s all on an individual basis. Next time you get it, make a paste out of salt and water. Rub that stuff on affected areas and really grind it in there. Then cover with ace bandage or gauze or those nylon sleeves things. The trick is to keep the salt on to dry out and neutralize the oil, plus the abrasive-ness of the salt lets you scratch it without making it worse.

Here in west pa, poison ivy is everywhere
the berries are winter food for the flickers and other woodpeckers
only humans get a reaction to it
I used to get a reaction to it
now i can walk thru it, pull it and mow it without any problem
it is better than putting up no trespassing signs
I think my lack of response is from me having a clean mind and only thinking pure thoughts :)