Poison Ivy

I just finished reading Tanya White's post about ivy and firewood.  I have known folks that could breakout in the ivy rash any season of the year.

One friend would breakout if the wind blew across a patch of ivy, she has gotten it from the burning of brush, off of their dogs, she had super severe reactions, even ending in the ER a few times.  I would brew gallons of jewel weed tea and freeze it in ice cube trays for her.

I am one of those blessed to be immune to the oil.  I can and have many times pulled the vines out bare handed.  My friend called me at work once to ask to stop and check out another plant/vine that she was sure was poison ivy. (it was Virginia Creeper).  A guy from drop the road saw me in her yard and called out"I've never seen a yardman at work wearing a suit and tie."  I of course replied "When you hire the best, this is what you get."

So here is my question for all of you about poison ivy do you have:  mild reactions ,severe reactions or are you a freak like me?

Peace

PS I've never had a breakout and I'm in my 70's, not really sure that I'm still immune to the little three leaf fiend after chemo!!! ( not planning to test it any time soon)

When I was a child I had rashes from it a couple times. Then one day I rolled several times down a hill covered in poison ivy and got no rash. My playmates that day weren't so lucky.

Ever since, I can rip the vines out bare-handed with no ill effects.

I've been told since that I was outrageously fortunate, and it's far more common after a mighty exposure like that to become severely sensitive instead.

If the nasty oil doesn't affect you much, perhaps you have the basis of a nice micro-business. I mean, if you can trade your removal services for other stuff you need or can use, IMO you're golden.

I am highly allergic to poison ivy and only clear the dead vines in winter where there is no leaf left. Even so, I have to put on all kinds of protections as if I am handling something radioactive: double gloves, removable outer layers, plastic bags over my shoes and wash my tools thoroughly afterwards. I pile the debris up to dry so I can burn them down cleanly without sending up any smoke. I was in the hospital this morning,  I overheard a lady in the waiting room talking about coming in for her poison ivy rash. She said she had that on her butt and I had no idea how she got it.

May, My first guess of how the lady got the rash where she did, would be taking a pee outdoors without checking the ground first!!!

If I laughed about this poor lady and her rear end, I'm I a bad person???

Peace

When I was younger I had no allergy to poison ivy, but developed it later in life. The thing that helps the most, is feeding it to my goats and then consuming the milk. Not sure why it works, but this has made a huge difference in the rare rashes I do get now. (Plus, goats are great at controlling the stuff).

Leigh, I have not read in the past about goats and ivy.  I find this very interesting, it may offer some hope for all those that have reactions from ivy.

Must be an immune response much like eating local honey to help with seasonal allergies.

Thank you for your post, I'll look into this idea later today.

Peace

Deane, you're welcome. I would agree it's akin to eating local raw honey to help combat allergies. It was an observation I made in our early years of goatkeeping and I made a blog post about it, here - https://www.5acresandadream.com/2011/05/immunities-milk-another-of-my-theories.html. I'm pointing the the blog post because the comments are worth reading.

Also clarifying here that we consume raw goats milk. I don't know if pasteurization would affect it, but perhaps.

I'll add that my husband, who has always been severely allergic to poison ivy has been helped as well, although he still suffers from it more than I do. But now, his is minor compared to before. He can treat it effectively with aloe vera, which before, didn't help much.

Huh. I've always been hyper-reactive to it - so much so that I'd joke about walking on the other side of a field away from it, I'd break out in a wicked rash. I had to quit a job over it, about 25yrs ago. I had just started in an auto brake factory, grinding brake pads down to spec. I noticed I was getting itchy, after the first couple days. By week two, my wrists, where the brake dust would work its way in between my shirt sleeves and gloves had developed the textures of a toad, and we're raw and red, and my face was getting rough and red... That's how I found out they used the same oil in brakes that is in poison ivy. I'll never understand why they'd do that, and hope that by now, they've stopped!
But I've noticed this year, that I don't seem to be reacting to it. The stuff is everywhere, even right outside my front door, right now. But, my goats love it, and I handle them all the time, including milking, some years. I wonder if I'm building, or have built a resistance to it?  

My dad was immune, but his younger brother made the mistake, when he was 6 or 7, of using some for toilet paper, on a camping trip, once. He never made that mistake, again!

Carla, If we lived closer to each other, I'd offer to stop at your house and pull up the ivy.  Of course you would have to help me up from the ground!!!

And about the uncle and his issue of wiping, well, the only thing to say is EEUW!!!  That is a hard lesson to learn. ( I didn't laugh at this one, I did smile.  Does that mean that I'm becoming a better person???)

Peace

🤣 My understanding is that my grandpa just said something along the lines of, "Well, that's a lesson you won't forget!", and then scolded my dad and the youngest brother for laughing... I laughed, when my dad shared the story, but it was a sympathetic, "oh, no - poor kid!" kind of laugh.

I do appreciate the offer, but I just bring the goats up, and let them have at it. I think once they polish off the greens this time, I'll dose it generously with boiling salt-vinegar, to kill it off.