poison ivy

[MxRider52]

What's the best way to get rid of it I always get it and I get it bad I have it now and I want to get rid of it before it gets really bad

[Scro]

I get it when I even think about going out in the woods. I've learned to wear long sleeves and gloves, and take a shower as soon as possible afterward. As far as getting rid of a couple small spots, over the counter creams work for me...as long as I don't scratch the area. If it's a large area and the creams don't work, I'll go get a shot from the doc. That's the only way I've been able to get rid of it at times. With the shot, it usually stops itching in a couple hours, and is on it's way out in about a day.

[CJM]

The over the counter stuff really doesnt work all that great. If its mild to stop the itching some benedryl is a good idea.

Whatever you do, dont buy the stuff that claims to get rid of it and is made of a pumice like wash you scrub yourself with. I used it 2x last summer and I swear it made me have it so bad the only cure was the shot. The problem is the sap from the plant gets into your skin and theres not much out there that can neutralize it. What I did do a few times was take some bleach and dilute it slightly and sub myself with it. It worked but it was only a mild case of poison ivy.

btw, the shot sucks. it hurts like hell. however when your wrist is literally 2x swollen from its original size you dont have much choice.

Wear long sleeves and gloves, shower immediately if possible. Try to stay the heck away from the viney type and bush type poison type plants as well.

[Kovatch]

I don't get it really really bad, but I have used gasoline and kerosene to cut the oil on the skin and it has helped (surprisingly). After I am in the woods logging out some trees that are "caked" in PI, kerosene helps dry and remove that oil that causes the reaction.

If you prefer the over the counter lotion, a believe it is called Calamine (sp?) lotion they sell at CVS, Walgreens, Wal Mart, etc.

Try to avoid anything touching or rubbing that area until it's gone. Even your shirt can spread the oils.

If you see the three leaf monster next time, just go home and wipe your arms or legs in a fuel. It does help.

[buck440]

when i touch i get these huge fluid filed monstress bubbles on me. gas gets rid of it for me. you need to dry it out for it to go away. ever cleaned something in gas and noticed your hands dry up and crack? soak a rag in it and put the wet rag on the spot where it is.

i think they even said this on the poison ivy website too.

[MxRider52]

Should I scratch/break them open before I put cream/gas/alcohol/brake clean or whatever on it

[HondaRacing83]

ive never had it, ive been riding for 11 years (since i was 3) and usually wear a t shirt, riding pants, boots, gloves, helmet,goggles etc. never got into to jerseys. if its cold ill wear a hoodie. and thats hard woods riding, surprised i havnt got it yet

[Tommy Warren]

Originally posted by MxRider52
Should I scratch/break them open before I put cream/gas/alcohol/brake clean or whatever on it

only if you want a bunch of scars everywhere... how do you get into poison ivy that bad? It only affects you if you break the leaves or stem and get the juice on yourself

[Balaz_73*00]

Apply gas and light on fire.

[Tommy Warren]

Originally posted by Balaz_73*00
Apply gas and light on fire.

X2 and while your doing stupid things....buy an LT-R450....heck buy two:D

[pmg8134]

put some bleach on a rag... wipe on.... few days.. bye bye!

[madskrillz2]

Originally posted by pmg8134
put some bleach on a rag... wipe on.... few days.. bye bye!

This is what I do if it's a small patch but if you're like me, a small patch turns into your whole body. I swear, I can get it if I'm downwind from one leaf of the stuff. I'll have one little spot and then it'll just spread everywhere in a few days. Luckily my Aunt is a nurse and always has a shot handy. That's usually the only thing that clears it up for me.

[buck440]

fyi poison ivy is oil based not water. if it touches your clothes and you touch the clothes a week later if their not washed you can still get it.

i would not pop it. my right hand and arm is scared from it poping on it's own. just leave it and treat it as it is. if you seen spastic's thread about his 3rd degree burns how big them nasty juicy blisters were, that's identical to how i look like when i get poison ivy.

trust a fellow rider who gets it extremely bad from riding in the woods, put a gas soaked rag on the spot for a few minutes and take it off and leave it alone for an hour or so and repeat a few times a day if possible. better than anistetics, anti-inflamitories, itch creames, bynadryll...for me gasoline has worked far better than any of that stuff.

[derekhonda]

Originally posted by HondaRacing83
ive never had it, ive been riding for 11 years (since i was 3) and usually wear a t shirt, riding pants, boots, gloves, helmet,goggles etc. never got into to jerseys. if its cold ill wear a hoodie. and thats hard woods riding, surprised i havnt got it yet

Someone correct me if I'm wrong:

But I think the rash you get from poison ivy isn't from poison ivy itself...it's from you being allergic to poison ivy. Actually I just looked it up, congrats, you're part of 15% of the world! "About 85 percent of people will acquire an allergy to the sap in poison ivy. The other 15 percent are presumably resistant"

A benedryl and some calamine lotion usually did the trick for me, although there have been two trips to the hospital for a shot.

[K-Dub]

I used to get it really bad. My answer became: wipe my arm with laquer thinner then scrub with scrub brush, then apply laquer thinner again. Not for the faint of heart, burns bad for about 10 min. Always dries right up and goes away for me and no scars yet.

[Lasher]

Zanfel

You can pick it up at any CVS, Walgreens etc. Pricey but it works for me. Read up on how it works compared to others named brands.

Posion Ivy (oak and sumac) is an oil called Urishal. It will bond with the skin after a short period of time. Then it is a pia to get rid of but that stuff, Zanfel works for me if it is not too bad. Such as a spot here or there.

I used to get it on my left arm all the time when trimming weeds on the lawn. I now put on a long sleeve shirt and wash my hands right afterwards and good to go. If I do get a spot on me, I just use Zanfel.

If I have it bad, I just to see the DR and get the pills. Oh...word of advise...do NOT take a leak until you wash your hands! Yes, I know from experience on that one.

[Tommy Warren]

Originally posted by derekhonda
Someone correct me if I'm wrong:

But I think the rash you get from poison ivy isn't from poison ivy itself...it's from you being allergic to poison ivy. Actually I just looked it up, congrats, you're part of 15% of the world! "About 85 percent of people will acquire an allergy to the sap in poison ivy. The other 15 percent are presumably resistant"

A benedryl and some calamine lotion usually did the trick for me, although there have been two trips to the hospital for a shot.

i guess I'm immune...i get a couple water blisters and then its gone. and I've been covered when weed wacking my camping spot at the races

[CJM]

Thats the stuff I used and it made it worse by 10 fold! Im not sure if I had it to bad already or something, but it actually spread it the first 2x I tried using it. The 3rd time I got poison ivy I said F it and used bleach and no zanfel and it cleared up in 2-3 days.

Originally posted by Lasher
Zanfel

You can pick it up at any CVS, Walgreens etc. Pricey but it works for me. Read up on how it works compared to others named brands.

Posion Ivy (oak and sumac) is an oil called Urishal. It will bond with the skin after a short period of time. Then it is a pia to get rid of but that stuff, Zanfel works for me if it is not too bad. Such as a spot here or there.

I used to get it on my left arm all the time when trimming weeds on the lawn. I now put on a long sleeve shirt and wash my hands right afterwards and good to go. If I do get a spot on me, I just use Zanfel.

If I have it bad, I just to see the DR and get the pills. Oh...word of advise...do NOT take a leak until you wash your hands! Yes, I know from experience on that one.

[HondaRacing83]

iguess im immune to, ive been covered in it with the quad

[wilkin250r]

Originally posted by MxRider52
Should I scratch/break them open before I put cream/gas/alcohol/brake clean or whatever on it

No.

The stuff you're using isn't a "medicine", it's not something you want to get into your system as a cure. You're having an allergic reaction to the oils on your skin, so you want to put that stuff ON your skin to pull the oils out. You don't need to break your skin open to get it IN your skin.

In much the same way you can use gasoline to clean engine oil off your hands, you're basically trying to do the same thing with the poison ivy oils on your skin. You don't need to break your skin open to do that.

[JOHNDOE83]

Originally posted by MxRider52
What's the best way to get rid of it I always get it and I get it bad I have it now and I want to get rid of it before it gets really bad

Walgreens has this scrub that works GREAT for poison ivy, I get it bad whenever I get it and calamine just dont do it for me.

This stuff is awesome you scrub it in while in the shower and by the next day it starts getting better, its in a white box with a ivy leaf on it I think its called zana something? The walgreens brand works just as good also.

Keep a eye out for it next time you get infected...lol.

[atvfrk10]

Get tecnu,

Basically it works by removing the rash causing toxin urushiol from the skin. You use it in the shower as a scrub.

It's great because you need you rub it in, thus you get to scratch it! Gets rid of it very fast!

[fastredrider44]

I've had it bad enough to send me to the doc several, several times. They will put you on predizone if they don't give you the shot. Calagel and Tecnu have always done it for me. Last year I tried some spray from walgreens or CVS. It didn't really work all that well. I will say that I don't get it like I used to. I honestly believe I've had it so much that I've developed some sort of immunity to it.

[MX450]

wow you guys are using brake clean and gas on yourselves?

The best way to avoid a bad outbreak is to know WHY you are iching. The iching and blisters is your skins reaction to the oil from the plant. After the oil is washed off you cannot spread it on yourself, YOU are not producing poison ivy, your body is just reacting to it. You cannot cure it, the cremes you get are only to dry up the rash and help with the iching.

They best thing you can do is take a bath AS SOON as you can after being exposed, also wash ALL clothing that was on you. People think they spread it from scratching themselves but really they just didnt wash it off after exposure so they spread it that way. Once you have bathed and gotten the oil off of everything you just have to wait it out for the affected areas.

[Drfat400ex]

Lol this is pretty strange, I ride in the bush everyday rustling through crap and breaking trail all the time. I've only got it like once in my whole life :P

[CJM]

MX450 what do you think they used 50 years ago? There was no special lotions or cremes. Since turpentine was readily available they used it for so many things it was countless.

Sometime washing off the sap is near impossible. I washed my arms with bleach and it still was a bad case