Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote: All I can offer is don't touch your hootus or this will seem like the good old days.
That happened to me when I was 17. It wasn't so much the hootus, as it was the support cast that got it. I felt like I was on fire for a week, and not in a good way.
impulsive wrote: scalding hot water feels great, but I was under the impression this helps it spread.
Yes/no....if there's oil not bound to the skin, it may spread the oil (and thus, the dermatitis) around. If all the oil is bound to the skin, it won't spread it. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urushiol-induced_contact_dermatitis
Jewel weed.
Morbid wrote: Pine tar soap, calamine lotion and prednisone.
++1 on the prednisone........................................$4 stops the pain!
I had 100% of my forearms covered in poison ivy a few summers back. I tried a lot of OTC remedies, but none of them seemed to help much. It was 2-3 weeks before it began to subside. Scalding hot water was the best temporary relief.
Sidebar: If you needed proof that Leiber and Stoller could make anything a hit, here's a catchy tune about a girl with an STD.
Prednisone is a terrible drug. Just terrible. However, for a week or so and for extreme cases of contact dermatitis ("Poison Ivy"), or other severe allergic reactions, it is wonderful. Yeah, wally world will sell it to you on their super saver prescription plan for four bucks, which is why I suggested, above, that the OP go back to his doctor. But then, suffering myself from Cassandra Syndrome, no one ever listens to me.
Tecnu is good E36 M3. I have a bottle of it next to the sink and a super concentrate formula upstairs. After the rash breaks out, though, it isn't as good. Doesn't hurt, just doesn't help much either. But post exposure, the stuff is magic.
Interesting on the Jewel Weed, FT.
I've had mixed results with Jewel Weed... it's what is says ... a weed... don't know it's territory, but I do know it grows here in the south
it has a liquidy substance inside the stem... smear on the affected area ... sometimes you get some relieve
foxtrapper wrote: Jewel weed.
Best thing I ever used. As a teenager I was very suceptible to Poison Ivy Once I got in the smoke where a neighbor was burning out a fence row. Since It was summer I wasn't wearing a shirt at the time. I was lucky that it didn't get in my lungs but my nose and eyes were swollen shut.
Parents took me to the doctor who said to use calimine lotion. On the way out of the doctors office we met a friend of my father. He told my parents he would bring something over that would clear it up quickly.
He showed up with some Jewelweed which he put in a bowl and mashed up. He told my mother to rub the juice on me. She was reluctant to use any "home grown medicine" so she smeared a little bit on my arm.
The next day the area where she applied the jewelweed juice was all cleared up. So I got a "jewelweed bath". Took about 3 days for all of it to clear up but I think it worked bettter than anything else I had tried
Thank god I'm not allergic to poison ivy. 
don't be getting all smug on us now... you know that allergies can change from one yr to the next don't you ?.... you trying to temp the allergy gods ?
SyntheticBlinkerFluid wrote: Thank god I'm not allergic to poison ivy.
I didn't use to be. When I was younger I would just pull the stuff out of the ground with my bare hands. It never effected me.
When I was in my 30s, I cut a vine with a chain saw. I didn't think anything of it because I knew I wasn't allergic to it. By evening I was itching like crazy. By the next day I couldn't see out of one eye. I was covered head to toe. I've gotten into it a couple of times since then. Now I avoid it like the plague.
In reply to Toyman01 and wbjones :
I am worried that one day I will get it. I work outside everyday. When I do see it I avoid it. I was the same way as you Toyman, I would go wandering in the woods on my grandmas property. It would rub up against me while hiking and I would never get it. Its something I don't want to get.
AFAIK, my mom isn't allergic to it either and she's 59.
"Cassandra Syndrome" Had to look that one up.- "1) The condition of speaking the truth and having no one believe you." Oh.
Jewel weed also gives quick and wonderful relief to stinging nettle.
Conveniently it tends to grow near either plant.
I had luck with film developer. I used to work in a dark room and got poison ivy all along my arm. Ended up accidentally dropping my ring in a vat of developer, so I reached in to get it out. Next day every bit of poison ivy was gone. Not sure what is in that stuff but it sure worked!
wbjones wrote: don't be getting all smug on us now... you know that allergies can change from one yr to the next don't you ?.... you trying to temp the allergy gods ?
Not sure on poison ivy.. but I picked up a NASTY allergy to aspiran
slefain wrote: I had luck with film developer. I used to work in a dark room and got poison ivy all along my arm. Ended up accidentally dropping my ring in a vat of developer, so I reached in to get it out. Next day every bit of poison ivy was gone. Not sure what is in that stuff but it sure worked!
https://fscimage.fishersci.com/msds/94187.htm
In reply to Giant Purple Snorklewacker:
Wold you rather have poison ivy or developer all over your face and hootus?
My case is still lingering. It still itches. I haven't touched it at all, but where the seam of my shirt hits it flares up a bit.
Otto Maddox wrote: In reply to Giant Purple Snorklewacker: Wold you rather have poison ivy or developer all over your face and hootus?
I think the answer is neither unless we are talking about the Alyssa Milano Poision Ivy. In which case... having her all over my face and hootus would be the very best possible outcome.
In reply to slefain:
I'd be a little careful with that "therapy" as it very much depends on the developer. You don't really want to replace the poison ivy oils with acid burns or similar.
BoxheadTim wrote: In reply to slefain: I'd be a little careful with that "therapy" as it very much depends on the developer. You don't really want to replace the poison ivy oils with acid burns or similar.
Poison Ivy---Acid Burns.
Oh, the choices we must make. I would have to think on that one a bit before I decided. I'm not sure which would suck worse. 
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