I recently got poison ivy from doing someone else’s garden so I thought I’d share some prevention methods.

How do you get poison ivy?
From touching it, or touching something that has touched it, like your clothes or your dog. You normally get it from touching the leaves, but yanking the vine out by the roots - even in winter - will give you a wicked rash.

Using a weedeater to remove poison ivy will result in spraying your legs with poison ivy. If you are bare-legged and get scratches while splattered with sap from poison ivy, you may be headed to the emergency room.

And there are more unusual ways to get it, like breathing smoke from firewood burning with poison ivy on it. Which can also put people into the hospital.

What it is like to get it?
At first you get a slight itchy spot, which gets worse and worse. It can be a a small itchy area that will annoy you, or it can cover your whole body with giant red sores that will drive you nuts.

What if you know you’ve been exposed to it?
Within a hour or so you should rinse with lots of cold water - like a garden hose. Hot water will open your pores and let the oil in. Taking shower could be a disaster (see my father’s story, “Washing made it spread.”

For up to about 6 hours washing with alcohol may still help remove the oil, but many say that after 1/2 hour the oil has soaked in and you can’t remove it.

The next day is really too late. Check with your doctor to see if early treatment can prevent the rash before it really starts.

What can you do once the itching starts?
For a serious case you MUST SEE A DOCTOR. For less serious cases check with your local drugstore or see the list below for remedies.

Here are a list of popular home remedies:

* Take a shower in the hottest water you can stand, for as long as you can stand - this should ease the itch for 8 hours.
* Jewelweed is widely thought to help the rash. Mash the weed and apply to the rash.
* Spray with a deodorant containing aluminum, which most do.

*Calamine lotion - Calamine lotion helps coot the burning itch and dries up the blisters.

*baking soda - Baking soda can be mixed with witch hazel to form a paste and then applied to the rash.

*Crushed plantain leaves–plantain is a common weed found in lawns–are said to relieve the irritation of poison ivy and to stop the itching.

*Antihistamines such as Benadryl can bring some relief. Whatever you do, it will take at least one to two weeks for the outbreak to heal (vitamin C seems to help speed the healing).

How long does the rash last?
Anywhere from a week to 3 weeks, depending on how bad it is and how you treat it. Prescription remedies make it go away much faster.

What are some common remedies for the rash?
These companies make two kinds of products - creams to block the oil from getting into your skin, and remedies once you have the rash:

Buji Skin Products
Tec Labs, Makers of Tecnu
Sumactin, Rash Remedy
Zanfel, skin wash

Is it contagious?
Once you have the rash the oil has been absorbed and you probably can’t spread it to others or elsewhere on yourself. If you get big blisters filled with liquid it is mostly water and will not spread the rash even if they break. (Although I have viewers who SWEAR that the fluid does cause further outbreaks.)
What causes the rash?
There is an oil, called urushiol, that causes an allergic reaction after the first sensitizing exposure. The oil is in the leaves, vines, and roots. That’s why tearing out the vine is so dangerous - it releases lot of urushiol.

Leaves of three, let them be

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Myth: Breaking the blisters releases urushiol oil that can spread Not true. But your wounds can become infected and you may make the scarring worse. In very extreme cases, excessive fluid may need to be withdrawn by a doctor.