On Wed, 28 Jul 2010 16:35:21 -0700, ransley wrote:
When I was pulling and burning poison ivy vines I didnt shower that
night, I was partying big time, My face, arms, where I scratched and
used the bathroom, about everywhere in a few days got me, 2 treatments
of seriods failed, my arms has 250 or so welts some the size of dimes
and 1/4"high, the hospital wanted me admitted and said its so bad it has
to be something else. It affected my health from breathing it for years
and spontaniously re appeared every 6 months for maybe 3 years on my
fingers. I felt for along time like I would die and couldnt work.
Itching was a nightmare. Then I didnt know poison ivy grew as a vine, I
was clearing land and soaked in the poison and in the smoke as we burnt
it. That day ruined the rest of my summer. I wonder what the Indians
did. I could imagine it being used to torture people, by being tied into
a patch for a few days. So any 3 leaf plant scares me, but I pulled some
the other day by mistake and just used a bar of soap amd water and im
fine.

Ouch! It's strange stuff; two of my kids get it bad (although not that
bad), the other could roll around in the stuff and not have any problem.
Me, I can run my hands through it and expect four or five little bumps a
few days later, but that's it. I've heard that "immunity" (or the
opposite) can come and go in people, too.

That Zanfel stuff works great for treating it on anyone I've known who
gets it bad, but it's insanely expensive :-(

It's all over in the woodland around our property, so no chance of ever
completely getting rid of it.

cheers

Jules