ARGH!

[Sarlon]

ugh....so yesterday I did some weed pulling...and SOMEHOW managed to get poison ivy....ON MY BLOODY BACK!

Thankfully my yard is exploding with my cure for it....but it still ITCHES like mad...and I've got a HARD 4 days of work...

anything anyone can recommend to help the itching? the cure I use takes a day or two to work fully, so I only need it till then.

[Green_Fairy]

oatmeal bath. you can get it at pretty much any drugstore. i used to have really itchy skin and it was one of the only things that helped.

[Exaspera]

Take an antihistamine like Benadryl.

[Sarlon]

antihistimines take to long, and my garden cure works better and faster (dries it up and makes the itch stop).

may try the oatmeal bath see if that won't help least to get me to monday.

[Exaspera]

What is your cure?

[Sarlon]

I've been told its called Plankton, its a weed technically, but its a low lying plant that sometime in late summer/early fall sends up a tall single stem.

Depending on the severity of your poison ivy, 2 or 3 good sized leaves (washed of course), can clear up a case of it within a few days. (does NOT help the itching though ><)

If I get some time tomorrow I'll find the plant and take a picture of it.

[r2cagle]

My grandfather always used to say "I've got a hammer to drop on your toe... that'll take your mind off the itching"

Lanacaine or other anti-itch sprays or creams will help. Anything with benzocaine or lidocaine ought to help... stay away from anything with menthol... that will burn.

[Magpie]

Is it the stuff that I call plantain?

http://www.dgsgardening.btinternet.co.uk/plantain.htm

It works amazingly well for insect bites, I wouldn't be surprised to discover it did rashes too. (It's a weed over here, not being native, so no guilt about picking it when we weren't ready for the blackflies).

[Primer]

Try cream-style Go-Jo. I don't know what it is in there, but it works wonders on all kinds of bug bites and stings--it just may work on poison ivy, also!

[Solumina]

Fresh aloe will do wonders, but it will be really sticky. The gel stuff that you get in stores will help a bit (as long as it actually has asignificant amount of aloe) but it doesn't work nearly as well as the fresh stuff. Oddly enough the amount of stickieness makes it less than ideal for sumburns.

[Sarlon]

Is it the stuff that I call plantain?

http://www.dgsgardening.btinternet.co.uk/plantain.htm

It works amazingly well for insect bites, I wouldn't be surprised to discover it did rashes too. (It's a weed over here, not being native, so no guilt about picking it when we weren't ready for the blackflies).

Yes this is what it is.....had a MASSIVE case of poison ivy one year while at my lawyers office finishing some paperwork for my parents and mine's wills, and they saw me trying to not scratch them. it was all over my stomach, arms, legs, and some on my face.

she asked what was wrong, and when told said soon as we finished signing the papers, she would go outside and get me the cure. sure enough 3 days later it was all but dried up and gone. Sworn by the stuff every day since.

[Magpie]

I had horrible blackfly bites. Mashed up some leaves, tied them on with gauze and the bites stopped itching, the swelling went down, the whole nine yards. You need to do it when the problem is fresh, if possible. Apparently it's good for drawing out splinters too.

[AccountingDrone]

I've been told its called Plankton, its a weed technically, but its a low lying plant that sometime in late summer/early fall sends up a tall single stem.

Depending on the severity of your poison ivy, 2 or 3 good sized leaves (washed of course), can clear up a case of it within a few days. (does NOT help the itching though ><)

If I get some time tomorrow I'll find the plant and take a picture of it.

plantain?

I prefer jewelweed for my husband. I am not sensitive to poison ivy.

[SteeleDragon78]

my dad swears by technu soap, wash the affected area daily and it will get the itch and if you wash early enough, like the same day you think you got into it, it can prevent most of the outbreak. use in the shower, not a bath, and rinse THOROUGHLY. dont get cubscout rash (found after first camping trip with trip to woods for potty break) you wont be able to sit for weeks.