Poison Ivy. An enemy of mine.

Poison ivy and I do not get along. 25 years of a hate-hate relationship that doesnt seem to be getting any better as time goes on... Ive been horribly allergic to poison ivy for as long as I can remember, but a particularly bad incident happened during a summer in college when my brother and I went to visit my cousin in San Francisco. We went on a hike through some woody terrain in Big Sur and although I rinsed off in a creek near the end of the hike, I came back to Atlanta with an oozy rash all over my inner arm (one spot I guess I didnt rinse off well enough). You couldnt see any skin on the majority of my inner arm bc the rash was so huge (I’m not exaggerating at all). I had to go to the doctor and take steroids to finally get the rash to go away, but it was a month of awfulness- I was itching and oozing over everything - it was disgusting. (i'm sure youre getting a beautiful image in your head right now....)

From my many itchy experiences with poison ivy, I'm very good at spotting it, but somehow, that tricky poison ivy always manages to leave its mark.. I can be 50 ft away from it and boom, I'm covered. So, when we moved into our house and I noticed some poison ivy in the backyard, I knew it as going to be trouble.... and boy has it been trouble….

Our poison ivy is particularly hard to eradicate and avoid bc its mixed in with the English ivy that covers half of our backyard, so oftentimes you cant see it until you’re literally standing in it. Chad and I are trying to get rid of the English Ivy bc its taking over the yard, choking our trees (sad I know) and also creates a haven to many wonderful creatures that we want get rid of (snakes, ticks, spiders, etc). Much to my dismay, in our attempt to remove the English ivy, we noticed that the poison ivy was growing up the majority of our trees, some with vines as thick as my thigh (and even comparing it to my thigh, that’s pretty thick)! We even spotted a tree that was actually dead but looked like it was alive because the poison ivy had grown up it and had tons of leaves hanging off of it… (just what I always wanted.. my very own poison ivy tree!) To further complicate matters, our dog loves running through the ivy and then when I pet her…, another way that I can get poison ivy.

We’ve been able to get rid of some of the English ivy and Chad has sprayed all of the poison ivy that he can find, but until we are able to totally get of the English ivy, I guess I’ll have to resign myself to being itchy :(. Today I’m sporting a few rashes on my arms and a nice spot on my eyelid that looks like I haphazardly applied some red eyeshadow.

Unfortunately, I’m not the only casualty in this war with poison ivy. Chad, who has never gotten poison ivy in the past, has been able to share in my itchy experiences- a few months ago, Chad and I had matching poison ivy rashes around our wrists just above our glove line and wonderful splotches on other places from where Chad accidentally weed-whacked some poison ivy and sent the juices flying . What a wonderful way to bond with each other….

Check for updates in the future on how our Operation Ivy Removal is progressing…

In the meantime, here are my tips on how to relieve the itching associated with poison ivy without actually scratching the rash- (bc scratching inevitably turns the rash into an oozy mess, which is best to avoid) All of these tips have been tested and proven by me to alleviate the itch- at least for a few minutes…

(1) Slap the itchy area as hard as you can
(2) Pour scalding hot water over the rash
(3) Apply duct tape to the rash and quickly remove (this method works but is discouraged as oozing can soon follow duct tape removal)
(4) Scratch in the immediate vicinity around the rash (this tricks your brain into thinking you’re actually scratching the rash, buying you a few seconds of peace)

And my personal favorite…

(5) Put the hair dryer on the hottest setting and blow-dry the rash for as long as you can stand it. In my experience, this method works the best and doesn’t necessarily result in oozing.

After doing any or all of the above methods, quickly apply calamine lotion. Although the lotion might not alleviate the itch as successfully as you would like, at least you look cool with random pink patches all over your skin.