How to identify poison ivy and ways to help prevent getting a rash if you come in contact with it. Photos of real poison ivy plants included!
I spent the better part of my childhood running around in the woods.
Not that I was raised by a pack of wolves or anything (although in my teenage years I may have thought otherwise). Just your normal climbing trees. Fishing. Camping. You name it.
My brother used to get poison ivy all the time. But I managed to stay poison ivy free.
Of course, I used to sort of brag about being far superior to my brother. Like I was above all that silly poison ivy stuff and all that.
Then all of a sudden, when we moved into this house ten years ago, I started to be affected by it. Oh, no!
The first year it was just a few tiny pin sized spots on my arm. I didn't even associate it with poison ivy, just assumed I was mildly irritated by something.
The next year it was a whole 'nother story!
One day I casually weeded a flower bed out by the road. I remember seeing a questionable plant, but I was immune to that stuff, so I didn't give it its due respect. Big mistake.
Bada bing, bada boom. A few days latter I noticed the tiny raised spots. Then they started itching. I obliged them.
Over the next few days it just got worse and worse. The tiny spots turned into raging blisters and next thing I knew I had blisters on top of blisters on top of blisters.
My reign as Little Miss Immune To Poison Ivy was over.
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The story ends with me having to go to the doctor and get some steroids and a drying agent (Domeboro Astringent Powder, sold at the pharmacy) to finally kick it out of my system. This was after weeks of me trying to treat it myself and finally coming to the realization that my arm might just fall off if I didn't seek some professional help.
Why now and not when I was a kid? Who knows?
There are different theories why some people wait until later in life to be affected. Maybe I had been immune and I lost my immunity. Maybe I just had to have a lot of exposure for it to pop out. Maybe it was the number of years between exposures.
I mean, it's been at least 25 years since I've climbed a tree.
Since the Summer Of The Itch, there are some things I have learned about the dreaded poison ivy.
Probably the 1st thing you need to know about poison ivy is how to identify the plant.
How To Identify Poison Ivy:
- Leaves of three, let it be. It rhymes. It works.
- Unfortunately (or fortunately?) there are other plants with three leaves also that are perfectly harmless. If you just go with that rhyme, you are missing out on our other three leaved friends. So read on.
- The middle leaf is normally on a longer stem than the other two.
- The outer two resemble mittens.
- The veins that run across the leaf are non-symmetrical (not directly across from each other).
- The sets of leaves on a vine are non-symmetrical (not directly across from each other). In the photo below you can see a set of three leaves go to the right and then above it a set of three leaves go to the left and so on - they do not meet in the middle.
- The leaves have pointed ends, not round.
Now that you know what it looks like, it's time to discuss how you can avoid getting a poison ivy rash.
How To Prevent Poison Ivy:
- Know what poison ivy looks like. You've got that covered!
- Always wear gloves when weeding.
- Wear long clothing covering your legs and arms. Better to be a little warm, than walk away with a case of poison ivy rash on your ankles.
- Be very careful when taking off your gloves. I sort of peel them off like a doctor does, making sure not to touch my wrists when taking off the opposite hand's glove.
- As soon as you come in from weeding, run cold water over your arms from the elbows to your fingertips. Never use hot water, always use cold water which will keep your pores closed and slow the absorption of the oil if it is present.
- As a preventative, after rinsing with the cold water, follow up with washing your entire arms with poison ivy soap using COLD water again. I used to recommend Burt's Bees' Poison Ivy Soap, but they have stopped manufacturing that (no idea why because that was great stuff). Grandma's Poison Ivy And Oak Bar is a very good alternative. Regular old soap is not enough.
- After doing this routine, where I assume I may have come in contact with poison ivy while weeding, I have not had any more poison ivy rashes. Better to take an extra minute to thoroughly wash up rather than spend the next month itching and scratching.
So let's say you thought you had stayed away from the poison ivy, but you still ended up with a case of poison ivy rash, here's how to treat it.
How To Treat Poison Ivy:
- If you think you've been exposed to poison ivy, wash all areas of your body with cold water and a poison ivy soap, Fell Naptha or Dawn dish soap. A good poison ivy soap like Grandma's Poison Ivy And Oak Bar is the 1st choice, but if you don't have it on hand try one of the other soaps.
- The quicker you get the urushiol oil off your skin the better, so if you are certain you have been in contact with poison ivy do not delay in rinsing it off.
- Launder all clothing that may have come in contact with the poison ivy in a load by itself to avoid re-exposing yourself to the urushiol oil in the future.
- Use rubbing-alcohol to clean off all pruning shears or other tools that you were using as the oil can stick to them. And the last thing you want is to pick up your pruning shears two months from now and start a whole new batch of poison ivy rash on your hands.
- The rash doesn't normally show up for 12-72 hours AFTER contact with the oil. It will start as little pin prick size blisters and get larger from there.
- Use Domeboro Astringent Powder, sold at the pharmacy or Amazon to soak or make a cold compress for your rash. It will dry up the rash, reduce itching and calm the inflammation.
- Antihistamines may relieve some of the itching, but please consult a doctor if you don't normally take them.
- The tips I am giving you are for your run of the mill case of poison ivy. If your rash gets totally out of control, is in your eyes or mouth, covers a large part of your body or God forbid, you ingested some poison ivy, please go to the nearest Emergency Room.
BTW, are you wondering how I got those cool photos with the black background?
Snack, anyone?
Yes, I cut a piece of poison ivy and placed it on my chalkboard tray. Another case of not giving poison ivy its due respect. It's been two days since I took those photos, so I think I'm in the clear on this case of stupidity.
Is poison ivy a problem for you? Or can you roll around in it naked and come out OK?
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Vickie @ Ranger 911
I've never had a poison ivy reaction, but I'll be thinking of this post the next time I use Mother Nature's rest room. hehe
P.
Thanks for the good info. I'm this old and couldn't have identified poison ivy if you waved it in front of my nose (I did think it had 5 leaves...wrong). Never had it but most people I know have at one time or another.
The Old Parsonage
Oh my I thought that as soon as I saw the ivy on the tray!!! YIkes! Yes I get it and get it bad!!! just the thought of it makes me want to scratch!
Leann
susie @ persimmon moon cottage
Your pictures and information are the best that I have seen for use in identifying poison ivy. Thank you for risking rash to enable us to identify poison ivy. I always think that box elder is poison ivy, so I stay away from anything that looks even remotely poison ivy-ish.
I don't think I have ever had it, but don't want to jinx myself by saying that I never have. My mom used to have us wash our hands and legs, anywhere that would have been exposed to poison ivy with rubbing alcohol and then Ivory soap and water. Maybe that's why I never got it when I was a kid. I never heard of anti poison ivy soap. That is a great idea. I imagine it would work for other itchy weeds, too. My husband breaks out so often after yard work that I think he may be allergic to all kinds of plants and grasses.
Linda @ Itsy Bits And Pieces
Thanks for sharing, Pam...I really didn't know what it looked like and would probably have pulled it by hand!
Kari at A Grace Full Life
...now I am itching....
Ann
I have had the opposite happen to me. As a child I got poison oak all the time. My mother used to put Phillips Milk of Magnesia on it and it dried it up. . .looked lovely - Not! When I was about 12 I mowed through a big patch of it and got it in my eyes and everywhere. Mother was afraid I would get it in my lungs. Today I have a natural resistance. Why is that?
Pam Kessler
Yes, I've heard that getting it in the lungs is horrible! I've heard that some people can build up immunity to it, so I bet the really bad case you had helped you with not being sensitive to it now.
Rita C.
Oh dear, it's bad for me, but not until I reached 40! I have been sorely tricked the last couple of years with very tiny seedlings that raged war on my face after apparently wiping my brow of sweat with hands that must've touched the oil (which led to a cortisone shot and prednisone med-roll prescription pack)! And yes, the residual oil can stay on the tools used in the garden (including garden hoses that lay on the ground on which it is growing those seedlings), and clothing worn while working near it. Luckily this year, I've been lucky to only get a few dots and dashes, and I religiously use the poison ivy soap (first while wearing my gloves and washing them, then washing my skin in the cold water). I generally have to supervise my husband pulling the sprouts when I spot them. :/
Rita C at Panoply
Faye
Same here, other kids would get it and I'd walk wright thru it and nothing. I haven't allowed myself to get near it lately and I do know of a little patch growing right off the corner of the house (we live in a woods) but I'm not going to try it out and see if it still doesn't like me. I bet it would now too!
suzieQ
I have never suffered from it and like you, felt I must be immune. Thanks for the pictures and the breakdown of important features. Your were very brave/crazy to place some on one of your trays for our benefit and I thank you. I am going to forward this post to a friend, her husband is Mr. Poison Ivy and I wonder if he knows about that soap...
monkey
i was a calamine lotion kid too i think everyone thought i was just naturally pink.... got it in my mouth once too..no i didn't eat it either.... i never can remember what the stuff looks like thanks for the great almost life threatening photos xx
awal.ny
Thanks for the pictures. I am allergic and so is my oldest son, bad. I now always try to weed with gloves but I do not wash with special soap afterwards, will do now. How about poison oak, do you know what it looks like? Thanks for the info. Alaina
Into Vintage
Certainly you were wearing a hazmat suit for the photo (which is the prettiest poison ivy photo ever, btw). 🙂
Musings from Kim K.
My husband is a magnet to poison ivy. Ivy Dry has become his best friend in the summer. He's terrible at not wearing long sleeves and gloves. When he's back home again from the cottage, I'm showing him this post.
Melissa
I have been "immune" to poison ivy/oak/sumac my whole life so far... but I have a feeling it's gonna pop up and attack me later in life!
ThrifterSisters
Where was the world wide web when I was a kid? I spent a good part of my childhood covered in calamine lotion and being pumped full of steroids because I just couldn't seem to remember what poison ivy looked like. I seriously should look like Hulk Hogan by now.
I'm showing this post to Maddie. She is way smarter than I was and has a photographic memory to boost.
Thanks Pam!
Erica