A week or so ago, I forgot to follow up with my discoveries on the topic of poison ivy. The most important thing I learned about poison ivy is that it’s not contageous. Yes, you heard me right, its not contageous. Well, not really anyway.

When you first come in contact with the plant, you get an oil on you called Urushiol Oil. The oil is absorbed into your skin and it is what causes the rash. That oil can take 6 hours to be completely absorbed into the skin. During those 6 hours, you can possibly pass the oils onto someone else, but then again, during those 6 hours, you hardly even know you have poison ivy (it usually takes 2-12 hours to manifest). Now be forewarned that while your skin will absorb the oil in about 6 hours, your clothes or any other non-skin items you may have had when you contacted the poison ivy, may still have the oiil on them. That oil can last for years! So if you find that you have contacted poison ivy, be sure to wash your clothes throroughly.

Washing yourself, however, can be tricky if the oil isn’t completely absorbed. The best thing to do, if you know you have been in contact, is to wash your skin with Tecnu. Be sure to follow all instructions carefully. Tecnu, when used properly, will actually remove the Urushiol safely and keep your rash to a minimum. It is best to use it before you even see signs of the rash. If you are able to beat the rash, you may not even get it. If the rash does appear and you are able to catch it early, you could have a very minimal breakout. Be very careful not to take a hot shower within 6 hours of exposure, while that oil is still on your skin. Any soap other than Tecnu (or the very expensive Zanfel) will not destroy the oil, and the warm water will only serve to open your pores so they can better accept the oil that your simply spreading around your body. Bad.

So anyway… now you’ve got poison ivy. It bubbles up into this ugly, juicy rash all over your body. Nice. That fluid that forms in the rash is NOT contageous, its chemically similar to the same fluid that forms in a blister and contains little to no Urushiol. So if you can’t stand it and have no self control, fear not the scratching. It won’t make it worse, just uglier. Anyway, I found the most effective remedy to subside the itching this past breakout. I used to have to put calomine lotion or some other anti-itch topical creme on my poison ivy once every 3-4 hours and that was just annoying. Especially since it goes on gloppy and then gets sticky, and slowly turns into flaky over those 4 hours. I thought it was just messy.

I read online about rinsing the infected areas with water so hot you could barely stand it for a couple minutes. I didn’t take much stock in the idea because it was just an off-handed comment on some random website I found, but later I found a similar reference from a doctor, suggesting the same treatment. I decided I was sick of lotions so I’d give it a shot. The only thing I had to lose was the itch. I used the sprayer in the kitchen sink and just completely rinsed my left arm with nearly scalding hot water. I have to warn you, it will start to itch first – a lot – but bear with it. Soon, the itching subsided and as my arm turned red from the heat, the itching went away completely. It was 10-12 hours before I even started to feel the slightest bit itchy. After two days, I was not only relieved at not having to use the calomine anymore, but the poison ivy was drying up and flaking away noticably faster than it ever did with the calomine lotion.

Not to mention, that with repeated hot water application, my lips had already healed (yes, I had it on my lips)! So now I have my new methods to rid myself of poison ivy…

1. wash thoroughly with Tecnu immediately after exposure or as soon as the rash appears.
2. dowse infected areas with nearly scalding water twice daily until gone (but wait at least 6 hours after exposure to start this regimen).
3. don’t get anywhere near poison ivy.

And to all you people who believe yourselves immune to Poison Ivy, there’s no such thing as immunity. Everyone can be affected by it, even if you’ve never had it before. Its random, chaotic, and your resistance to it can change dramatically throughout your life.