Poison Sumac help

[Ericstac]

I'm building my kids a monster treehouse 13ft up in this oak tree on our property. I just realized today that this skin issue I'm having since Thursday night is poison sumac, or ivy. Apparently the cool vine thing running up the trunk of the tree is this poison plant and I'm covered. Did I mention it sucks. I'm burning and itching like crazy lol. But I'm still up there working on this thing for them.

So my question is, does anyone have any good home remedies for relief, or better making it go away..

I can tell you hot water makes it burn like something else, and scratching it spreads..lol

[donniet]

I'm building my kids a monster treehouse 13ft up in this oak tree on our property. I just realized today that this skin issue I'm having since Thursday night is poison sumac, or ivy. Apparently the cool vine thing running up the trunk of the tree is this poison plant and I'm covered. Did I mention it sucks. I'm burning and itching like crazy lol. But I'm still up there working on this thing for them.

So my question is, does anyone have any good home remedies for relief, or better making it go away..

I can tell you hot water makes it burn like something else, and scratching it spreads..lol

Ericstac, most likely poison ivy or poison oak. Neither seem to bother me, but make my wife break out horribly. My wife uses calimine(sp ?) lotion. Will the childern be affected by this when they are using the playhouse? By the way, what a great thing you are doing for your kids.

[MotherBear]

Immediately after exposure, washing with hot water and soap (I prefer dish soap) can help. It's the plant oil that affects you, so you're trying to wash the oil off your skin before it starts to bother you. Hot water alone just spreads it.

After it's really started itching I've never found anything I consider truly satisfactory... maybe calamine lotion, or hydrocortisone cream? I seem to recall that my mom had some luck with Benadryl after a very severe reaction once -- her face was all swollen and it was pretty bad.

As far as the plant itself, you want to pull it up by the roots (very, very carefully, through gloves and/or a trash bag, while wearing long sleeves and long pants and so on) and dispose of it. DO NOT burn it. If you can't completely get rid of it (say, there's more on the other side of your property line), get rid of what you can and then periodically spray the area with something like Round Up Poison Ivy Killer to keep it from encroaching.

[brentski]

My wife swears by washing with Dawn soap with a good wash rag, this cuts the oils left on the skin even after a couple of days and seems to work well for all of us. If the itching is really bad wipe with white vinegar for instant relief.

[Ericstac]

Thanks.

Yeah I'm removing the vines that are running up, it's not many, I'm just a fool and didn't think it would be so high in the tree and was just grabbing it and breaking it off to get it out of my way..lol.

I will post some pics of it when I get a chance in a new thread.

[Ericstac]

Here it is as of now

[OldGrumpy]

Grew up around it and never had a problem with it until about 5 years go. Birds keep bringing it into landscape. Now I head for shower as soon as I finish in the yard. Lots of soap.

[TexasGal]

When you get the oils from the plants on your skin, it does not easily wash off with simple soap and water. In fact, your washing with such usually spreads the oil instead of removing it. Cases of one person spreading the oil to another person even happens sometimes. This is why a lot of people think poison ivy is contagious. In the first couple days, that oil can get spread to all sorts of places leading to true misery if you haven't already found out. The body's reaction in some people can become severe enough to need cortisone injections.

Go immediately and get a large bottle of "Tecnu". I have been told this was originally developed for loggers to combat the poison ivy they were constantly exposed to. It actually removes the oils that cause the reaction. Regular soap and water does not work very well for most cases. It can usually be found where the anti-itch products are at Walgreens or even Albertson's in my area. There is a lotion and also a scrub. The scrub is for use immediately after exposure before skin becomes swollen, red, and broken. The lotion can be used anytime, but the sooner the better. The lotion is just easier on the skin after it gets irritated. As soon as possible after being in contact with poison ivy, poison oak, or sumac, use these products to clean all possible exposure areas twice and thoroughly. If any itching begins to appear, clean those areas again. If you wash right after you have been exposed, you will cut down on your reaction tremendously. You might still get some spots, but that will just be spots you didn't clean fast enough or you may have re-exposed your skin by touching other things that have the oils such as clothes, shoes, etc. Handle any clothes that may have the oils on them carefully and launder in hot water without other clothes. Dogs that have played in wooded areas can become covered in the oils and bring them right into your home so sometimes they have to have a bath.

We keep bottles of this stuff around at all times. My husband is severely allergic to poison ivy. We tried everything every Summer, but he always ended up at the doctor's office getting shots and would itch for weeks. Finally a co-worker told me about tecnu one day whose husband worked in a logging operation at one time. It worked like a charm as long as it is used generously and immediately. My husband had a tree fall on his foot and he crawled on his hands and knees through about 50 feet of poison ivy to get help. At the hospital, I insisted he be washed head to toe with tecnu and he had zero rash as a result.

As a caution; be careful of using products that have anesthetic (such as lidocaine) in them for large areas of itching skin. The anesthetic is safe for smaller areas, but very large areas require you use too much and it can be an unsafe exposure.

It may be too late for you to get much relief this long after the initial exposure, but try it again next time asap after being exposed. These plant oils can literally last for years on stuff. Even an old dried out dead vine can have enough oil still on it to cause a reaction for up to 3 years.

[jimlongley]

I am mostly tolerant of urushiol, the ingredient in the plant that causes the reaction in humans, and thus have been able to work around it in my younger days when I worked outdoors, with relative impunity. Some people claim to be immune, but primarily they are just less reactive.

In my career as a telephone man I was one of the ones who was called on to remove infestations of poison ivy and poison oak from poles and around ground mounted terminals. Poison ivy has thick ropy vines and climbs, poison oak less so.

Many years ago my buddy Paul and I were in a summer swim program at the junior high school in our town, and had to bicycle several miles each way to get there and back. Every day we would splurge our lunch money on ice cream, candy and comic books at the corner store on the way home, and then go sit under this big tree alongside the road and pig out. We found out in the ugliest possible manner that the nice bed of shrubs we were sitting in every day was actually Poison Oak. Paul developed a rash on EVERY part of his body (we often wore our swim suits and t-shirts on the trip home) requiring him to be hospitalized and thus missing the 1959 Boy Scout Jamboree. I developed small rashes on the back of each knee and was allowed to go on the trip, but was required to take sponge baths until the scabs healed.

SPONGE BATHS ON CAMPING TRIPS DO NOT WORK!

The picture above appears to be poison ivy, as poison sumac is primarily a shrub and eastern poison oak doesn't have climbing vines like that. In any case, be very very careful with the vines, it is the urushiol component in the sap that is the irritant, and that is present in the vines too.

One common folk remedy that has actually proven to be quite effective is to crush one of the various jewelweeds (Touch Me Not, Impatiens) which are members of the Balsam family (not to be confused with Balsam Fir) and apply it to the site of exposure as soon as possible.

My late aunt was quite a "medicine woman" or "folk chemist" and had a raft of these remedies at hand all of the time. Once when we were visiting her my young son fell into a large copse of stinging nettle that my aunt cultivated as another folk remedy, salad component, and tea, and before he was able to complain about the sting for long, she had stripped him bare and was vigorously crushing and applying jewelweed over his entire body. The relief from the string was almost immediate.

[Songbird]

After you've scrubbed the oils off as others have suggested, try an Aveeno bath. It's an oatmeal based powder you dissolve in hot water then soak. You can get it at any drug store. My kids lived in it when they had chicken pox. It's very soothing.

[Piney]

If you're aware that you have gotten into The Vine, washing well with TECHNU a few times may help. As others have said, once the oil binds with one's skin , the damage is done. We keep a large bottle handy at the farm. I've found it online. Those tiny bottles from drug stores are too expensive . I've heard others use DAWN dish soap. Be sure to wash any clothing in hot water with extra soap.

I know you asked for a home remedy. I haven't found one that works for me. My GMa used to say use clorox and some water. If I get a case, which happens now and then when clearing fence lines, I just give in and call the doc. I use Clobetasol Propionate ointment, a steroid. It releaves the itching and shrinks the pustules. If you've had it going on for a few days without any treatment, and its pretty bad, it could be time for a doc visit and a shot. The same cream works well on fire ant bites for me.

If it gets bad, oooozzing and all that, be careful of infections.

The areas that the vines were on the tree will have a residual of the oils for some time. Disposal of the vine parts should be done carefully as well. Burning them will release the oils into the smoke. Also remember-- clothing, boots, gloves, etc you used may be contaminated with the oils. Wash them with Dawn/Technu. The same goes for any tools . Wash them in soap or a solvent (like Varsol) or you may experience memories of the tree house project again.

[Piney]

Immediately after exposure, washing with hot water and soap (I prefer dish soap) can help. It's the plant oil that affects you, so you're trying to wash the oil off your skin before it starts to bother you. Hot water alone just spreads it.

After it's really started itching I've never found anything I consider truly satisfactory... maybe calamine lotion, or hydrocortisone cream? I seem to recall that my mom had some luck with Benadryl after a very severe reaction once -- her face was all swollen and it was pretty bad.

As far as the plant itself, you want to pull it up by the roots (very, very carefully, through gloves and/or a trash bag, while wearing long sleeves and long pants and so on) and dispose of it. DO NOT burn it. If you can't completely get rid of it (say, there's more on the other side of your property line), get rid of what you can and then periodically spray the area with something like Round Up Poison Ivy Killer to keep it from encroaching.

I use Remedy (by Dow Ag) mixed with diesel. So as not to damage a tree, I'll chop the vine near the base, and carefully "paint" the cut and downward.

[Abraham]

If the vines look "hairy" stay WAY away from them - they are the poisonous ones...

When I have an allergic reaction to poison ivy, oak, etc. the only thing I've found that works to cure it, is going to the doctor and getting a steroid shot - this is what works quite well for me.

For medical reasons, I'm sure not everyone can go this route - but for me, it clears up the allergic reaction over night.

[The Annoyed Man]

Try Calomine lotion to relieve the itch where you already have the rash.

[rwg3]

Good advice on the oil containing urushiol so far. It clings to all sorts of things, clothes, pet fur, wood that it touches, skin etc. it is even found inside the blisters that form so when they break it can spread to new locations and infect the new spot. Most people are born with no reaction to urushiol, but repeated exposure or a massive dose triggers the initial reaction and once your each the reaction point, you are allergic for the rest of your life.
Poison ivy is anchored by an underground vine like root and the parts you see above ground are shots off the main root. In order to kill the above ground part you need to cut the root/vine connection and then apply serious chemical agents to the root end so that it gets absorbed into the plants system. If the root is long enough, it will only die back a ways then regrow. It is a pain to try clear a property. Vigilance and prompt spraying help.
After you sever the vines below ground, remove them from the tree, carefully as previously described, before the kids start their play in the tree. Any part of it left can contain the oil.
Some reactions are strong enough to be hazardous to health requiring hospitalization.
Good luck, it is a great looking tree house.