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applestar
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Itchy, itchy, itchy !!

I have a few poison ivy rash on my left wrist -- hopefully I did wash up thoroughly after realizing I had made possible contact, and limited to the wrist area. It's responding to treatment, but the itch has triggered the histamine reaction itch and now I'm just dying to rip off a tiny scab on my right shoulder which is itching like mad... and a spot on my scalp which I believe is a mosquito bite. Image

imafan26
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benadryl pills and caladryl lotion.

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rainbowgardener
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I'm really glad to hear you say that, applestar, about the histamine reaction. I get that where the itch goes systemic and suddenly it feels like I itch all over! No one else seems to know what I am talking about.

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applestar
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I use a homeopathic remedy version, but yep -- an anti-histamine definitely helps. :wink:

Rainbowgardener, anyone who has had this happen would understand. Sometimes I SO envy people who have no idea.

gumbo2176
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I'm one of the lucky few that aren't bothered by poison ivy. I learned that when very young and fishing with my cousins on the Mississippi River. They had a bulkhead built on the river side of the levee and it was covered in vines and we were sitting by it and leaned back into the vines for several minutes before one of them realized it was poison ivy. I never got as much as an itch, but one of my cousins wound up with a bad rash from it and was miserable for several days.

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rainbowgardener
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Several days? If I get a bad case of poison ivy, it takes several weeks to clear up and then usually only if I get oral cortisone from MD.

gumbo2176
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rainbowgardener wrote:Several days? If I get a bad case of poison ivy, it takes several weeks to clear up and then usually only if I get oral cortisone from MD.

Well, considering that event was well over 50 years ago now :shock: , perhaps my memory of his suffering is a bit skewed, but I do remember him having a nasty rash for a while before it finally played out.

From your description of the severity of how it effects you, it sounds like you are super sensitive to it.

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rainbowgardener
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yes, I am super sensitive to it and to anything with venom, I.e. mosquito bites, spider bites, bee stings, etc. (I've never been bitten by a snake, so don't know about that). NOT a good characteristic for a gardener! :shock:

gumbo2176
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rainbowgardener wrote:yes, I am super sensitive to it and to anything with venom, I.e. mosquito bites, spider bites, bee stings, etc. (I've never been bitten by a snake, so don't know about that). NOT a good characteristic for a gardener! :shock:

My biggest problem with outdoor pests is mosquitoes. I am one of those people that are virtual mosquito magnets. I can be on my back porch with 15 people around me and I'll be the one getting eaten alive while others aren't bothered by them. What a great attribute living in southeast Louisiana and surrounded by marshes, bayous and lakes. :lol:

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tomf
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At the altitude we live at we do not get Posion Oak, no Posion Ivy here. Down a little bit and slightly south there is posion oak, I got it once working tree cutting on someone's else land.I now carry a poision oak kit in my tool woods tool box. The kit is supposed to help you if you get some posion oak on you, it may also work for posion ivy.

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tomf
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You guys must be hotter than others and give out more CO2 to be mosquito magnets. Do you use repellent?



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