I am extreamly allergic to poison oak, but find the "hot water" treatment works wonders - run the affected area under as hot water as you can stand until it stops itching (generally a minute or two. It will itch A LOT while you're doing this). Heat releases the histines (which is what makes you itch) and it'll be a few hours before it's itching again.
After exposure (next time), shower with Tecnu. Use it in your laundry on the clothes you wore last weekend. Black streaks on your clothes are poison oak oil a day or more old. (NB: Native Americans in this area used poison oak as a black dye).
Best thing I've found for the rash is liquid Benadryl. I've wanted to bathe in the stuff before.
Re: Grew Up in the SC Mountains... Poison Oak = teh Evol!
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learnteach) wrote2008-03-19 07:37 am
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Good luck! Warm fuzzies!
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Grew Up in the SC Mountains... Poison Oak = teh Evol!
Best thing I've found for the rash is liquid Benadryl. I've wanted to bathe in the stuff before.
Re: Grew Up in the SC Mountains... Poison Oak = teh Evol!
PO is why you won't see me at many work weekends. That evil plant sent me to the ER in college.
*shudder*
Re: Grew Up in the SC Mountains... Poison Oak = teh Evol!
(Mostly where I live it's poison ivy. But the same chemical in both plants - urushiol - is responsible.)
Tecnu also has stuff you put on before you go out in the woods to block you from getting it on you in the first place.
Re: Grew Up in the SC Mountains... Poison Oak = teh Evol!
itches
If nothing else works, sometimes baking soda paste brings some relief. There's a juice in impatiens plants that can be helpful too.
Good luck to you.