Poison Eye-vee

[ski diva]

Man, this stuff is awful! I've never had it, but my husband gets it by practically looking at it! Every year he has at least one awful bout. This past week he got some on his hand and must've touched his face, because he woke up one morning with his eye and face all swollen up! Ended up at the doctor's and got a prescription for prednisone, which really helped a lot.

Anyone else terribly allergic?

 

[Pequenita]

Ugh. I am. I had a period in college when I was doing stupid things like going to swimming holes at night and walking through ivy in the dark or laying my bike in a patch of it. As a result, I've had it cover all four limbs one time, with some gnarly blistering on the top of my foot. The next time, because I got it from sitting on my contaminated bike seat, I had it on my bum for a while.

It never got bad enough that the docs prescribed steroids for it, but I was really lucky to be dating someone willing to put calamine lotion on my tush for me!

 

[Kimmyt]

Have you guys ever used Tecnu? It doesn't prevent the occurrence of a reaction, but it is useful in preventing the spread of the toxin. You can wash your body, clothes, pretty much anything that might have come in contact with the stuff and theres less chance of it spreading. I use it alot when I'm in the woods, just in case I've come into contact, but then I'm not terribly allergic (did get it once from a pee tree in the middle of the night and that was definitely not so pleasant!!)

K.

 

[Lola]

I had a similar experience when I was young, about 14 years old. I woke up on Easter morning and my eyes were caked shut. I thought I was blind and started screaming, calling for my mother (lilgeorg). She ran into my bedroom, and then she got a warm wash cloth. She ran the wash cloth gently over my eyes until they uncaked and I could open them up. I must say it was a scary and itchy expereince, and one I don't care to repeat.

Please pass on my condolences to Jon as well as my congratulations for his spot on NPR! :D

 

[ski diva]

Thanks, Lola. I'll pass on your congrats!

Yeah, that same sort of thing happened to my daughter from time to time, with pinkeye. That's nasty, too. Is that what you had?

This was more swelling than anything else. He looked like he'd been in a fight! And we were at the American Library Convention in DC, where he had to be on a panel and do a reading and in short, be where all these people could see him (20,000 librarians!).

Those drugs really do the trick, though. He's feeling (and looks) a lot better.

 

[SnowHot]

My grandma has always been highly allergic to Poison Ivy.
If the wind blows past Poison Ivy in her direction, she has a miserable time with it.
I've stood in the middle of it without realizing it and was not effected one bit. I guess I can count myself lucky in that regard.

Hope Jon is feeling better. Prednisone is no fun either.