Re: Cleaning Poison Ivy Urushiol off Gear

Alicia,

I had always had a reaction to poison ivy, and never one to yellow jackets. Two incidents in the course of life and dealing with both of the above come to mind. I hope this doesn't become one of my ramblings, so here goes.

As a kid, I played in places where yellow jackets love to be - under apple trees and along river bank cliffs. I never had a problem there. One day in my grown-up days, I ran over a yellow jacket hole with my lawn mower. I got stung and never paid much attention as there was never any problem. Later that afternoon, they rushed me to the hospital.

Later in my more-grown-up days, I bought some property. It needed clearing, so every weekend, I brush hogged, weed ate (with a weed eater), mowed, and every Wednesday, waited for the poison ivy blisters. I found many products that claimed help, but really, none provided help much in prevention. The old standby, Calamine and the newer Benadryl products, were the only itchy relief.

Point of all this - all of my personal, non-scientific research into the causes, prevention, and relief mostly turned up nothing more than what is already common knowledge to most. Stay away from it if you can. Once it's contacted, it just mostly has to wear away as it 'locks' onto what it touches. If YOU come in contact, soap and water may help if you wash vigorously as soon as possible, maybe not. All of this is dependent on how allergic you are to the oils. And as with anything, you can build up a tolerance to something, as well as lose tolerance to something. Washing in machines may help equipment, but there's the wear and tear factor, plus the contamination element for other things, and certainly don't take them to a public laundromat and let others feel your itches.

And probably the most effective way to deal with this is go to the doctor and get the shots. Then it won't matter about your equipment, and over time, the oils will have just vanished from abrasion, etc.

Not much help, but I know very well the pain you feel, and the anxiety of re-exposure. It all depends on how sensitive you are to the stuff as to how one deals with and treats the exposure.

Good luck,

Blackbeard