I have NO reaction to it at all, my brothers get hives and swelling just by looking at it. Since I was the youngest, and used to get "beat up" by my big brothers, my revenge would be to go out and roll in the stuff, then get one of them to wrestle with me........ usually wound up getting my you-know-what kicked once they were able to move again........ But it was worth it!!!!!!!

BTW washing wont really remove the allergen in poison ivy. it is a non-water soluble oil that tends to cling to clothes and fabrics. you can pick it up off a piece of fabric that was exposed 12-14 months earlier and washed........
kinda tough stuff .....

 

I don't think it grows in these parts.

I've never seen it, let alone touched it, and don't know anyone who has, so it must not like the seasons or lack of humidity here, or something.

I think we have poison oak though, but haven't ever been exposed.


phox

 

I'm very allergic. Don't forget that you can get it even from DEAD plants too. I was helping get rid of an old rotting woodpile that was in my grandmother's yard once and didn't wear gloves. There was all sorts of dead overgrowth mixed in with the rotted wood-never stopped to think it could be dead poison ivy. Anyway, I had been outside all day in the hot sun working and drinking lots of water so you can imagine I had wiped sweat from my eyes and relieved myself a few times. When I woke up the next day I looked like I had been belted in both eyes pretty good-in fact I could barely open them. Also, needless to say I learned to always wash my hands BEFORE going to the bathroom when working outdoors from that time on.

 

From Wikipedia:

Poison ivy grows vigorously throughout much of North America. It can grow as a shrub up to about 1.2 m (4 ft) tall, as a groundcover 10-25 cm (4-10 in) high, or as a climbing vine on various supports. Older vines on substantial supports send out lateral branches that may at first be mistaken for tree limbs.

Poison ivy is apparently far more common now than when the Europeans first entered North America because it has profited immensely from the "edge effect", enabling it to form lush colonies in such places.

Poison ivy (and oak) rarely grow at altitudes above 5,000 feet (1500 meter).

 

i am horribly allergic, if i even look at it i have it covering atleast 1/4 of my body, lol

when i get it i get it bad, do my best to stay out of it now tho

 

I am very allergic to any of the poison Ivey,Sumac ,Oak variety. Problem is my property is covered with it. I have killed a majority of it with 2-4D but still get it from time to time. I take Allegra for my allergies and it doesnt bother me when i take meds.

 

I never used to react to it. Then one day I removed a huge amount of it from a tree I was pruning, and I've been sensitive ever since. I've read more than once that repeated exposure can lead a non-reactive person to develop symptoms.

But it's still pretty mild for me--a little itching, maybe a couple of bumps. I have to be very careful with my laundry when I've been working around it. Once my wife got it from my clothes and her eyes almost swelled shut. She ended up getting a shot at the ER for that one.

k

 

I am always out around in working along pipeline ROW, creek beds, etc. I usually runa 7-man crew and every one of them can get it and i will be the only one who doesnt have a trace of it. We all walk through the same areas and do the same work, i dont see how i couldnt be exposed to it. Now i am not about to find some and rub it all over me.

 

Poison Ivey,,,,Got it bad one time and never got it again. Don't know why? Poision Sumac....That stuff will tear you up. Cleaning out a fence row while in the service I started itching.....Joking around I rubbed it on everyone. OOPS, Everybody had poison Sumac. Couldn't help myself, I laughed so hard!!!! The next day they had someone out spraying it dead.

 

To you guys who never got it before then started getting it...Your bodys immune system changes every 7 years. My old w/g teacher was a 3 day eventer, but she hit her 22 birthday and got allegic to horses...scary...


Mike


i react to the stuff...but not super bad

 

I've never had it affect me any, I'm around it often while hunting, and it doesnt seem to bother me too badly. I've seen some of my buddy's have to go to the school infirmary here to get some kind of steriod that clears it up.

 

There you have it.
Most of Utah is over 5,000 feet.

Anything that is lower than 5,000 is desert, pretty much.


phox

 

As a kid, I got it so often that I thought getting poisen oak was a part of growing up. I grew up in a canyon that was infested with the stuff and between me messing around in the bush and our dogs running through it, I always had a case of it. I still spend a lot of time in our backcountry, and I seem to be quite a bit more resistent to it. Maybe, hopefully, I have used up my quota of getting it.

 

No clue?! I'm guessing no, because I've been in the woods an awful lot and have never had any reaction to anything out there.