Poison Oak

[Tyler]

In reading the Bee Sting thread, I was reminded of something that I'm not a big fan of either...Poison Oak.  How many of you have gotten poison oak, or poison ivy before?  If you got it, how bad was it?


I went camping one time with a bunch of buddies in my fraternity.  We got there at night and decided that it was best if we went and found some firewood to start a fire with.  Well, it turns out that we not only got firewood to add to the fire, but a bunch of poison oak.  Me and the guy that rounded up the wood got it the worse, especially him since he took a piss right we got done gathering it...yep you can guess where he got it 
Then there were the guys that got it because we burned a big patch of it.  Oh the memories!

[Mikekoz13]

When I was a kid I could stand waist high in the stuff and never get it. Then when i was in my early 30's I bought an old house to remodel. The old lady that had owned it previously was a gardner and over about a thirty year period had planted all kinds of tree, bushes, etc.. But all had not be taken care of in years and the property was very over grown.
My first project was to tear out the old very over grown shrubs in front of the house. They were loaded with poison ivy....but no worries..... I never got it before. Well apparently something changed in my body chemistry because boy did i get it. Legs, arms and neck covered. It took a little over a week for the itching to subside.....one of the worst weeks of my life.


Two years ago a huge tree was blown over in a storm and fell into my yard. It was covered in vines. I had to tear thru the vines to cut up the tree.......... yup....poison ivy all thru the vines. I got a pretty good case of it then too.

[PianoMan]

I swear I was immune to the stuff until I hit 30.  My family went camping one weekend and I gathered wood for the fire.  Woke up in the middle of the night with poison ivy up and down both arms. 

A good friend of mine is extremely sensitive to it.  He gets poison ivy every year, but the crazy thing is he doesn't remember where he gets it from.  He actually has to go to the Dr. and get a shot, sometimes more than once.

[jusbnme]

Never had it, yet anyway.  But I was intrigued by your story Tyler.  If I'm reading right, you said some guys got it because you burnt some?  That's crazy. 

[warhawk]

never had it (knock on wood).

WARHAWK

[StumpyDave]

I don't think it's native to the UK so no worries here.
We do have stinging nettles which apparently they don't have in Canada.  My friend's girlfriend didn't understand why we avoided these big plants with the jagged leaves until a few seconds after she'd grabbed hold of a couple of handfuls.
At least the sting is only from direct contact with the leaves and can't be spread to other areas.

[Timmay]

I can go and rip the stuff up by the roots and not get it.  We had some growing up the side of our tree in our yard a long time ago and I have never really known if I was allergic or not.  So I told the wife...get ready...this might get bad.  I walked over...grabbed it and yanked it off the tree.  I waited ..nothing..next day ..nothing.  So I went out there and took it all down.  Now my wife on the other hand...all she has to do is smell teh smoke from burning it and she gets it.

[buddha]

Never had it, yet anyway.  But I was intrigued by your story Tyler.  If I'm reading right, you said some guys got it because you burnt some?  That's crazy. 

I have never personally seen this either but a friend of mine who has a Master's in Botany old me that when you burn this stuff the resins actually migrate on the smoke. He says he has experience with people who actually get the inflammation in their lungs from breathing the smoke. I guess, if it's serious enough, it can actually be fatal.

[Timmay]

Yes you can get it from burning it.  Potent stuff im tellin ya

[Tyler]

Yeah, a couple guys were really sensitive to it, so they got it from it spreading with the ashes.  Something with the oils and how they disperse in the air when it's burned.

I also used to be able to play in poison oak without getting it. This camping trip I mentioned above is the only time I've ever reacted to poison oak.  Now that I think about it, I'm wondering if it maybe had to do with burning it rather than touching it.

[Paul]

My understanding is that you don't even have to touch it.   Apparrently the first time you come in contact with it you should get no reaction but you DO build up a sensitivity to it.  The next time you come in contact with the oils or resins, even on some other object, you will develop a reaction.

[PianoMan]

My understanding is that you don't even have to touch it.   Apparrently the first time you come in contact with it you should get no reaction but you DO build up a sensitivity to it.  The next time you come in contact with the oils or resins, even on some other object, you will develop a reaction.

That does make sense, because my Dr. told me the same thing about my allergic reaction to bee stings.  Each time you get stung you the reaction can get worse.

[Timmay]

Like a peanut allergy.  My daughte annie has it.  She use to eat peanutbutter crackers all the time and we started seeing her have reactions to it.  About the 3rd or 4th reaction was a trip to the ER cause her airways were closing up.  good thing we live in a small town and the hospital was only about 7 blocks away.

[nomad]

for some reason I don't get a reaction to poison oak or ivy. I played in it as a kid and when I did some surveyor work I used to be in it all the time and every one else on the crew got it but me.

[Marz]

I used to just look at the stuff and get it. I would go fishing with my dad and Norther California lakes and parks etc are just riddled with it.

I had it bad many many times.

then... when i was about 16 - 17 I went with a friend up to his property to cut through some mansinita (sp?) and the stuff was everywhere... by the ttime i noticed it we had basically been all over it. Next day had poison oak all over my body... (yep, I had it there too). worst case of it I ever had.

have not had it since and i have been through it tons of times. I guess I built up some immunity.