Poison Ivy Protocol

TreeLogic:
I got into what had to be a nest of chiggers one time in Arkansas. I was in a wooded area at about noon time and by 4 PM they were starting to do their thing. It was two days before I could get any bleach. I counted approximately 120 chiggers on me from my waist down, I had solid bites around the tops of my socks. Normally I'm not bothered by mosquitos, gnats or the like, but chiggers tear me up. I HATE them! Absolutely useless critters!
 
In my experience, the guys who are most worried about it getting PI usually have the mildest reaction. A red, itchy rash isn't anything. I generally don't get sympathetic until is see oozing, pustulating blisters. The kind that soaks right through shirts and pants.

As for my routine:
1. Learn what it looks like and avoid it, easier said than done.
2. Wash with Technu asap.
3. Zanfel for unbearable itch

Last and most importantly:
SUCK IT UP!

Poison ivy is a hazard that comes with the job. Just like heat, cold, and humidity. Take the bad with the good. Otherwise you can always try to find a nice, cushy desk job indoors somewhere.
 
We keep Dawn dish soap in the trucks to scrub up with a few times a day when your in the ivy, cool water dawn, and it works good for rinsing off the saws, chipper levers and stuff. ivy oil is the gift that keeps on giving for a year or so so if you get it on something like a rope you will get it over and over again. ask me how I know this. hottest water you can tolerate is probably the best feeling in the world on a itchy arm or in between your fingers after you get the rash. better than scratching
 
take an old comb scratch the heck out of bite down on something an spray some body spray on it its gonna burn but the itch is gone from the ivy dries up in a day an gone works best for me
 
I'm glad I don't get Poision Ivy or anything alike. I must have an immunity to it since I'm a total outdoorsman and came in contact with it so many times that I couldn't count and never had it in my life. I remember when I worked at Davey a couple years back and the work crew didn't want to mess with this one section of wood since it had P.I. on it and I was like I'll mess with it since I don't get it.
 
spray the original right guard deodorant all over before having contact with it. after washing rub witch hazel over areas where u were exposed. I used to get it all the time before a 70 year old man that did landscaping told me about right guard. Since then I have never had got it again and has been about 3 years ago, and have been exposed to it at least 20 times and 3 cans of right guard later.
 
So for ID purposes I took a pic of a nasty poison ivy vine today. This one is about as big as your forearm.

If you notice the cut area, that's how you should cut the vine. Remove at least a 12" section on every vine running up the trunk. Use your handsaw, NOT chainsaw. Rub your handsaw in the dirt then rinse it off with water.

The reason to remove such a large section is to visually guarantee there are no more live vines running up the trunk or in the crown. If you have the liberty to let it sit for a few months before working in it your chances of infection diminish greatly. Even a couple of weeks is better than working it that day.

Also, notice the black tar-like substance coming from the cut end of the vine. That's your urushiol. It's like a chemical weapon to some people.

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Here's the branches I mentioned in an earlier post. Poison ivy is one of the only vines with long branches like this. When the vine is dormant and the leaves are gone, these branches can be a great help with identification.

383056-poisonivy2.jpg


Also look for a hairy vine.

Don't Get confused with Virginia Creeper...also has hairs... sort of...they're more like spaghetti noodles.
 

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Hey All,

We climb amongst P.I. all the time and we use a preventive Pre-Contact Gel called: Ivy Block. It has been providing amazing results for our crew for those who are allergic.

The gel is better than the lotion (lotion leaves you looking like your wearing a white residue, especially in the heat of the summer). Then of course follow up with Technu post exposure. Big fan of Zanfel for treatment/relief if have contracted the nasty oil.
 
Treebeach,
I've tried it...granted it was the lotion. The stuff made me feel like I was burning. Especially in the heat of the day when sweating. I don't know, maybe I'm allergic to everything. Anyway, made my skin red and uncomfortable.
 
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As indicated above avoidance of Urushiol oil is king for me - all the way to using nitril gloves and a disposable Tyvek suit. Tecnu slathered on before hand to ‘seal pores’. When done rinse off with water then wash with Tecnu again for inexpensive shedding of more Urushiol oil.

Home as soon as possible and shower in cool water with Tecnu Extreme as an inexpensive way to ‘soak up’ left over Urushiol. Then if any irritation/itching develops use the more expensive product that I believe Tecnu Extreme tries to copy, Zanfel.

Zanfel’s info. sheet points out that livestock don’t get poison ____ because their skin is so thick. It then goes on to point out that if we get the Urushiol off our skin within x amount of time we won’t get it either. If you do get it and use Zanfel to absorb it off your skin, more oil works to the surface and you must reapply Zanfel in intervals until all is absorbed.

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I have used Tecnu for years. It's good stuff which removes the oils from the skin up to 8 hours after exposure. It can be applied to tools, clothes, and pets. It does a great job removing pine sap from the skin.

The Zanfel people are promoting their product at some of the trade shows. I learned about the product in Jan. 2014. I now have 2 tubes of it which were free to me. I'll get to try it first hand. The product information kit states it is very instruction specific, so it needs to be applied exactly as directed.

http://www.zanfel.com

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oceans, If you ever do get “reactive” to poison ____ (in seven years or whenever) you can reset to where you are now. The practice of N.A.E.T., Nambudribauds (sp) Allergy Elimination Technique works on reactivity developed to Urushiol and anything else that we become reactive to in life.

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Interesting information.

Joe
 
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Treebeach,
I've tried it...granted it was the lotion. The stuff made me feel like I was burning. Especially in the heat of the day when sweating. I don't know, maybe I'm allergic to everything. Anyway, made my skin red and uncomfortable.

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I have this reaction to most sunblocks. Sucky.

-Tom
 
TreeLogic, your photo of the cut vine reminds me of a story I heard from a work colleague in Arkansas. Seems my friend had a really nice deer stand and a friend of his had asked him to use it. My friend was not affected by PI but his friend was extremely sensitive to it. There was a cut vine at the platform level of the stand. When the guy finally got into the stand, he realized he had forgotten to camo paint his face and proceeded to "paint" his face with the nice black stuff oozing from the vine. Wrong thing to do. He wound up crawling on his hands and knees out of the woods to his truck where his cell phone was to call for help. Spent a week in the hospital over that one.
 
I second everything TreeLogic said about poison ivy! ...Especially bringing up the fact that it is an oil you are dealing with. I just wanted to add that the main ingredient of Tecnu is Mineral Spirits - which, you may know, suggests oil is the culprit.

I get poison ivy every summer, but each year I am finding my reaction is less severe. I would get it so bad that my arms would would develop a p.i. skin and I would get p.i. on top of that layer and it just would be an awful oozing nasty nast. But, since then I am down to getting a simple rash and such. I think it is one of the poisons you can build up immunity to over time, (not like wasp poison which builds up and it is worse and worse the more you get stung). Someone once told me you can eat a small new growth of p.i. in the spring and you will supposedly be immune for the year. *Never going to try that* That's just me.

I also have gotten so good at the ID that I see it before I see it, if you know what I mean. However, in our chosen field you can't really avoid it, sometimes it just means you know you are climbing in it.

It's all been said before, wash with cold water to close the pores and keep oils from getting in *Don't take a bath - shower or hose off so you aren't sitting in the oils*, wash days later with hot water to open pores and clean out what's left. (Boy does that feel good, I almost enjoy having poison ivy during those scalding showers.)

I'm going to try the dirt... sounds good to me.

All those products are great too - use as directed.

Oh, and that pic. of the poison ivy vine with the section removed/ I heard that if you make a single slice in the vine it is able to fuse back together, is that true?
 
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Oh, and that pic. of the poison ivy vine with the section removed/ I heard that if you make a single slice in the vine it is able to fuse back together, is that true?

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I've never heard about that John. I've never seen it either but that doesn't mean it can't happen.

I've seen the following situation a lot though:
someone cuts a large vine but doesn't take a significant section out. Disguised behind or beside the larger vine are smaller vines that were missed. That's why I don't take chances anymore and just cut out 12" sections so i can guarantee to myself that no more vines exist in that area.

I was told before by someone that PI could root into the bark, and survive above the cut sections. Not true. Though I've seen it root in some cavities.
 
Definitely seen it root in cavities and gunky crotches too. And I'm not too sure about the single slice fusing either... I had just heard about it and have been wondering about it ever since. It's probably an old wives tale trying to make sense of why you're seen going around cutting 12" sections out of their vines.
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