I have had poison oak lots of times, this time it seems different. I know where I got into it, there was a tree I had a coyote snare tied to, it was laying on its side, it was almost dark and I couldn’t find the cable? Once I figured out where the cable was tied the tree I’m looking for the other end. It was fully stretched out and the breakaway did its job. I’m guessing a deer caught the cable. While I was looking for the cable I got poked with a thorn, hawthorn maybe? Now I’m covered in poison oak, eyes almost swollen shut, never had more than the tell tail lines of dots that fester up. It in between my fingers, all over my junk, legs arms face it’s crazy.




I’ll spare everyone the picture of the groin area

Western Wildlife Services.

Ouch, and thank you for not posting a groin pic.

I one time (junior high school) had it all over my junk and had treated it with calamine lotion and then bandaged up with plenty of toilet paper which kind of made me appear to especially well endowed. Got lots of looks from the girls!

You’re not still treating it are you?

Western Wildlife Services.

Got in the lungs fighting fire along with over 100 other fire fighters in Happy Camp California.
It was not a happy camp.

No poison oak here but plenty of poison ivy. Have it right now on my hands arms and torso.
Got it from beaver trapping a few weeks ago where flooded out field had been brush chopped. I grabbed a few handfuls of grass and sticks for blocking down a 330 and guess what? Yep farmer told me all that field was loaded with ivy. When it's all dried up and brown you don't notice. Thing is the oil from the ivy is still viable. Caught three beaver in that set and tossed them on shore while remaking the set. This was all before I figured out the field was dried up ivy cuttings. Probably spread it all over my arms from skinning and putting up the beaver too.

If I were you I'd go to the doctor and get the shot (can't remember the name)and a Methyl/Prednisone pack. That usually dries it up in a week

A prescription should clear it up quick. An old friend is allergic to the stuff, explodes all over. Within a couple days or so I could visually notice the pills working on him. After a week it was just dry dead skin left.

I have a friend that is severely allergic to poison ivy. I swear he can look at it and get it. I can take it and rub it on myself and not get it, or if I do get something it’s a few bumps.

Doctor ASAP

I would get poison ivy baaaad as a kid. Did the pills and shots all the time. My experience was all that BS might shorten it by a day or two…. maybe. I just started toughing it out.

Best luck I’ve had is if I know I’ve been exposed, washing with Lava soap nips it before it starts. I keep a bar in the boat and the shower during summer.

Any soap with Sodium Tallowate shall break down the oils of the poison oak or ivy and wash it away
for example Ivory Soap

it is the bonding effect it has on the oil structure

You should ask your doctor for a cortizone pack.

Ivory works ok for me too but just ok. Nothing works like Lava. The grit in lava must get the soap deeper into the pours or something. Making a paste out of lava and just a bit of water seems to help dry up the rash a bit as well.
I’ve tried it all over the last 40+ years from shots to gasoline and Lava is my go to. I wish it floated like ivory though! I’ve donated a few bars to the river over the years.

And I thought I was ugly……

NewHouse114 and me used to be tree planters in southern Oregon. We ate handfuls of prednisone daily as preventative. Worked like a charm.

That's so unfair....Joel is a regular Brad Pitt w/o the poison oak!

Orange hand cleaner with grit. Use it within two hours of getting into poison ivy. Then was good with regular soap and water. This works for me but I am not seriously allergic.

x2, AND, some types of thorns, especially mesquite have a toxin that can be very dangerous when you get stuck.

When you're right, you're right! LOL

I haven't heard Happy Camp mentioned in decades. I was on a fire in the mid eighty's in Louisiana and breathed a bunch of poison ivy smoke to the point my throat almost swelled shut. It seemed to make me immune to getting poison ivy.