[OT] Poison Sumac

[JJFIVEOH]

5 minutes ago, Brawndo said:

Unfortunately it does require a prescription. 

Health Insurance is great except when you need to use it 

Yup. It's great if you get into a wreck and you're in a coma for weeks. But for small stuff, it's almost worth not letting know you have insurance. Because they usually cut you a deal. Most plans have well over $5,000 deductibles nowadays.

[Wyldnwoody44]

What state are ya in? Some high dose prednisone as Brawndo stated would be very helpful, Wal mart and rite aid etc, have 4 dollar programs, and I'm nearly positive prednisone is on that list. 

[JJFIVEOH]

42 minutes ago, Wyldnwoody44 said:

What state are ya in? Some high dose prednisone as Brawndo stated would be very helpful, Wal mart and rite aid etc, have 4 dollar programs, and I'm nearly positive prednisone is on that list. 

I'm in western NC. The pharmacist there said the steroid I needed was prescription only. That doesn't mean they don't have what you and Brawndo said to use. You're the doctor, I'd take your word over hers. I'll stop by and check tomorrow if this doesn't show any improvement over night. 

Although, I did go to Ingles and not Walmart. Thanks for the info, everybody. 

[Wyldnwoody44]

22 minutes ago, JJFIVEOH said:

I'm in western NC. The pharmacist there said the steroid I needed was prescription only. That doesn't mean they don't have what you and Brawndo said to use. You're the doctor, I'd take your word over hers. I'll stop by and check tomorrow if this doesn't show any improvement over night. 

Although, I did go to Ingles and not Walmart. Thanks for the info, everybody. 

Its def prescription, but it's on the cheap prescription list. Idk exactly how it works but I could probably get you an Rx. I have used my pad out of state before. 

[JJFIVEOH]

7 minutes ago, Wyldnwoody44 said:

Its def prescription, but it's on the cheap prescription list. Idk exactly how it works but I could probably get you an Rx. I have used my pad out of state before. 

Thank you for the offer. I'm not nauseous and I don't have a fever. I'll wait and see how I feel tomorrow. As long as I can see progress, I'll be happy. I've read (and I think somebody else here mentioned it) that it could take a couple of months. 

[Wyldnwoody44]

48 minutes ago, JJFIVEOH said:

Thank you for the offer. I'm not nauseous and I don't have a fever. I'll wait and see how I feel tomorrow. As long as I can see progress, I'll be happy. I've read (and I think somebody else here mentioned it) that it could take a couple of months. 

The steroids will beat off the allergic reaction quicker, but you can certainly use Morton/Aleve for inflammation and Benadryl for relief and antihistamine properties. It will eventually go away, as long as you don't frolic around in it again ?

[JJFIVEOH]

46 minutes ago, Wyldnwoody44 said:

The steroids will beat off the allergic reaction quicker, but you can certainly use Morton/Aleve for inflammation and Benadryl for relief and antihistamine properties. It will eventually go away, as long as you don't frolic around in it again ?

Thanks again. Yeah, I'm spending some time identifying what is back there that messed me. I was told of a couple of apps that can identify plants. If those aren't accurate I may have somebody come in that knows the local plantlife. The vegetation here is much more similar to Buffalo than south Florida. But when I lived in Buffalo, I was too young to care.

I had some problems sleeping for the first few days. Then I went and bought some zzzquil. That took care of that problem, lol. Don't want to keep taking that stuff if I can avoid it. 

[Rox11]

One of the best things I've ever had as a kid after playing in the woods/weeds was the F'N Brown Soap, Felsnaptha , yes that's what it is Felsnaptha. It is a brown laundry soap sold in lots of laundry cleaner aisles that, after playing in the weeds, use it and wash off any of the oils/residue from the leaves. I and my girlfriend swear by it to prevent breakout.

[SwampD]

2 hours ago, Rox11 said:

One of the best things I've ever had as a kid after playing in the woods/weeds was the F'N Brown Soap, Felsnaptha , yes that's what it is Felsnaptha. It is a brown laundry soap sold in lots of laundry cleaner aisles that, after playing in the weeds, use it and wash off any of the oils/residue from the leaves. I and my girlfriend swear by it to prevent breakout.

Yep. That really works. I'm really allergic to poison ivy and my old house was completely surrounded by it (there was a huge oak tree where only half of the leaves were oak. The rest were all a single poison ivy vine that was a foot thick at the base). I used to get it all the time until I found out what it was.

I've heard you have about an hour after coming in contact with it to wash it off without reaction. I usually tried to not go more than fifteen minutes to be sure. Never got it again.

Edited July 15, 2018 by SwampD

[spndnchz]

A friend of mine took out a bunch of poison ivy around his house. Then proceeded to burn it. He ended up having the poison in his lungs from inhaling the smoke.

dumbass

[JJFIVEOH]

1 hour ago, spndnchz said:

A friend of mine took out a bunch of poison ivy around his house. Then proceeded to burn it. He ended up having the poison in his lungs from inhaling the smoke.

dumbass

Oh yeah, I've heard you can also get this stuff in your throat and esophagus even if you don't burn it. That could turn really ugly. 

[shrader]

JJ, a friend is originally from that part of the state.  He works in fertilizer sales and can identify just about everything even when I give the crappiest descriptions possible.  If you're ever trying to figure out what something is, feel free to shoot me a private message here and I can pass it along.

[North Buffalo]

On 7/14/2018 at 9:53 PM, JJFIVEOH said:

Not really sure if that grows around here. Then again I've read sumac isn't common around here. And I'm still not 100% sure this is poison sumac. But, I've never had any problems until I went into the neighbors yard. 

The stuff behind the vines the bush/trees looked like Sumac to me.

[sabills]

When my father in law was younger he did some summer work for a camp on Lake Chatauqua. One time they tore down an old sumac, and, not knowing it was POISON sumac, burned it in a brush pile.

Wasn't a great summer for him for a while.

[mphs mike]

I wish you patience - years ago I had poison ivy as bad as your picture. It's miserable for days to weeks depending on your body, but it does go away. You also learn to NEVER experience such an outbreak again.

I slept in long pants/sleeves for several days so the sheets didn't rub the blisters 

[JJFIVEOH]

3 hours ago, mphs mike said:

I wish you patience - years ago I had poison ivy as bad as your picture. It's miserable for days to weeks depending on your body, but it does go away. You also learn to NEVER experience such an outbreak again.

I slept in long pants/sleeves for several days so the sheets didn't rub the blisters 

 

11 hours ago, North Buffalo said:

The stuff behind the vines the bush/trees looked like Sumac to me.

 

11 hours ago, shrader said:

JJ, a friend is originally from that part of the state.  He works in fertilizer sales and can identify just about everything even when I give the crappiest descriptions possible.  If you're ever trying to figure out what something is, feel free to shoot me a private message here and I can pass it along.

Thanks everybody. I was told what I thought was poison sumac is actually a black walnut tree. What I didn't know is most of the underbrush to the right of it is poison ivy. I'm going to conclude that I'm allergic to poison ivy. 

Shrader, I'll keep this in mind if I find anything else back there that I'm not sure about. Thank you. 

I've gotten better since last night, just totally covered in scabs and the infections are going away. 

[JJFIVEOH]

Come to find out, the issue I had was that I was actually handling poison ivy for over two hours (and then let it sit on my skin for another couple hours before I showered). Apparently, poison ivy has a couple of different shaped leaves and one of them is almost identical to kudzu. So, that day when I thought I was dealing with poison sumac, I spent a couple of hours yanking out what I thought was kudzu. Instead, it was poison ivy. So not only did I just brush up against it, I was breaking this stuff, some leaves came off, some of the oil got all over my body........... and this went on for two hours. Brushing up against poison ivy, and being balls deep in it for two hours is an entirely different story. Knowing what I know now, I'm damn lucky I didn't touch my face, or inhale the stuff. 

However, I did find a massive grape vine growing in there. They are edible, can't wait to see how they taste around late fall. 

Edited July 29, 2018 by JJFIVEOH

[Sabres Fan in NS]

JJ,

The 'balls deep' part has me converned.

Aren't yours like mine and itchy enough without adding PI to the mix?

[JJFIVEOH]

37 minutes ago, N S said:

JJ,

The 'balls deep' part has me converned.

Aren't yours like mine and itchy enough without adding PI to the mix?

I'm beyond itching, 3 weeks later, I just got over the flesh wounds on all four limbs. 

The 'balls deep' comment was a figure of speech in that I was buried in the bushes/brush. Nothing PI was intended. Don't read too much into it. 

[Sabres Fan in NS]

3 hours ago, JJFIVEOH said:

I'm beyond itching, 3 weeks later, I just got over the flesh wounds on all four limbs. 

The 'balls deep' comment was a figure of speech in that I was buried in the bushes/brush. Nothing PI was intended. Don't read too much into it. 

LOL ... PI = poison ivy.

[JJFIVEOH]

8 hours ago, N S said:

LOL ... PI = poison ivy.

LOL!! Here I am thinking PI meant 'politically incorrect' because I said 'balls deep'. Around here, I'm not sure what to expect, lol. 

Even though the infection didn't hit my bloodstream...... now that it's done (3 weeks later) fighting it off, I feel much better than I did. I'm ready to finish off this trip this week, go back to Florida to get my pets and my motorcycle, come back here and get settled in. Then I'll get serious with this poisonous crap. 

[JJFIVEOH]

I've still got small bright red patches on my arms, large patches on my legs. But, the infections are gone and that's all I'm concerned about. Folks, if you're in an area affected by kudzu, make sure you know the difference between kudzu and poison ivy. If you're ignorant like I was, it'll lay you out on the couch for a couple of weeks.