I have read the same thing in (I think) Euell Gibbons about eating poison
ivy leaves -- I used to be skeptical but now I am not so sure. As a child
I was extremely sensitive to poison ivy, to the point where when I got into
poison ivy I always had a reaction all over my body, as though I had rolled
in it, and my eyes would sometimes swell shut. I learned to recognize it
and stay well away from it after the first few times this happened of
course, but it did seem as though through most of my childhood all I needed
to do was LOOK at poison ivy to get a horrible rash.
Then when I was about seventeen I ate cashews in a large quantity (not
knowing this could cause cross-reaction in sensitive people) and reacted
moderately strongly, mostly on my hands, which swelled up horribly. I
stayed well away from cashews, after that. Later still I had a reaction
to eating mangoes (another cross sensitizer), but the thing was, the mango
reaction was not nearly so bad, just a tiny bit of swelling around my
knuckles, eyes and mouth. Since I loved mangoes I kept eating them and I
found if I ate one a week, or less, the reaction was imperceptible, and
over time I began to eat more without noticing a reaction at all. The
sensitivity seems to have diminished across the board, and I am not nearly
so sensitive to poison ivy now either, hardly at all in fact (not that I
would roll in it to prove a point). I have sometimes wondered if the
ingestion of the cross sensitizers has played a part in desensitizing me to
poison ivy, or whether that would have subsided anyway over time.
Claire
cfanger@hurontario.net
I botanist friend of mine said that one factor in reaction severity is
the strength of the oil in the poison ivy plant, urushiol. Some years,
he noticed, the urushiol is very weak, and there are fewer outbreaks
and reactions. I walked through poison ivy in Florida with no ill
effects, and a naturalist I was with told me that the poison ivy in
Florida is weaker. But up here in PA, I usually have a reaction, most
times. But not every time. It's curious stuff!
Lee Ann
In a message dated 2/2/99 11:29:37 AM Eastern Standard Time,
REINERS@prism.EDINBORO.EDU writes:
> I walked through poison ivy in Florida with no ill
> effects, and a naturalist I was with told me that the poison ivy in
> Florida is weaker.
Lee Ann did your friend tell you why? In my own mind, maybe the frequent rain
makes it less itchy. Maybe the rain washes some of the oil off into the soil.
I know that I have not had a case since being here, but I keep to my shower
immediately upon going inside. This after dropping all clothes into the
waiting washer. I do find that plain old grass gives me a rash if I don't
shower as soon as possible.
Anne in FL
zone 9b
I wonder if there is a slight difference in the varieties (Kay?), and
I am only sensitized to ours up here in PA.
Anne, are you doing anything the first weekend of March? Ever been to
the Okefenokee?
Lee Ann
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=grapefruit+seed+extra
ct+poison+ivy
I've had very good luck using dilutions of grapefruitseed extract on PI
rashes... helps them to dry out and heal much faster than using other
products.
-bille
san diego
