My father removed a fence and took out the posts that had Poison Ivy growin=
g all over them and piled the posts in the garden. He did not get any react=
ion. I was a child in a snow suit with boots and mittens and it was Winter=
in Michigan, USA and I played on the fence posts by walking on them and go=
t Poison Ivy so bad that I had to go to the doctor. Whenever I work in the =
garden and it is hot and I am sweaty, I get a very fine rash on exposed bo=
dy parts that generally goes away after a shower and lots of soap. Going in=
to a row of sweet corn also gives me a rash. It seems the older I get the g=
reater reaction.
Lorraine
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Tony & Moira Ryan, Wainuiomata, New Zealand
Climate ( US Zone 9). Annual averages:-
Minimum -2=B0C; Maximum 28=B0C Rainfall 2000mm
My father removed a fence and took out the posts that had Poison Ivy growin=
g all over them and piled the posts in the garden. He did not get any react=
ion. I was a child in a snow suit with boots and mittens and it was Winter=
in Michigan, USA and I played on the fence posts by walking on them and go=
t Poison Ivy so bad that I had to go to the doctor. Whenever I work in the =
garden and it is hot and I am sweaty, I get a very fine rash on exposed bo=
dy parts that generally goes away after a shower and lots of soap. Going in=
to a row of sweet corn also gives me a rash. It seems the older I get the g=
reater reaction.
Lorraine
With a lot of allergic reactions the main problem seems to be that once to =
immune system is sensitized it never loses the tendency to react to the sam=
e and sometimes also other irritants, and indeed the effect may build up ev=
ery time you are re-exposed. Some people for instance are very allergic to =
wasp or bee venom. The first time they are stung it may raise a weal, but e=
ach time after the swelling increases in extent and duration and in may cas=
es can become life-threatening. The only effective treatment in such cases =
is a shot of ephedrine which rapidly counteracts the reaction and severely =
at risk people can get special ephedrine applicators (called pens I think) =
which they have to carry with them at all times.
.
With such swelling even a few minutes can sometimes make the difference bet=
ween life and death. Our daughter when young and with a sore throat was giv=
en one of the old M and B drugs to which she proved allergic and began to s=
well all over. We live a good twenty minutes drive from our hospital and it=
s emergency room and at that time our local Dr was more or less on his own =
and this emergency happened on his afternoon off. I had not myself grasped =
the full urgency of the problem or I would have taken off for the hospital =
anyway, but by the merest chance he actually stopped at the neighbouring ho=
use to visit and I spotted him and ran to ask what I should do. After one g=
lance he rushed to his car for his bag and gave her an ephedrine injection.=
What I had not appreciated was that the swift swelling of her head was act=
ually closing her throat and in a very short time would have strangled her.
Happily that was the end of the scare as it stopped the swelling in its tra=
cks, though for several days afterwards until all the symptoms finally vani=
shed she looked a bit like a little lion. I am happy to report she and her =
husband are just at this very time celebrating her 50th birthday by an over=
seas trip to Britain, so did actually manage to rear her successfully after=
al!.
I know at one time specialists were offering desensitizing treatments for t=
he worse sufferers, but I have not heard much of these in recent years, so =
maybe they were not all that effective.
Moira
It's also possible that this rash has nothing to do with poison ivy.
I also am very sensitive to the fine hairs on plants. If I don't wear long =
sleeves in the garden, I feel itchy the rest of the day, and often get smal=
l welts where leaves have brushed my skin. It does get worse with hot weath=
er. I'm also so sensitive to flea bites that I can feel a flea or mosquito =
biting me, and catch it in the act!
Tanya
