Poison Oak Relief, what do you do?

What do you guys do?

A friend of mine has got it pretty bad. He's got steroids from the doc and a cream to apply topically but he's still itching really bad. Got a home cure that YOU have personally used? Not something someone told you about, I need the real thing here.

thanks

The best thing I found for dealing with the itch is a hair dryer! Put it on its hot setting then aim at the rash. Hold it as close as you cans stand. It feels like you are scratching the rash and then it goes numb for a while. For me the numbness lasts for 3-5 hours.

It also dries out the open sores if your friend has those.

Sounds odd but works for me, and I get really bad reactions to poison oak and its kin.

I've had some success with tea tree oil. I put it on just about anything. Hope your friend is feeling better soon!

why not use the lidocaine gels that people buy for sunburn. at least it will numb you up and the aloe in them is good for the skin.

Thanks guys. I'll pass this along.

I know this is second hand info, but a while back a guy I know had poison ivy REAL bad. Someone told him to boil sycamore tree leaves and make a hot compress out of it. He said it cleared up the itching and swelling within an hour.

FWIW....

I have to get shots and pills when I get it but bicarbonate of soda (baking soda) helps slow it down and reliefs itching.

First defense is to learn to identify and stay away from the stuff.

But since childhood I've had to have cortisone shots and salt water baths. My mom used to tear up bed sheets, soak them in salt water and then wrap them around my limbs, mummy-style, to ease the pain & itch. Doctor also told me to stay out of the sun when I was affected because that just exacerbated the itching and (sorry for the grossness) oozing of the poison crap.

I posted some particularly gruesome pics a while back -> http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/foru...d.php?t=240879

I'm glad I'm not sensitive to the stuff. But Connie is, and I've been on a campaign to eradicate the stuff on our property. The last time she got hit by poison ivy was when I inadvertently got some on my gloves and the urushiol then got onto the garden tools I had been using clearing the stuff. So of course, when she handled the tools later on, she got a reaction from it.

I still treat the stuff with care, however, since I know that I could develop sensitivity to it at any time. I just hope some yahoos around here don't burn a bunch of poison ivy sometime and Connie get affected by the smoke. I would imagine that could be VERY bad....

Yuck and double yuck.

I heard once from an old apache man about a guy he was clearing poison oak with, must have been back in the late 50s or early 60s. They were burning it and somehow this guy wound up in the smoke and was having a severe reaction to it. I don't recall for sure, it's been many years since I heard the tale, but if I recall correctly they didn't have any breathing equipment back then and there were no fire fighters involved, they were just clearing it out. Seemed pretty bad and the old apache guy told the choking guy to eat some of the leaves of the poison oak. He said that worked, but I never knew if he was pulling my leg or not. He never laughed about it and never said it wasn't so and wasn't prone to exaggeration stories, but I always wondered.

I've been curious about the fire fighters too. We have sooooooo much of it out here. It's ubiquitous down in this part of Ca.

My friend hasn't contacted me yet today so I'm hopeful he's feeling better.

Thanks to all for the help.