The other day Connie and I were working out on the property doing some clearing when she suddenly yelled out that she had come into contact with some poison ivy. She is real sensitive to it, and immediately the skin on her arm started showing red welts. So she dropped everything and went to the building to wash off her arm to try to get as much urishinol (the oil in poison ivy that causes the allergic reaction) off of her skin as possible. Then she put baking soda on the welts and took a couple Benadryl. As quickly as she reacted, I was really afraid things are going to get really bad for her. But her quick actions must have gotten most of the oil off her skin, as within a day, the swelling had subsided and it pretty much looks like her arm is back to normal.
Fortunately, I don't seem to react to poison ivy, and I've been working on trying to wipe the stuff out of here for the past year with poison sprays. Seems to be in patches, which can get quite extensive if they have been around for a while. In some areas the vines are up in the trees, so I would cut the vine at the base of the tree and spray poison onto the part going to the ground to try to kill the plant at the roots. Been using Spectracide with real good results.
Seriously if you react to this stuff, be REAL careful out in the woods. If can really cause some nasty reactions, and you certainly don't want to get this crap in your eyes. And for God's sake NEVER burn the stuff. The oil travels on the smoke, and will be very bad news for someone to breathe it and get it in their lungs.
In case your experience with poison ivy has been limited and you don't realize what it can do to you, well, these pics will give you some idea...