[Magdalen] Poison ivy question

Grace Cangialosi gracecan at gmail.com
Mon Sep 2 04:19:38 UTC 2019


I’ve never been very allergic to poison ivy, and over the years I’ve pulled it out with gloves, occasionally brushed against it while hiking, and only had a mild reaction—a few small, localized blisters, of that.

Last weekend I was pulling large quantities of vines off the house and chimney—Virginia Creeper, grape vines, and poison ivy. I wasn’t wearing gloves and didn’t see the poison ivy at first, since the vines were all twisted together. As soon as I saw them, I went inside, scrubbed both arms with Tec-Nu up to my elbows, put on a pair of long leather gloves and pulled the rest of the vines, being careful not to grab any more poison ivy.
Nothing happened for a couple of days, and then I noticed one small blister on my wrist and a group of about three on the back of my hand. I figured that was it, put something on for the itching and didn’t give it any more thought...until the next day when blisters began popping up in random places—the side of my foot, two fingers, my legs. But they are single, very small blisters, and they itch like crazy. I didn’t know poison ivy would produce this drawn-out reaction, and I’ve never seen this random, one blister at a time phenomenon. I’m wondering how long it’s going to keep popping up.. It’s been eight days since I was exposed, and I haven’t been exposed again. I’m using Ivarest to help with the itching and dry up the blisters. Is this a common reaction, and should I be worried about it? I’ve had horrible reactions to poison oak in the past and ended up at the doctor’s office for a round of cortisone, but this is annoying more than anything else. It almost seems as if it’s systemic at this point as these lesions keep popping up randomly everywhere.
Thoughts? Anything more 
I should be doing?
Thanks...


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