Last weekend, just after my idiot neighbor cussed me out for standing on his property while I raked the dead weeds out of the fence line (c'mon dude, grow up!) , I started hacking away at dead vines that had wound their way around my fence posts. Those suckers were thick and wrapped around and around and around, and it took me a good five minutes just to release one vine from one fence post. I called it a day and put up all of my tools.
Skip to two days later...and I have a full blown allergic reaction and I can not pin point what the hell caused it...until my best friend Brandon told me that the vines I was cutting were poison sumac, and "Don't you remember, the last time we came out here I told you to watch out for that poison sumac..." oh, yeah...now I remember...
I have been taking a prescription steroid called Prednisone, Calagel (bc I don't want to go out with pink calamine lotion on my face), anti-itch spray for poisonous vines, and Benadryl. You can't overdose on Benadryl, so I have been taking them every time I start feeling itchy again (although it can make you sleepy, so be careful if you are driving). The Calagel helps immensely. A lot of people suggested bleach, which I will only consider as a last resort. Until then, I have researched some safer alternatives to putting bleach on my skin. Hope this helps if you ever find yourself covered in poison sumac.
1) Only rinse with cool water, hot water spreads the oils
2) Oatmeal bath for your body, oatmeal mask for your face
3) Get plenty of Vitamin C to aid the healing process
4) Cold goats milk baths, or place rags soaked in cold goats milk to affected areas
5) Lye soap
6) Don't scratch! Obviously because this will cause the irritation to spread, but it makes the itching even worse!
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