Poison Oak, Ivy or Sumac

[Lefty]

Lets hear the horror stories. Ive seen too many adds for Tec-Nu in magazines.
A few of my experiences; Here are a few of mine
As an 18 years old. In an emergency state I ran from the truck to an old railroad bed,.. leaves the size of a maple leaf plants winding up four foot tall, no toilet paper. Toilet paper is a must have in my truck. A really bad outcome a week later.
A female friend and I were helping my dad clean up around the camper, burning the duff we had raked up. Evidently there was some poison ivy in the brush. We both looked like we had a bad case of chicken pox. The teasing was unmerciful.
And maybe the worst for me . A huge bench buck living in remote access in Washington state. Less than ½ mile from where I originally spotted the bruiser the fall before . I walked into a bunch of does, then the bucks started appearing. I melted into the ground hiding the best I could behind size 14 boots and what I then suspected might be poison oak . a once in a lifetime buck seemed worth the potential future. At one time I counted 115 deer, on all sides, some decent bucks, and some real dandies The huge buck never showed. . I ended that hunt early, washed with soap, even gasoline on my arms changed clothes and though I would be good. A week later the blisters showed up, the largest a 14” patch on my lower back that oozed, really gross. Stained bed sheets, and shirts wasting pounds of gauze, and med tape, months of worthless medications and washes. The doc wouldn’t even touch me. I had blisters popping up at some of the same locations for years. Now I cant even be downwind of a woodlot with ivy or I break out,

[T.B.]

I've had blisters on my fingers so bad I had to be fed....I was twenty something years old. Got the evil poison cutting firewood ...as a kid it ruined a weekend fishing trip with my pops....now I'm just super cautious about the poison but still it will occasionally show up ,just not as severe as I've had in the past. ....dang lefty I can't imagine anyone topping the misery you've endured !!!!

[Roosiebull]

the worst I got it was in January, wearing waders and a rain jacket...winter steelhead fishing.

that time, I got it everywhere...everywhere

it was on a work stretch, and I think I had to spend the next 2 weeks in a wetsuit...it was misery. when I got back to town I went to the doctor, it was not going away...and got on roids, that sped up the healing process.

the strange thing, since then, I have got it...but less severe each time, last fall I climbed out of a poison oak covered clear cut in the dark, and nothing....no sign of it, and I was going through a bunch. don't have it at home, but I work on the south coast a lot, and it's thick there. I think I have gained an immunity to it.

[Lefty]

,,,,, the misery you've endured !!!!

there are worse things than poison oak or poison ivy. I never thought of those instances as enduring.

But the poison oak went on for a long time,.. the itching was bad on the small locations for over a year.

While it never lasted long, three days of shellfish poisoning is plain nasty. I ate some oyster shooters in Hood Canal days later they announced that the oysters were toxic. Im not sure what a bad trip on LSD would be,.. but I think I do,.. along with something that was a separate league of upset stomach while on a whitewater rip on the Duechutes river.

Roosie: is your pic in Washington or Oregon? I got my bad case on the Klickitat river bottoms

[wawhitey]

Ive never gotten into poison ivy or poison oak. Dont even know what it looks like, but i dont think we have it over here. I do remember as a kid though, we used to hike around in all the big green belts around the house on the coast, and we would sometimes climb steep muddy cliff areas by grabbing onto nettles and devils club. After a while youd be so swollen and messed up your hands and arms were pretty much numb. I think it was the 12 year old kids way of trying to out macho his friends.

[Roosiebull]

Roosie: is your pic in Washington or Oregon? I got my bad case on the Klickitat river bottoms

Oregon....poison oak is thick on the southern coast, the sixes river has blessed me with all I have gotten....now I have gotten over catching poison oak, I have to figure out a way to keep the stinkin' ticks off of me....just found sawyers last spring, so hopefully that's over too.

life is pretty mellow in my neck of the woods, relatively, but the southern Oregon coast has those little gifts that try to keep on giving....I would walk through the biggest salmon berry patch in the PNW to avoid one tick crawling on me

[wawhitey]

Roosiebull, this last spring while i was bear hunting was the worst tick year id ever seen. One day i got 72 ticks on me by noon. I bailed out of the mountains, rush ordered a bunch of permethrin, and sat at home until it arrived. I soaked the living crap out of my clothes and it did help, but i was still catching quite a few crawling up my pant legs. Its good stuff but by no means perfect.

[Swede]

The SW corner of Oregon has a lot of Poison oak all over at lower elevations. As a kid I got it some, but have not been effected for years. I still do not tempt fate and avoid it as much as reasonably possible.

[Lefty]

After a while youd be so swollen and messed up your hands and arms were pretty much numb. I think it was the 12 year old kids way of trying to out macho his friends.

We use to do the same in burning nettle,.. silly boys

[Roosiebull]

After a while youd be so swollen and messed up your hands and arms were pretty much numb. I think it was the 12 year old kids way of trying to out macho his friends.

We use to do the same in burning nettle,.. silly boys

or walk through a 100yd patch of stinging nettles in kuiu Tiburon pants, half way through it you realize that the pants are not stopping them...that was an uncomfortable morning

[bow82]

Spring turkey guiding in South Florida, I must have crawled through some. I wiped sweat of my face, as 90% of my sweat glands appear to be on my face, it got me so good it swelled both my eyes shut, made it hard to breath in through my nose. My wife got me into the dr and 2 steroid shots to the rear I could breath again after a few hours and the next day I could see again. All but gone the next day.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[N&N Waterfowl]

The worst I got was actually as a child. Dad was in the back at the burning barrel working on clearing out some cuttings that he had done the week before. I of course was more then willing to help out when it had anything to do with fire. Not paying attention, I threw some poison ivy into the burning barrel that wasn't completely dried out. By that evening, I was in the emergency room getting shots of steroids and benadryl. I had it around my eyes and ears. Pretty much all over my face. It was awful. Over the years, my sensitivity has gone down, but I still keep a close lookout and always rinse off after coming into contact.

[Redmondbrewer]

Sat down to take care of business and while I was enjoying my time in nature I realized I was surrounded by P.O. You can imagine what happened. I looked like a dog with a turd stuck to his butt for the next 2 weeks

[saddlesore]

Muzzle Loader deer season in eastern Colorado.Me and my buddy stretched out for a noon nap. Poison oak or? must have been hidden in the grass,but the oils soaked thru base layers. Both of us had rash from knees to neck on one side.

[CurlyTail]

[http://www.nowiknow.com/the-red-menace/

Here is a humorous story regarding the Chinese version of Poison Oak (Chisese Lacquer Tree), and Nixon's historic visit to China. Urushiol is the chemical in both poison ivy, and poison oak that causes such an impressive allergic type reaction