Itchy Dilemma
I’m grateful that I enjoyed 10 months here without this problem, but that time is over and now I face a new challenge that needs to be managed: Poison Ivy. I am sensitive to it. Cyndie says, “That’s an understatement.”
It has been a few years since I have had any serious reactions, so I was beginning to hope my sensitivity was waning. I would most often come in contact with the troublesome urushiol, the sap of the plant, up at our lake place in Hayward, WI. One of those exposures caused such a severe reaction that I had outbreaks of rash all over my body and required medical intervention to control it. I was told that I had likely breathed smoke from one of our outdoor fire pits, where wood with the oil on it was burning.
If I have a cut, or any break in my skin, and the oil gets in there, I will have a systemic reaction, and the rash can appear anywhere and everywhere. So far, with today’s infliction, the rash is limited to my arms and hands. From the location of the affected areas, and the timing of the reaction, we believe that I came in contact with the oil when touching our dog, Delilah, after we finally allowed her to run free on our property.
It is highly unlikely that we would be able to eradicate the poison ivy plant from our 20 acres of fields and woods, and will be impossible to keep Delilah from brushing up against it, so I am facing a new dilemma of how I can avoid exposure. It is dreadful to think that I won’t be able to touch our dog again. We had plans to let her roam inside our house. That seems risky to me now.
It’s really sad for me, because I was so enjoying seeing her run free. Now I have the perspective that the more she runs, the more threatening she becomes to me.
I have some time to think about this, and what I will do about it, because the rash tends to last about 1 – 3 weeks. It has me itching to find a solution for this dilemma.
Relative Something 
You may want to look into homeopathy as a way to manage the severity of your sensitivity. I’ve experienced incredible success working with a homeopath here in Cambridge to ease my seasonal allergies–it may be worth looking into.
Liz Shatek
August 12, 2013 at 2:09 pm
Ooh. That is a wonderful suggestion. Thank you!
johnwhays
August 12, 2013 at 2:20 pm
Re:I’m grateful that I enjoyed 10 months here without this problem – therein may lie the solution. What is specific about ‘now’? Anyway, very weird…
Ian Rowcliffe
August 11, 2013 at 3:36 am
I am certain that the change that occurred now is our letting Delilah run free. She gets into the poison ivy, and I rub her fur and get the oil all over me.
johnwhays
August 11, 2013 at 7:31 am
Given you are right, the next question is where is she going that you hadn’t gone previously? And can it be fenced off? Has anyone else been affected in the same way?
Ian Rowcliffe
August 11, 2013 at 9:56 am
She is going EVERYWHERE I haven’t gone. I bet she has covered every nook and cranny here now. The poison ivy plant loves this region, and grows anywhere there is sunshine, so it loves the transition areas between fields and the woods. It grows in ditches of roads. Anywhere dirt has been disturbed, poison ivy is happy to take hold. It can climb like a vine and creep across the ground. Since it is rather pervasive on our property, it is not something that could be fenced off.
Cyndie has a high tolerance, and has never before broken out with a rash from poison ivy. She is thinking she may have it now, for the first time, but just one little spot. Me, with my high sensitivity, I can get the rash if wind blows just right across the plant.
That is why I am a bit surprised it took this long after we moved here. I am not at all surprised that I got it from wrapping my arms around the dog and giving her big loves. Honestly, I should have known better.
johnwhays
August 11, 2013 at 9:31 pm
Re:That is why I am a bit surprised it took this long after we moved here – Quite: what you are saying doesn’t seem to make sense. With or without the dog, you should have normally been affected long before now. So is there something seasonal to this, something related to the specific conditions? How do neighbors manage? What is the local take on this? A good person to ask is the man who said that the property had once belonged to him. The one connected to the deer shoot… surely he would be a key informant and may have some specific answers. Despite Cyndie’s ‘one little spot’, it is strange no one else has reported having the problem, your guests and visitors, for example.
By the way, if it is poison ivy, (rather than another type of rash) shouldn’t it have spread to other parts of the body – not that I’d wish that on you in anyway. What does your doctor say?
Ian Rowcliffe
August 12, 2013 at 2:40 am
Good questions. I may have used too much hyperbole in describing my reaction. In reality, I can never tell if I am not getting it because I have been careful, or lucky, but I go for fairly long periods of not getting it, and then periods of feeling like I don’t dare breath the air. These first 10 months have been what I consider luck, but also, honestly have had much less exposure – most of those months, the place was buried in snow! No wonder I love winter so much more than summer.
Guests and visitors can easily limit their exposure by just staying on trails. Few people get into things as deeply as I am. (Imagine how I looked after we cut the area around your spring!)
Reaction to poison ivy is strictly from the sap or oil of the plant. If I don’t come in contact with more oil, it won’t spread to other parts of my body. The exception to that is if it becomes systemic in my blood and then will sprout rashes everywhere. That reaction is less common.
Most people will react in one or two areas on their body. Highly sensitive people like me just need to be sure to wash EVERYTHING worn, or tools handled, or the dog’s fur. If I wear gloves, I need to remember not to reach up and wipe my sweating brow. If something with the urushiol oil contacts my skin again (and it is a very stable oil that hangs around and can still be hazardous a year later) a day later I will sense a rash occurring.
johnwhays
August 12, 2013 at 9:41 am