We heard about poison oak, having been warned by the realtor a few
weeks before. I'd never been around it, and didn't know if we were allergic
or not. We stomped around for an hour, and I recall that we hadn't stepped
on any plants. We just about ended the hike and looked at each other,
smiling. "Nope, I guess we aren't allergic to anything." I grabbed a
handful of what later proved to be poison oak, and like a smart aleck,
rubbed it all over my bare calf. "See, nothing happened."

That day, no reaction occurred to my daughter or myself. "Ha ha! We aren't
allergic!" I would live to eat those words. a week later. At first, there
were a few blisters, then more. Soon my right calf was on fire, and I rushed
to the local country doctor. He gave me pills and a hydrocortisone shot. He
laughed as he took a photo for his collection, saying he'd never seen anyone
have this badly of a reaction.. I didn't mention that I'd been fool enough
to rub it all over my leg.

After 6 months, the blistering and scabbing stopped. I had tried every
topical treatment available in our little mountain town. None of the
treatments worked. If I had had Ivy-Cleanse and Ivy-Soothe then, I would
have healed up sooner, and if I had had Ivy-Block before my hike, I wouldn't
have this embarrassing story to relate to you now.

I was at a friends outdoor pool party in the beginning of August. Not
thinking twice about getting completely silly, I drank alot of vodka as
usual. The day after the party, after recovering from a mean hangover, I
began to itch while watching a movie. I was itching my
face and neck like crazy after a while, not knowing why.
The next morning I woke up with the puffy rash all under my neck and side
of face, and I knew what it was! (The summer before I got a bad case of
poison ivy). I called my friend only to find out that I had thrown up all
over a lilac bush covered in thick poison ivy. Impressive.
The itching was so intense!! I felt like I had fire ants doing a tap
dance under my neck. I was so miserable, and had to use all of my power and
energy to not itch. I had to get a steroid shot in the bum, as well as a
prescription for prednozone. Meanwhile, my job is a waitress, so it is not
very appetizing to have your food served by a girl covered in a rash.
I am now known as vomiting poison ivy face. And the rash cleared on my
face, but I have a patch on the palm of my hand that still has not gone away
(3 weeks later). GO ME!

At first I laughed because I looked so weird. Then the itchiness really started, and it frankly was very painful. I researched products quickly and set out to get some, settling on IvyStat. It helped with the itching, especially on my face. Unfortunately, the rash continued to spread and a prescription was the only option left. It is now day 7. Although my face is back to normal, my body is still itching and healing.

Geocaching is a type of treasure hunting sport, to put it briefly. It usually consist of long hours in the deepest of woods and thicket.
Today's trip lasted approx. 3 hours.

While searching for our "treasure", I can't recall seeing any poison ivy. But we must have been in an area where the ivy was very dense, because we have never had a rash this widespread before.

Upon getting home, we did our normal routine. Stripped down immediately and washed our clothes and took a shower. Hours later it had become apparent we had made a serious mistake. Our rashes took nearly a week to fully heal and left a few scars. Eww!!

I was cutting some lower branches from some trees in the yard. There were all types of other plants growing on the ground and climbing into the lower branches of the trees. I have never encountered poison ivy before and I am new to the mid Atlantic region so I wasn't educated in what to look for. I cut all the branches down and hauled then off. I also ran the string trimmer and mower to clear all the rest of the plants growing under the trees. It looks really good in that area of the yard now.

However it came at a hefty price. About a day later I developed the rash. It was awful. It started on my elbow then seemed to spread all over my body. Pain itching blisters and puss oozing and dripping for days. I had to cover the bedding to prevent the puss from soaking the bed. I tried all the local remedies and stuff from the web. Nothing worked. I couldn’t stand it any more and went to the doctor. Good thing I had some infection and my hand and arm was swollen like a balloon. Steroids and antibiotics is what were prescribed. It helped a little but this was the worse time in my life. I told the doctor that amputation seemed to be a viable option at the time. She assured me that I would regret that later.

However I did love to pop all those little blisters. I was obsessed by them. Did it for hours. This lasted for 3 weeks.

When I was a kid, my cousin and I were double trouble. We were three months apart and our dads were identical twins. I had the particular good fortune to be invited for a week at her house without my parents. Oh the thrill of summertime adventures in the woods. One slight problem. I was allergic to Poison Oak and she wasn't. So on the 2nd day of our glorious week, I had swollen legs, ankles, arms and a good itch. And as everyone thought I was contagious, I was banned from the friend sleepovers and other childhood thrills. My aunt, not knowing the skills of motherly nursing, put a moisturizing sauve on me -- which added to the ooze. A week later, my mom appeared. Quickly getting a drying agent, she nursed me back to health.