is it me, or is the poison ivy absolutely everywhere now. maybe its jus me, but my new job i inspect utility poles for Orange&Rockland through a sub contract company. Part of my job is cut vines that grow up the poles, and most of it is poison ivy, which im so allergic to. i have it right now all over my arm, this is the 6th time i got it since january. anybody got any tips to get rid of it? i been usin the Technu soap which works great also

i don't recommend this for everyone, but I hate the itching so much I do the complete opposite of what they say to do "leave it alone". Instead, I scratch the @#$ out of it to get it all opened up. Then I wash it in warm water and soap. Next I put rubbing alcohol on it to disinfect, and it tightens up the pores and squeezes the "poison" out. Then I wrap the whole thing in gauze. I repeat that a couple of times and it's done within 3 days tops. The alcohol is the tough part but if you can deal with that it really works very quickly.

Whatever you use...good luck.

You can buy this lotion, which is some kind of block, that if you put it on your skin before being exposed, it prevents the ivy oils from getting into your skin. Then you just wash it off when your done. That works pretty well. Tecnu works, as well as this these Ivy wipes, that if you know you were exposed, wipe yourself as soon as possible, and its supposed to get it off before it creates a reaction on your skin. Of course, I did all of this when I worked at the state parks, and I still got some, but it wasn't as bad as in previous encounters.

Here is the Ivy Block:
http://www.rei.com/product/784612?preferre...r:referralID=NA

Here are the wipes:
http://www.rei.com/product/669631

i used the alcohol trick when i was younger. havent had a big outbreak til 2 days ago. so now im doin it again so it would dry up. bought more soap to remove the oil to prevent recontamination. went to CVS and Price chopper to look for Ivy Block, both didnt have it

chloronated pools work great!

Don't know about getting rid of it, but to block the itching, I run water as hot as I can stand over the impacted area. It starts making the itch much worse, but after a few seconds, it begins to feel numb and the itch subsides for many many hours.

Given what you have to do, I would think avoidance is really what you should focus on....and that is going to be tough. Once that oil gets on clothes I believe it can actually spread in the washing machine. You might want to think about wearing disposable rubber gloves AND having one long sleave shirt that is your dedicated poison ivy shirt. Each time you even think you have come into contact with ivy, take the shirt home and bleach the crap out of it and then wash it. It won't be much to look at, but hopefully it keeps the oil off of your skin....and DON"T touch anything with those gloves. When I was a kid I never reacted to the crap. Then one year I was working shirtless in the hot summer clearing tons of it. No gloves. Nothing...because "I never get it". By that evening I had my whole face swollen red, eyes almost shut and poison ivy all over my torso AND in places a guy would never want any issues. (not to mention a full, five finger hand print on my wifes lower back). Suffice to say that was my first introduction to steroids. Good Luck