I did a bunch of yard work in preparation for a party - had the yard looking fantastic. Me? I had managed to get poison ivy all up and down my arms and even a wide patch of red, bumpy welt on my face. And just in time for the party! Fun times.

The rash is caused by an oil in the plant, urushiol, which you spread around to other parts of your body by scratching it when it first starts itching before you realize it's poison ivy or washed it off. Once your skin blisters, the fluid in the blisters does not spread the poison ivy.

I had a gruesome case a few years ago when I pulled a whole bunch of it out of my garden. My boyfriend assured me it wasn't poison ivy. Ha ha ha. He got it too -- a really, really bad case.

I used hydrocortisone cream on the bumps (they were welts in my case) after taking a long, hot shower. The heat pulls the histamines to the surface of your skin, where they evaporate, relieving the itching for a short time. I did this before I went to bed, or I could not sleep.

Even if it's not poison ivy, you are having an allergic reaction to something, OP. If you get a horrible case, you might want to consider steroids. In retrospect, I wish I had done so for my horrible aforementioned case. For milder cases, the hot shower/cortisone works. Don't scratch! You'll scar your skin.

See a medical facility: a short course of steroids may help you a lot. Careful with the eyes in particular.

I have terrible blisters across my wrists. It seriously looks like I slashed them. Awful. Calamine lotion seems to be working the best. Cool cloths help if its being particularly itchy.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Trying to figure out if that's what I have. It doesn't look like a big red rash (although I did have a small patch like that on my chin). It's more like isolated bumps up and down my arm. It looks like a bunch of bug bites, but it's not. Can that be a reaction to a plant?

This is exactly what I have too (I posted earlier in the week about it!). It's probably poison ivy, but does it really matter at the moment? The bumps may spread into a continuous rash and then blister. Sorry, it sucks!

It's the worst. And since I thought it was bug bites at first I wasn't careful about washing my hands after scratching and now I think I've spread it to other areas including my eye lid. Is there anything that's safe to put near your eyes that will help with the itchiness and puffiness? I look like I've been in a fight.

Anonymous wrote:Trying to figure out if that's what I have. It doesn't look like a big red rash (although I did have a small patch like that on my chin). It's more like isolated bumps up and down my arm. It looks like a bunch of bug bites, but it's not. Can that be a reaction to a plant?

This is exactly what I have too (I posted earlier in the week about it!). It's probably poison ivy, but does it really matter at the moment? The bumps may spread into a continuous rash and then blister. Sorry, it sucks!

Trying to figure out if that's what I have. It doesn't look like a big red rash (although I did have a small patch like that on my chin). It's more like isolated bumps up and down my arm. It looks like a bunch of bug bites, but it's not. Can that be a reaction to a plant?

Poison ivy and poison oak are everywhere. Poison sumac only grows in swampy areas. DH had a horrible rash after pulling a mysterious vine out of the garden. I knew it wasn't poison ivy but I had never seen poison oak before. It can sometimes be very tricky to identify. Now we know.

For treatment, I recommend Benadryl Gel skin cream (the clear stuff). If you have wet blisters, then switch to Caladryl. You can take benedryl or zyrtec tablets and that will help, too. (Benadryl tablets will make you sleepy as hell so I recommend the Zyrtec.)

Poison ivy is EVERYWHERE around DC. It grows up as a real ivy here, and looks pretty different than I remember from the Midwest.

If you're desperate, try Zanfel. It's crazy expensive, but I've used it before and it really seemed to work.

Technu wash is also great to keep around the house to avoid breakouts when you know you've been exposed.

I had the same thing happen but I swear I didn't see anything that looked like poison ivy at all. These itchy bumps are driving me crazy. I wish I knew what it was.

Poison ivy probably. Get some poison ivy killer spray from Home Depot and spray the shit out of it.

Working in the back fence area of my rowhouse this weekend, clearing weeds and such. Now I have an awful breakout. Don't know if it was poison ivy/oak/sumac. Didn't expect it so I didn't look.

Anyway- anyone know what grows in DC? Any tips for killing it?