Have you ever had....

[Debi]

It's that time of year. We are about to see Poison Ivy, Oak, and Sumac.

HAVE YOU EVER HAD A CASE OF POISON IVY, OAK OR SUMAC?
HOW BAD WAS IT?
Anyone you know have a bad case?

Here's how to ID this stuff.

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[JahaRa]

I never have. It doesn't grow in the desert where I grew up. One time I did find myself standing in poison oak with some friends in Georgia. None of us knew what it was, we were wearing shorts and sleeveless tops. I was the only one who did not break out. My mother told me she also was not sensitive to poison oak or poison ivy.

 

[Debi]

I never have. It doesn't grow in the desert where I grew up. One time I did find myself standing in poison oak with some friends in Georgia. None of us knew what it was, we were wearing shorts and sleeveless tops. I was the only one who did not break out. My mother told me she also was not sensitive to poison oak or poison ivy.

I am blessed with being non-reactive to it as well. There are a certain percentage of people who are not. Now, my daughter in law landed in the hospital with it for two days a few years back!

 

[JahaRa]

I am blessed with being non-reactive to it as well. There are a certain percentage of people who are not. Now, my daughter in law landed in the hospital with it for two days a few years back!

I hope she recovered with out too much pain.

 

[Debi]

I hope she recovered with out too much pain.

She was quite miserable for two weeks. I don't believe I've ever seen a case as bad as she had! She now is super careful during the season...wears long sleeves, gloves, and wipes down after any possible exposure. And the doc has stand by meds for her now so at the first sign she's on treatment for it.

 

[JahaRa]

She was quite miserable for two weeks. I don't believe I've ever seen a case as bad as she had! She now is super careful during the season...wears long sleeves, gloves, and wipes down after any possible exposure. And the doc has stand by meds for her now so at the first sign she's on treatment for it.

I like living in the desert. A cactus is usually easily recognized and avoided but in humid climates there are so many dangerous things. Black snakes chase you instead of slipping away like a rattle snake will, lots of poisonous vegetation, too many bugs, dangerous molds, etc. We have those tiny nats in early summer called "no see um's" but they are just annoying. I think the worst hazard we have is centipedes that can cause baterial infections if they walk on your bare skin. I had to keep the crib legs in cofee cans with borax so no centipedes could crawl into my daughter's crib.

 

[Debi]

I like living in the desert. A cactus is usually easily recognized and avoided but in humid climates there are so many dangerous things. Black snakes chase you instead of slipping away like a rattle snake will, lots of poisonous vegetation, too many bugs, dangerous molds, etc. We have those tiny nats in early summer called "no see um's" but they are just annoying. I think the worst hazard we have is centipedes that can cause baterial infections if they walk on your bare skin. I had to keep the crib legs in cofee cans with borax so no centipedes could crawl into my daughter's crib.

I have visited your area, and found out about the dangers of "just touching a cactus to see how sharp it is". My husband felt it was an interesting experiment. I put Wile E. Coyote in a desert and this is what he did...lol

 

[Duke]

Yes, I'm very sensitive to it. Back in the early 2000s I helped a friend clear some brush/scrub from the backend of his property. I wore a hat, long sleeve shirt, gloves, and shorts.

By next evening my legs were covered with it. It lasted about ten days, despite using poison ivy soap, calamine lotion, and some home remedy concoction the wife said they used on the farm as she was growing up.

It itched terribly, and I kept scratching it. I wound with a series of very noticeable scars and pot marks, particularly on the left leg. A few years ago while standing in a concession line at a Reds' game, an older gentleman with a cane behind me asked, "Where were you based, and when?" Turns out he was a Vietnam vet who mistook my scars for shrapnel wound scars.

 

[Selectric]

"no see um's"

Yeah we got those here as well, plus green heads. I don't remember having had issues with poison ivy or oak. Some years ago, my boss then, his son was on a job digging an underground service trench where the whole area was rampant with ivy. Not knowing...or not caring...no clue lol...he was ripping it out with his bare hands. He got pretty messed up from it for sure.

 

[TexDanm]

Where I was raised poison oak and ivy are everywhere. I have wallowed in it and never had a reaction of any kind that I can remember... When we moved to where we live now I assumed that there was nothing to worry about. WRONG!!!! We have the poison sumac here and it ate me up until I learned how to avoid it. After a while, I seemed to gain a similar immunity to it as I did to poison oak and Ivy. I have not had a problem with it for a long time now.