The comments below reflect the personal experiences and opinions of readers and do not represent medical advice or the views of this website. The information shared has not been evaluated by the FDA and is not intended to diagnose, treat, or prevent any disease or health condition. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional for medical concerns.
Ice Water
Posted by William (Texas) on 02/12/2019
★★★★★
I have had poison ivy many times in my life!! My "go to" remedy is ALWAYS "ICE WATER". Why? Because it is instantaneous relief from misery. 100% relief in a split second! Just leave your hand, arm, feet,... in the icy water for about one minute or two full minutes.
The relief is immediate and lasts for two to ten hours (depending upon how severe your poison ivy reaction is). Repeat as many times the first day as needed. The second day you won't need many.
By the third day you are almost home. WHY does it work? Heat is a catalyst for ALL biological reactions. Heat speeds up biological reactions. Heat is required for all biological reactions including poison ivy. When you put your hand/arm in ice water (approx. 33 deg F), the ice draws the HEAT out of the area with poison ivy. Essentially, shutting the poison ivy reaction down and giving your skin time to heal. HOW I do it: Just say I have a poison ivy outbreak on my forearm. I take a large ice chest. Fill it with water up to about 4 inches from the top. Then put in a full bag of ice. Maybe two bags. S
wish the ice around with your hand. If all the ice melts, then you should add another bag. When ready, I just submerge my entire forearm into the ice water. I like to leave my arm in the ice water for at least a full minute. Two full minutes is better. I had a friend who once had poison ivy on almost all areas of his body. He took quick baths in the bath tub in ice water. It worked and in 3 days he was done. That's it. Works 100% of the time. William Note that heat is a catalyst for chemical, bacterial, and biological reactions.
How to Develop Poison Ivy Immunity
Posted by Timh (Ky) on 05/04/2017 2048 posts
For all you've been doing to recover your health looks like it's beginning to really happen, so hurray! I forgot to mention Histamine in the first post as one of the bad chems produced in the inflammatory condition, so any antihistamine natural or pharma would be worth the trial. Pseudoephedrine was once the big otc antihistamine but the meth freaks have caused a big disturbance in it's sale because it is the main ingredient in the clandestine production of methamphetamine. Big pharma has created another chemical antihistamine to replace the problem one that can't be used as a precursor to meth. So, reduction of Histamine 1 and COX 2 is what you want. Lots of awareness of the potential in ant inflammatory diets across the world lately as this approach reduces many illnesses in itself.
I'll skip on the platelets frenzy on two counts. It is rumored that george sorros takes regular blood transfusions from young children or possibly aborted babies so??? As for healthy skin there are a number of good natural ways to achieve. Carnasine is the best. Check out Jon Barron as he's the expert on it as well as many other health & nutrition topics. He has lot's of info and excellent products (Baseline I think). I take Raw Bovine Bone Marrow regularly to keep my blood up. GABA and Ornithine are my favs for boosting HGH/IGF. I recently started D Aspartic Acid for the Testosterone boosting and getting good results. Yes, the very hormones that can take one right outa the sick-bed can immediately place you in the sex-bed, which is another situation that must be under control. But the longevity experts agree that boosting both the HGH & Test. together make for way better results.
My recovery is so difficult that it's always impossible to know the outcome. I have so many major problems and it's way to much suffering for anyone to endure. I take the smart & aggressive method and like Bill Belichick coaching football, identify & correct every mistake big or small.
Clay
Posted by Mmsg (Somewhere, Europe) on 07/18/2016
M to M, we rarely pick off the dried clay. It just stays there for as long as it wants and eventually comes off in the shower. If it still needs attention, we put new clay (usually wet) on top.
Clay
Posted by Steven (LA) on 01/20/2022
Even if it works for you, that is not proving anything. What works for some people does not necessarily work for others, and in the face of people becoming deathly ill from doing this, the mom is unequivocally RIGHT for not experimenting/trying this on her son.
Go try it on your kids (which you definitely do not have, because if you did, you'd never advise anyone else to do this with such naive sureness) but don't tell someone else to do it.
Remove Oil with Towels
Posted by Mama To Many (Tennessee, Usa) on 09/14/2015
This summer, someone told me that it was better to rub the oil of poison ivy off of your skin with towels than to wash the oil off with soap and water. Having heard to use soap and water for years and years and years, I was skeptical. He said that soap and water just spread it around and made it harder to get off than rubbing it off with paper towels.
Today I was making some salves and was having to clean oil out of jars. I used paper towels to get as much oil as possible off of the jars before using soap and water. I realized it was much easier to clean the jars if I used the paper towels. I also realized that when my hands were covered with oil, paper towels got it off much better than hot water and soapy water. Hmmm....
So I think I believe him. Next time we are exposed to poison ivy, I will try it. Maybe it is best to do both. One handy thing is that if you are exposed to poison ivy and are not near soap and water, you may be able to rub the area with your clothes, or an extra towel or garment in your car.
I think regular towels will work as well, but I like to minimize how much oil I am expecting my washing machine to get out of cloth. I have never been quite sure I was getting all of the poison ivy out of the clothes in the washer.
Has anyone else ever heard of this or tried it?
~Mama to Many~
Stick Deodorant
Posted by Debbie (Arkansas, US) on 06/15/2014
★★★★★
I always use a stick deodorant/antiperspirant for poison ivy. It dries the rash and takes out the itch for a while. Easy to apply even at work or in the middle of the night! After trying all the home remedies for years this has been my go to for the last 4 years. I start using it as soon as I itch, see 1 bump or a line of bumps. Best to keep clothing off rash/keep air circulating around the rash or use hair dryer, bentonite clay also helps with the drying but the deodorant is great to use immediately, because it is handy.
Oak Bark
Posted by Amy (Riverside, California) on 05/07/2014
Old fashioned Poison Ivy skin cure.
I once read a book about a young man that raised Honey bees. This was back when rural areas had few telephones (can't recall the state but I think it was in the Midwest U.S.A.). Probably in the 1920's or 1930's. This family lived in the woods and the boy would explore the area enjoying the outdoors. The boy said that he once got into some poison ivy and was going through misery all over his body! No one could help him so his mother got on a telephone and called his grandmother in another state.
It took hours to get a hold of his grandmother but when the boy's mother finally got the grandmother on the phone the grandmother told the boy's mother to go out into the woods and take an ax and go to an oak tree and cut down a load of OAK BARK! She then told the mother to place the oak bark in a big tub or sink and fill the tub or sink with water covering the oak bark and to boil the oak bark and water. The oak bark was to be taken out of the tub and the boy was to soak in the oak bark hot water (hot to where the boy could stand it) and soak in this solution until the water became cold. Then the boy was to get into his pajamas and go straight to bed and sleep.
The boy claims that when he woke up the next morning the poison ivy irritation was gone! Just thought I would share this story with others. I have the book in storage but with 6 full storage units I will have a hard time finding it. But I think it is a true story.
DMSO
Posted by Renee (Bergen Co., Nj) on 08/22/2012
★☆☆☆☆
DMSO, applied topically to my husband's poison ivy, caused the itching to increase and it looked more irritated. He tried several applications, all with the same result. It did not help it go away.
DMSO
Posted by D. Saettel (Farmersville, Ohio ) on 06/10/2015
When I am finished working in the garden or hiking, I come in and shower with dish soap and a small amount of ammonia using a net wash cloth. Suds up all over, rinse, never get poison ivy anymore. Think the ammonia neutralizes that poison acid.
Milk
Posted by Lorraine (Indianapolis, Indiana) on 07/05/2012
★★★★★
I blog and last week I posted something about "Poison Ivy" a reader commented by sharing the following:
One thing I've found that works amazingly well came from the website of a hospital in upstate New York, where it is the only hospital for miles around, and where campers and hikers frequently come into contact with poison ivy. Rather than withholding information in order to get people into the ER, they put this remedy on their website:
Milk. Just soak a cloth with it, and hold it on the area affected. I did this with my 3-year-old, when initially it looked as if someone had slapped her (and I suspected my 8-year-old). There was an area of distinct red with a sharp edge that crossed from her cheek, halfway over her eye, and onto her forehead. But instead of fading, it got worse, to the point when she woke up the next morning that half of her face was swollen and her eye was swollen shut. I knew poison ivy in the eye was dangerous so I was looking for advice online (when to take to the ER, anything we should/shouldn't do in the meantime), and came across the advice to put milk on it.
We had pet milk (milk from a farm, unpasteurized), so that's what I used. I put her in the tub, soaked a washcloth, and held it on her face. When it got warm, I flipped it and added more milk.
Within 15 minutes, I could see a crack of eyeball, and her face was less puffy. Within half an hour, her eye was most of the way open. And within 45 minutes, the redness and swollenness was pretty much gone everywhere on her face, with just one little spot. She was 3 and so done with sitting in the bathtub while I held a washcloth on her face, so I let her out for a bit, and then before bedtime just patted some more milk on the one remaining spot, and after 10 minutes it was no longer red. It took a few days for the blistering to heal, but at that point it wasn't itchy or spreading at all-just damaged skin from her exposure.
My husband, at the same time, started cleaning up the yard (a tornado had deposited shredded poison ivy leaves in our yard) and got a very bad case. He went with over-the-counter remedies for 3 weeks, while it continued to get worse, and then finally caved and tried my "weird" remedy. His was so many places on his body it did take a couple of days to get it all, but it was just a couple of days. Yet the next time he had poison ivy he tried the conventional stuff again and again it was over a week before he'd try milk on it, but now he has learned his lesson and turns to milk right away!
We instantly tried milk on my mom who has a rip-roaring case of PI right now, and it brought almost instant relief. Better than ACV! Hope this helps!!! :)
Hot Water
Posted by Big T From Kc (Independence, Mo) on 09/02/2010
★★★★★
You are correct in your assumption. Oddly enough, I got the info straight from a physician, which you would think would try to prescribe some medication to help fund the medical establishment. This is how it was described to me and the reasoning behind why this works. Get the water as hot as you can stand, without burning yourself. (I have a higher tolerance of pain and have burned myself in the past, but over time, worked out the perfect temp. ) What the hot water does, is releases the histamines in that area of your body, that is being treated. Our body has an allergic reaction to the ivy. With allergies, what do we take? Anti-histamines. So, with the hot water releasing these histamines, that cause the allergic reaction, there is nothing there to cause the itch. I was told that it can take your body, on average, 4-8 hours to replenish the histamines in the applied area, so it depends on the person I suppose. My own personal experience, I get relief from the itching for about 8 hours. When it starts to flare up again, another hot water treatment. Another interesting thing occurs too. The use of the hot water tends to dry out the affected area as well, thus the reaction to the ivy only lasts 3-4 days and it's gone. The drawback to it though, is now you've got dry skin for a few days. I don't experience that too often, but it does happen on occasion and really isn't a big deal to me. But, you could use lotion if you were so inclined. What used to be an 8-10 day irritation, aside from the frustration of trying every over-the-counter method to no avail, is now completely gone within a 3-4 day period. Plus, water is much cheaper than anything else you purchase. I used to hate mowing the grass or working in the yard, due to the ivy that grew along my fence. Now, I go at it with wreckless abandon, not worrying about the ill effects of the reaction, because I've found the perfect way to take care of the problem. IT WORKS! Besides that, what have you got to lose, water is basically free.
Cream of Tartar
Posted by Sharon (Fl) on 09/22/2015
This works great! I read about cream of tartar in another place a couple years ago, and it just said to take it, so l ate a half teaspoon right off the spoon and followed it with water. It tastes tart, not bitter this way. It prevented my husbands allergic reaction to the grass and weeds as he cut the grass as well. l also used it to stop an asthma attack from mold when l was out of meds, and it worked. It is a by-product of wine-making, the powder forming on the barrels from a substance in grapes and other tart fruits.
Grapefruit Seed Extract
Posted by Eh (Atlanta, Ga) on 09/04/2009
★★★★★
Grapefruit Seed Extract is also good for treatment of Poison Ivy:
Just put 10 drops of GSE in a sprayer bottle and spray on area 2-3x daily, OR, if you don't have a sprayer bottle, you can put 3 drops of GSE in 2-3 oz. of water, dip a cotton ball in it, and just pat it on the area. It works beautifully! I am severely allergic to Poision Ivy -- and have tried just about everything -- even medications that costs $10-12 for a "spray on" remedy, but nothing worked as well as this simple remedy. A 2 oz. bottle of GSE is only $10 at a health food store or on-line, and it works for many, many things -- including candida, which I cured myself of using GSE. Oh! And TRY not to scratch -- that is hard, I know, but it spreads it. Thanks!
Over the Counter
Posted by Pamela G (Springvale, Me) on 08/03/2009
★☆☆☆☆
I tried using some invisible band-aid from the Dollar Tree and it has made me so much worse. It is causing my rash to weep profusely- so much so that I soak through a facecloth every hour....I cannot get the stuff off without using nail polish remover or the like, and I am not ready for that STING. I would have been better off just letting my body handle this issue with my trying to "help".
Bee Pollen
Posted by Soyjim (East Alton, Illinois) on 07/26/2009
★★★★★
At various times in my life I have suffered with severe poison ivy outbreaks. Usually once or twice a year for a number of years then I would have no problems for a few years. in the past I originally almost always had to go to a doctor and beg for prednisone. often the doctors would not give me any until the rash spread extensively. Even with the prescription steroids I would have to shower often with poison ivy washes and use over the counter topical medicines then after about a month I would be ok but sometimes it would return even when I was very careful not to get reexposed. Because the steroid pills were so hard to get I found that I could get rid of the poison ivy if I took an Ibuprofen pill about every 4 hours until the poison ivy was gone. usually I could taper off after about 3 weeks and only take Ibuprofen when itching was severe. without some kind of Anti-inflamatory drug the poison ivy would just spread and itch unbearably. Even with the ibuprofen I would have to use washes and topical treatments to get rid of the rash. The ibuprofen treated rashes seemed not as likely to return in the current year as when I used steroid pills.
About five years ago I read a recommendation that eating honey might keep one from getting poison Ivy. since that time I have started putting a spoon of honey in one of my morning cups of coffee occasionally doing it more often in the likely high out break seasons - spring to mid summer. Although once in the past I did get poison ivy in winter. My own thinking on the subject led me to take some bee pollen pills that I got at thedrug store. These can be over done. When I first stared taking them daily, after a couple of weeks I broke out with a poison ivy type rash all over my body but it went away in a few hours. I encountered a second occurence of this rash when I took the pills daily after a few lay off days. Now I take them occasionally during poison ivy season. Maybe once a week at the start then cut back to one or two more pills over the next few months. This year I only took a couple in the spring and have eaten honey occasionally. I don't know if this has helped me but in the last five years I have not had any severe poison ivy outbreaks. I remember a couple of times having a few itchy bumps on my fingers that went away in a few days. I do not know what they were but when I got them I sure worried that they were poison ivy.
Bee Pollen
Posted by Charles (Bastrop, Louisana ) on 08/24/2017
★★★★★
It works every time.
Rubbing Alcohol, L-Lysine
Posted by Sherry (Saginaw, Michigan) on 07/23/2009
★★★★★
Just recently, while clearing some brush and trimming some overgrown city property,I developed a case of poison ivy. I picked up some Hydrocortisone cream with 1% aloe. That worked very well, but I really don't like to use creams, so I sprayed some rubbing alcohol on the infected areas. Instant relief. The blue ribbon goes to the L-Lysine tablet taken every morning for a week. The blisters, sores, and itching quickly disappeared!
DMSO
Posted by Jack (Tampa, Fl) on 05/27/2009
★★★★★
Cure: Use DMSO either liquid or gel applied externally. The DMSO seems to neutralize the oil from the Poison Ivy that causes the rash and immediately stops the itching and dries up the blisters quickly.
DMSO
Posted by Jill C. (Huntsville, AL) on 07/25/2021
★☆☆☆☆
I just got a spot of Poison Ivy on my forearm and it's driving me crazy itching! I have tried the DMSO and it's doing nothing. I tried the baking soda and vinegar, nothing. Guess I"ll try the fels naptha next..... UGH~!
Apple Cider Vinegar
Posted by Joyce (Joelton, Tn) on 07/19/2008 490 posts
To David from Grapeland: Hi David, Just wanted to tell you that the toxic substance on the rhus (poison ivy) is alkaline and that ACV, being acid, will titrate it, so that you won't get the itchy rash if you use it shortly after exposure to poison ivy/oak.m Just thoroughly wipe all exposed areas off with full strength ACV. After it breaks out, the best thing I have found to stop the itching and start drying it up is a product put out by "Fruit of the Earth" called Vitamin E with Naturals (Those naturals are burdock, calendula, chamomile, comfrey, golden seal and honey). I use the yellow gel form that I find in the lotion department of our local Dollar Tree stores. Using this it is gone in 3-4 days. You might also want to look into Beelith tablets (ask the pharmacists for them, nonprescription but I have never found them out on the counter) for those kidney stone problems. They are magnesium oxide and B6 vitamins. I'll share a funny one about kidney stones with you. Early one morning I got a excited call for help for an employee in the basement who was doubled over with abdominal pain. I asked if they could bring him up of if I needed to come down and get him. They brought up immediately. After getting a few things done, including interview, I asked the fellow if he'd had any history of kidney stones. Although his reply was negative, I told him that I was sure that was going to be the cause of his pain. My fellow nurse said, "Yeah, now you know what it feels like to have a baby". Realizing from the confused look on his face, that he did not understand what she meant, I said "They equate the pain of kidney stones to that of having a baby". After mulling this over a few minutes, our patient sounding very sincere, said: "The first thing I am going to do when I get out of here is call my ex-wife and apologize". Both of his nurses cracked up with laughter.
Over the Counter
Posted by Linda (Erlanger, Ky) on 06/03/2008
★★★★★
I recently came into contact with some poison ivy in our flower bed at home. About a week later, here came the rash. I was using the Tecnu which is a good product but was taking forever to see any results. A co worker suggested a product called Ivy Dry so I found it in spray form at Walgreens and it is awesome! It dries up the red patches very quickly and takes care of the itch also. I highly recomend this stuff!
EC: Yes, we've tried the product and agree. It takes the itch away fast, that's for sure.
Fels-Naptha
Posted by Wendi (Conroe, Texas) on 06/03/2008
★★★★★
Poison Ivy remedy: Fels-Naptha!! It can be bought at Kroger in the laundry detergent section. It looks like a bar of soap but is actually used for removing stains on clothing. Half the battle is the itching that can last for weeks. I wet the end of the bar and rubbed it on the areas. Within 1 minute it quit itching and I was itch free for more than 5 hours. That's 3 hours longer than with any thing I've tried before, including otc drugs for poison ivy. Within 3 days the blisters were dried up and healing. I suppose you could shower with it but I only had a few areas. When the itching becomes unbearable you'll just about try anything once. As for me, I'll be using the Fels-Naptha Bar!!!!
Fels-Naptha
Posted by Amy (Western, North Carolina) on 08/14/2012
★★★★★
OMGoodness!!!! I tried everything to get rid of poison ivy on my leg but no matter what I tried, it just kept itching and spreading. I had a bar of Fels Naptha waiting to be grated into homemade laundry detergent so I took it and rubbed it all over my leg. Actually, first I scrubbed the poison ivy area with a soft scrubbing brush, rinsed my leg for several minutes with as hot of water as I could stand, then applied the Fels Naptha. I left it on for a couple of minutes, washed it away with warm water and then doused my leg with the coldest water from the tap. NO MORE ITCHING!!! I repeated this method once a day and by the 3rd day there was a remarkable visible improvement. It is now about the 7th day and my leg is nearly completely healed!! Thank you for this remedy!!!
DMSO
Posted by George (Altoona, USA) on 05/12/2008
★★★★★
Poison Ivy cure DMSO applied to the rash and covered with a gauze bandage stopped the itching immediately and the rash dried up in less than a week.
DMSO
Posted by Justice (Texas) on 06/19/2020
DMSO will cause the garlic smell and taste withOUT any garlic being applied with DMSO. It's very common, and most people who use DMSO will notice this very quickly. So we'll people who come around them if they're using at long-term.
However, you must be careful with DMSO, as it does act as a carrier and a crosses the blood-brain barrier.
Anyting small enough to be carried into the body using DMSO as a carrier, can cross the blood-brain barrier and cause severe damage or even death. There are no documented cases of this happening, but it can happen.
When using DMSO nothing should come in contact with that area for 2 hours prior in 2 hours after application. Unless it is something that you are intending to cross the blood-brain barrier and be carried into the body using the DMSO.
Please be extremely well-versed, well educated, in what you are doing, if you are going to use DMSO as a carrier for anything else. Research credible scientific resources, and don't try whatever you read on the internet.
Rubbing Alcohol
Posted by Ben (Bremerton Wa ) on 04/28/2016
It sounds like you might be getting continuously reinfected with the allergens . Do you have a dog that might be brushing up against poison ivy then bringing it home to you? as little as 1 billionth of a gram can affect some people who are very sensitive . This amount can easily be carried on wind currents without even being touched. In addition an old pair of shoes or even your carpet etc once contaminated can be a source of trouble for many years.
I am severely allergic to poison oak and I have found that if after scrubbing well and I still itch then I tried dmso and it immediately stopped the allergic reaction in my case.
If you try the dmso be cautious and only apply to a tiny area in case you may have a reaction to it.
After using dmso for a few years when I get in contact with poison oak I now have far less reaction than I used to, however bear in mind this may or may not work well for everyone.
Jewelweed
Posted by Mama To Many (Middle, Tennessee, Usa) on 06/10/2013
If you can't get Jewel Weed, try some of the other things on the poison ivy page here at Earth Clinic... some really good ideas there that are easily available.
Also, I have a teenage son who has had severe poison ivy many times over the years. He has had to take steroids for it numerous times. However, this summer he has been exposed a few times and has only had mild cases. Perhaps it is because he is super careful, but I think some other things have factored in as well. A few years ago he had bad asthma. Over time we were able to get him off all prescription and over the counter drugs and inhalers. We found for him that if he took Nettle Leaf powder capsules (3-4 capsules 2-3 times a day) and a Quercetin Capsule twice a day, he no longer had trouble with asthma! If allergy symptoms increased a bit (this always set off his asthma, as did any sickness) he would take a few extra quercetin and nettles capsules.) He took this daily for a year or more. I think it actually helped to heal him. Now he just takes it as needed. But since Nettles can be used for skin rashes, I always have him take some if he has been exposed to poison ivy or if he has a little bit. All that to say, taking nettles capsules or drinking Nettle tea (at least a quart or two over a day) may help a lot, too and it is very safe.
Hope you find relief soon!
Jewelweed
Posted by Jay (Orlando, Fl) on 06/11/2013
★★★★★
Externally applied DMSO will cure your rash.
Over the Counter
Posted by Deirdre (Atlanta, GA) on 03/27/2007
★★★★★
Technu Extreme poison ivy scrub: This is my suggestion for poison ivy after having a very bad case of poison ivy last fall and trying every remedy (except the jewel weed -- I couldn't locate it) on the poison ivy page of Earth Clinic to no avail. I bought this stuff at the local pharmacy out of desparation and because it looked potent. Didn't realize it at the time I purchased it, but Technu is a homeopathic formula. Be forewarned -- it is quite expensive at $13.00 a bottle. However, it started to work within hours. It took 2 days of using this product to clear up a 2 week old rash over my entire body ( a total nightmare). I used the product again as soon as a poison ivy postule appeared on my arm last week and it never spread.
