Health and Wellness

Poison Ivy’s Burning Itch and a Remedy That Finally Worked

After being affected, I suffered through the pain and itch until I discovered something so simple

My first encounter with poison ivy was devastating, as it affected most of my body and face, making my appearance grotesque. Not being able to afford a doctor, my only alternative was to let it run its course.

It must have been airborne

Earlier in the week, my younger sister and I had driven to another town to shop for a specific dress she wanted for school. As we walked along the sidewalk, we noticed a wall to the left with bushes growing above.

“I think that’s poison ivy,” I pointed out to her half-kidding, as she was the closest to the wall. “Don’t touch it. Let’s walk past before something lands on us.”

By the time we drove home, I had signs of itching on my face, upper body, and legs. By morning, my face had swelled up like a balloon, but my sister showed no signs of anything. I don’t remember if it had been windy the day before, but somehow I managed to contract poison ivy all over my body, even between my toes and fingers!

Lucky me!

It got worse before it got better. As a child, I had many skin rashes and was highly allergic to certain soaps, but this?

Too itchy to sleep

I say itchy, but it was a burning itch that I needed to scratch, despite it hurting when I did. In those days, everyone thought it was contagious if you were near someone who had it, which alienated me from my siblings. I was not allowed to eat with them or be in the same room with them.

My parents could only afford Calamine Lotion, which was the “go-to” in our medicine cabinet for almost anything skin-related. Not being able to go to the doctor or try expensive treatments, I smeared the pink, soothing lotion all over the red, itchy patches, and some on my face, avoiding my eyes.

However, the relief was only temporary, and I finished the entire bottle on the first day.

Each time my brother, who was 10 at the time, caught a glimpse of my swollen face, he screamed “monster, monster” and then cried.

Something else may work

My mother tried other home remedies like strong soap, peroxide, and a few other things she heard Dr. Spock on the radio talk about years before, but they were not working.

Being from the city originally, we never came into contact with poison ivy, much less having to treat it all over the body.

I suffered a lot and had not left the house for a week, but our family had already planned a trip to Coney Island to visit our previous landlord and take a trip to the beach. My mother covered my head and face with a big scarf and gave me gloves to minimize the effect it may have if people thought I was contagious.

Then we drove to the beach; that water felt so good!

As soon as I hit the salt water, the itching stopped. It was soothing, and it gave me total relief for the first time in what seemed like an eternity. Even as I stepped out of the water, I could feel a tightness and smoothness to my poor, aching, swollen skin. I remained itch-free the rest of the day and into the night.

The next morning, most of my skin had dried out, and the redness had gone away.

Wow, too bad you can’t bottle this stuff in large quantities and jump in when you need to!

It took approximately a week for the swelling to subside, even though the rash on my arms was still evident, partly due to excessive scratching.

Poison Ivy, Round 2

Over the years, I have come into direct contact with poison ivy several times with no adverse effects. Maybe my body became immune for a while — until it wore off, leaving me susceptible again.

So here I was with blisters and redness up and down my arms and legs, but luckily it avoided my face this time.

By now, I was working and could not miss days because of it. I managed to arrive at my job wearing long sleeves to cover my arms and long pants to cover my ankles, but the itching and burning were driving me nuts, and my co-workers figured out something was going on.

I still knew nothing at all about the cure and couldn’t get to the ocean, but someone suggested I buy some kind of gel. After work, I purchased this very expensive bottle of stuff, which wasn’t even enough for my whole body and only helped a little with the itch, which came back a few hours later.

Someone else suggested I take Benadryl for the itch, which I tried, but it made me sleepy.

There had to be something else within my budget that worked quickly and didn’t put me to sleep.

I do not remember who told me about baking soda. I do remember filling up the bathtub with warm water, adding a cup or so of the stuff, swishing it around, and jumping in. I was too itchy and desperate to relieve the nagging, burning itch to care that I was putting something on my body that I normally bake with.

Believe it or not, the itching stopped for the rest of the day and night and started drying out — very similar to jumping into the ocean! It helped speed up the healing process, which would have otherwise taken another week.

I never thought of using baking soda as a remedy for poison ivy until then. I’ve shared this information with many, and those who didn’t say “ew” and tried it were happy with the result.

Now I know what to do!

Again, for years, I must have been immune, as I had poison ivy growing in the corner of my new house. This was the vine-type intertwining with regular bushes and harder to spot. I became aware of it when I had a tree guy come over, so every year as I was raking leaves, I’d carefully bag it up in a black plastic bag and throw it away.

I had also read somewhere that if you come in contact with it, wash those surfaces within ten minutes with an antibacterial soap to reduce the chance of reacting.

I’ve done that, too. I knew I handled it carefully, and I knew the antibacterial soap worked — or did work to a point — because once again, I had poison ivy all over my body, even my chin.

But I was prepared this time.

Luckily, I kept a huge bag of baking soda in the house, which I normally use to throw down drains, keep the toilets white, remove stains from clothing, and for baking, of course — and in case I contracted poison ivy again.

I immediately took a baking soda bath. This time it took two baths for the blisters to burst and the redness to go down, but the itch went away for about 12 hours at a time, allowing me to stay at my job without scratching like a dog with fleas.

My mother’s remedies, including calamine lotion or those expensive gels, never worked as fast or lasted as long as this did for me.

There are many more options now than when I was growing up, and they work well, especially for a smaller area. A paste of baking soda would work for a smaller area, too.

But when a huge portion of the body is affected, a nice bath of odor-free, dye-free, non-greasy baking soda is my choice.

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