cure for poison ivy and chiggers?

we got into both of them and wondering if any one knows a sure fire cure??

Well...not much "cure" for either of them...however, there is some relief in mind!

For PI...I mix up some plaintain leaves, comfrey leaves in olive oil. Blend well then strain. Best thing for ya to relieve itch and also to heal up skin ailments. (Disclaimer: I ain't no herbalist/doctor and try this if YOU like. Personally, my friends rely on this quite often.)

For chiggers...once they zap ya it'll just take a while to get their zap out of ya. Meantime, the above solution will help ease the itch. Or you could go with store-bought benedryl.

Sorry ya'll are having to deal w/this stuff. It'll pass though!

Time. Sorry you got into such things. As I am really sensitive to them, when the rest of the family gets into them, I run. I also cannot touch them so I use a calamine spray.

Does meat tenderizer work for chiggers like it does mosquito bites?

Oh, dear! I'm so sorry!

I've never found anything really effective for chiggers. We call them "redbugs." Rubbing alcohol or ammonia might relieve the intense itching temporarily.

Try not to scratch them, as that usually makes them itch more. The itching will go away in a few days. But they can sure drive you mad!

For the poison ivy, how much rash do you have, and I guess more importantly, where on your body is it? Sorry to get personal, but it does matter. If you have a lot of it, or you have it on your face or near it, or, um, other sensitive areas, you might need to see a doctor. They can give you a shot for it.

The ivy rash does spread with contact to other parts of your body, or to other people, at least it does for me.

It can also be spread from clothing or other things that you come in contact with. Doesn't usually, but just so you know, like the chair you sit in, bedsheets, towels, etc.

You must be in torture with the itching from both. I hope you only have a small bit of both, and that the ivy rash can be contained quickly. It does sort of run it's course, as long as it doesn't keep spreading.

There are over-the-counter things that you can apply that might work for you. Ask the pharmacist for advice.

The only thing that ever worked for me is not manufactured anymore. It was a local company that I guess went out of business.

I'm hoping you have a light case of it. If you have a lot of widespread rash, or have it in sensitive areas, please see a doctor.

Certainly not to make light of it, and no pun intended, but I really "feel" for you. Chiggers and poison ivy! Ewww

LMK how you are please. I'll be thinking of you!

Judith

I'm sorry to hear about your double whammy of aggravations. I have had both, and would follow everyone's suggestions about poison ivy; however, no one seemed to mention nail polish for the chiggers. That will work to help relieve some of the itchiness. We use a product called Chigger Rid or Chigga rid - I can't remember, but you get it at the drugstore and it's essentially medicated nail polish, and it does help. Another over the counter prep that helps is Corizone 10. The one with moisturizers seems to be more effective to me. I think it might help with the ivy also. Good luck!!

Sorry, I was writing an epistle while you guys were posting!

The benadryl is a good idea, and the calamine spray.

But, Shoe, really! How many of us do you suppose have plantain and comfrey leaves hanging around? LOL Well, most probably have the olive oil. Maybe you could FedEx her some!!!

Just kidding with ya, fella!!!!

Hah! Judith, you're welcome to always kid a kidder! (But you can't fool and old fool!) :>)

Judith, you're first post reminded me of a store-bought product called Technu, or something like that ("over the counter"). Imzadi, check for that name when you go. They also make a rub/wash for using when you come in from working outside.

As for plaintain/comfrey...plaintain grows like a weed, even in Imzadi's territory. That'll do wonders in itself. (So will jewel weed but that might be harder to find.)

Frogs.. the meat tenderizer? Hmm...good question. Let's keep at it...pretty soon we'll have Imzadi rubbing all KINDS of things all over!

Hope you feel better soon, Imzadi!

You're right! She'll be so busy rubbing stuff and spraying stuff and shopping for more stuff, one day she'll just happen to notice that she doesn't have it anymore. It'll stop her from scratching anyway, with her arms both full of drugstore items!!! ; ~)

Seriously, Imzadi, hope you find some quick relief soon, and a speedy recovery.

Judith

i am busy rubbing things. the ivy is under control thanks to a 40 dollar cure. works wonders though. Zanfel over the counter. docter recommended it when i went for chigger bites.

thats my main problem. they are really itchy and weepy with yellow crude. doctor said i was hypersensitive and it would have to run its course as steriods wouldnt help much here. they are all over my legs.

where did i get them? in my new yard thats been neglected for years. pine straw so think it needs a jack hammer to get through.

have one tiny spot on my eye lid but only today is it starting oto it and going to ask doctor if that zanfel will work on it too.

the itcxh is driving me insane here. i am probably making it worse though. trying not to scratch rubbing instead.

itchy in south carolina imzadi

Dang imzadi, I am so sorry your going thru all this. Ive never had poison ivy and I havnt had chiggers since I went jumpin around in my Uncles barn when he lived on a farm.
This might not be helpful, but, when we get skeeter bites I put neosporin with pain killer on the bites. The pain killer actualy helps make the itch stop so I was wondering if you could use that for the itchies you have on top of the other meds. It works pretty quickly too.

In the early stages of chigger bites, when there is just the red spot, clear nail polish over the bite suffocates the chiggers. I grew up in chigger country and always looked "dotted" in the summer when I'd been out in the woods.

I don't know the real name, but there's a plant that grows in the wild near poison ivy. It's called "Touch-Me-Not" because the seed pods, held in your palm explode from body heat. Anyway, the stems are pithy and contain a juice that stops poison ivy in it's tracks.

Witch Hazel applied with a cotton ball or a soft rag might help the itching, it's very soothing for any sort of abrasion etc. Also when the itch gets so bad you are tempted to scratch yourself raw, try putting crushed ice in a gallon ziploc and hold that over the itchies. It's only temporary but it really works.

Eileen

this will sound crazy but:
When i get poision ivy i scratch the sores open and pour gasoline on them-let it stay on for a few mintues and wash with soap and water the next day its done and gone!!!

really works! Some one told me and i was like yeah right and then i got it and tried it and it worked!
we dont have chiggers here-thank God!

I've used the Tehnu & it works great for getting rid of poison ivy. Try not to burst the blisters, as that will spred the ivy rash.

For chiggers, I use amonia. The first time I had one, was on my belly & someone told me to put clear nail polish on it, which I did. I ended up with a huge red spot bigger then a silver dollar. Discovered I was alergic to the nail polish.

Now to prevent chigger bites, spray OFF or one of the other bug sprays on your lower legs, socks &/or jeans. It seems to work for me anyway.

Good luck.

http://www.conservation.state.mo.us/nathis/arthopo/chiggers/
You got me curious so I went looking. I found a lot of info here.

Hope your agony is over soon.

Hey, echoes... great article! In reading about using sulphur, I remembered we used to powder out pants legs, shoes & socks, and wrist cuffs with sulphur beforwe we went hiking in the Everglades. Helped keep ticks off, too.

The only thing that works for my husband and me to treat chigger bites is a product called Chiggerex, which I purchase from Wal-Mart. It's a salve; comes in a little white bottle with a red top. It's reasonably priced and lasts a long time. It seems to work to reduce itching for all insect bites, although it only claims to work for chigger, tick, and mosquito bites.

We live in Summerville, SC and chiggers are most active in warm months. I've even gotten chiggers by sitting on stuffed furniture that someone else sat on while removing their shoes after a romp in the woods. Now, we put rubbing alcohol and SkinSoSoft (50/50) in a spray bottle and rub it on our skin (all over!) before working or walking in the woods (picking up fallen branches, cutting/moving trees/or just enjoying the scenery). This is very effective in preventing chigger bite.

Oak-n-Ivy brand tecnu removes the harmful oil before it causes an eruption and stops poison ivy/oak from spreading once you've come into contact with it. The company has other products to deal with different stages of misery. Pkg says call 1-800-itching for more info.

This message was edited Apr 23, 2004 1:47 PM

what is comfrey and does it seed??? does anyone have any to spare for next time??? whats it look like?? never even seen it or heard of it before now. thanks Marie

Marie, you be careful about the spot of rash on your eye. This is one of the sensitive areas I talked about. Did your doctor know about this when you saw him, or did it appear later? I'm glad you plan to contact your doctor about this.

I've known a few people who's eyes swelled shut, maybe from an oversensitive reaction. I'm not trying to be scary here, just cautioning you. Be careful not to touch your face, especially around your eyes after "rubbing" the itch, before you wash your hands well.

Before you venture out to work in your yard again, be sure you can identify poison ivy plants and try to avoid them and those touching them.

You may have only a small isolated patch that you can just treat those plants with a strong weed killer, and then avoid the area for now and work on the rest of the yard to get rid of the chigger problem. Mine usually requires multiple treatments to remove the ivy completely.

If you see it scattered all around, and there are no plants there you want to save, you might want to treat the whole area with a "super Roundup product" that someone said is available. I don't recall the name, but your garden supply should know.

It's a nasty problem in the yard, but with persistence and a careful eye, it can be eliminated. BTW, all parts of the plant cause the rash, leaves, stems, roots, and all. If long established and widespread, you probably have a large underground root system that will resprout.

Please keep us posted on how you are, and the extend of the problem in your yard. We're here to help you with this.

BTW, when I was a kid in GA, we had a plant that we called poison oak or ivy. But it was not the three-leaved variety. More a small low-growing bush.

Leaves were small, with a lot of leaves on multiple bracts on the stem. Leaves turned red-ish, I guess the older top ones. I have never seen a pic of it ID'd. And we don't have it in our woods in FL, so I can't post a pic.

Has anyone ever seen the type I'm trying (poorly) to describe? The effect was the same rash-wise.

I recall someone asking authoritatively when I was a kid, "how many leaves does poison ivy have?" I was thinking, gee, I never counted them, a lot I guess, but they're reddish. It was years before I ever saw the three-leaved variety. :)

Man! I'm itching allover now, just talking about this!!!

Judith, sounds to me like you are describing poison sumac. They have lots of leaves and are reddish. I think it even has a worse effect on many people than PI does.

You may be right, but I've seen sumac too, apparently not the poison type, if it causes rash. The sumac I've seen is usually much taller, like a mini tree, with only one trunk per plant.

This stuff gets only about a foot tall, and the leaves are totally different and much smaller and dainty. I'm describing this from a long ago memory, but we had sumac in our yard and woods in GA too and it was a lot different. May be a different variety of sumac. It doesn't bloom or have berries.

I wish I could think of a plant to compare it to. Actually, I can, but I don't know what you call it either. We have it here in FL, but it's all green and a pretty invasive weed, though attractive. I pull it up, when I can, out of the flower garden and paths, with no ill effect.

Oh well, I guess it will remain a mystery, unless you have info/pics of a sumac different from my experience with it. Course, I don't know what "poison" sumac looks like. I think the berries on the ones I'm familiar with are poison to eat, but that applies to a lot of plants.

I don't usually eat berries that I'm not sure of--blackberries, gooseberries, strawberries, blueberries, mulberries, raspberries--that probably represents my list of repertoire of edible berries.

But Shoe, I'm sure you are familiar with this plant, and way more knowledgeable about native plants, so I bow to your superior ID skills. After all, you know what comfrey looks like!

BTW, do you have sourgrass and monkeyfaces? (There I go, veering off thread topic.) Here's the wet noodle. :~)

yes she is talking about sumac. the reaction to that is really bad especially if not caught in time. a friend of ours has it because it got in his blood he has it pop up now and agian. as there is no cure once its in the blood.

did you know the same thing can happen with ivy and oak too.

i havent seen any ivy or anything in the yard but i might have gotten it at our zoo too. the garden part is half way in trees.

i think i might of gotten some looking at a flower.

i am trying not to itch my eye. yes the doctor knows it there.

he told me not to scratch and try to keep the meds out of my actual eye.

its not easy to do though. it all itches.

I'm really sorry for all your suffering Imzadi.

If it's any comfort, although I've had it a number of times, I can always trace it back to plant contact. I've never had a re-occurance without plant contact.

I just did a search, and I think that we had in GA was probably poison oak. It, too has small three-leaf sets, but there are multiple sets on each stem, giving it a feathery appearance. And it is described as a bush type.

It probably grows from an underground vine system, but the vine part stays underground, and the stems develop into low, small one-trunk bush, i.e., it grows upright to about a foot high, with multiple stems of multiple 3-leaved sets of leaves. Leaves are much smaller than ivy type, less significant.

My family did call it poison oak, but ed-u-katers threw me a curve by labeling it poison ivy. I wasn't stupid enough to take in a sample of the plant. Besides, until they developed a rash from it when they touched it, they would probably just have told me this wasn't a real poison plant. "I just didn't notice the "real" poison "ivy" that really caused my rash."

Yep, a "little knowledge" from authority "experts" can be confusing and downright scary!!!!

Thanks all! You forced me to research it, rather than just wondering about it.

Imzadi, stop that scratching!!!! Just kidding. Sorry!

i need too. hehe but its so hard to. going to go soak in some epsom salt and see if that helps.

Ohhh...if you're into soaking, you should definitely try the oatmeal baths. No kidding.

Walmart now sells the "easy" packets....does wonders for the itching. (My wife tells me so!)

Can't remember the name but I'm sure the folks there will help you out. (And NO, you won't come out with oatmeal sticking all over you!)

These plants are all in the Anacardiaceae family. Here are PDB entries for the most-closely related species (Toxicodendron genus): http://plantsdatabase.com/search.php?search_text=Toxicodendron&Search=Search

And here's a peek at the whole family: http://plantsdatabase.com/b/Anacardiaceae///

(If it's any consolation, the family includes Cashews and Pistachios, which most folks find pretty tasty - I'd recommend eating some Pistachio ice cream as the proverbial "hair of the dog that bit ya") - while you're soaking in a soothing oatmeal bath, of course....Aveena is the namebrand, but I think you can get the same effect by pulverizing some oats in your blender or food processor. Grind 'em as fine as you possible can, and sprinkle them in as your bath water is running (first-hand experience from the mother of a kid who suffers from eczema...)

You use milk and sugar in that???

Just kidding!

Try anything, everything. At least it might help keep your mind off the itchies.

Poor Imzadi!

Imzadi-
I grow comfrey in my garden, and when it comes to seed later in the summer, I'll send you some. It makes a tall plant-about 3 feet high with very nice blue flowers. The leaves are large (10 inches or more) and long. If you want to grow some this year, try to find a garden center that has a lot of herbs.You may find it then. I hope you're feeling a little better now.

i went to the doctor agian today due to the itches.

well now i start a 12 day course of prednisone. like 6 pills a day for four days then four pills for four days and two pills for four days.


doc said only way to get rid of it due to severity on my leg.

started poping up in other places. this is for the ivy.

said it might help the chiggers too.

will keep you all posted as i start this tommorow morning.


keep fingers crossed for me it works. durn hubby is not itching at all. man its not fair. hehe

There's always one around who isn't suffering, well, except from laughing so much I bet! If he was in agony with the itching, he probably would not let you know! He might just be forcing himself to pretend he's not itching. Man of steel!

That's okay, Imzadi, you'll get your chance to chuckle at him someday!

Hang in there, Honey. It really will eventually go away.

IMZADI, I don't know what the logic is behind it, but my family used to take cool baths with baking soda in the water and then let the water dry on your body without wiping it off with a towel. Just one more suggestion in the hopes you get relief SOON!

I'm lucky also regarding that stuff. Never had it!
-
My wife now, is a different story. 2nd time in about 4 years.
This time she mentioned it to our 92 year old Aunt which seems to be a walking warehouse of info, general knowledge.
-
She recommended [vinegar & bleach diluted /water]
Wife claims it dryed up the rash and helps with the itch.
She used Calamine at night.

Imzadi,

How are your itchies doing? Getting any better, I hope?

I am taking this prednisone. wont wish it on any one. i think the cure is worse then the problem.

i found out alot about this drug after i started taking it. if i had known what it was about ohNO i wouldnt of taking it at all. would of lived with itch. I start to taper off it tuesday so will be good for me then.

itches come and go but clearing up now. so one good thing about this drug but if any one tells you to take it please look into it on the web first. its not easy to handle but i will get there.

That prednisone is some serious stuff alright.

But I'm glad you are beginning to get at least a little relief.

Now you have the perfect excuse not to go near it again. Since your DH didn't have as bad a reaction as you, it's now his job to get rid of the ivy, before you go back out there again!!!!! : )

Just like notmartha, I use a 'non conventional' method to get rid of it. Kerosene.... we do have chiggers and use nail polish for them.

I feel for you, when I was pregnant with my oldest, I burnt a stump that was covered with it, as a result, I was covered with it, inside and out.

Ooooooooh!!!!!!!!!!

That smarts!!

Did the baby get it too??

No, she didn't, thankfully, and oddly enough, she has never had it! Since then, I have only been mildly affected by it, a spot maybe the size of a dime here and there once in a while. KNOCKING very HARD on WOOD!! Wondering if I had it SO bad that my body built an immunity of sorts to it.

After I pull the stuff, I wash with soap and water making sure not to scrub, and then I wipe bleach water over my hands and arms. (my great grandma's remedy)

My poor hubby and sons just look at the stuff and get it, even using the Ivy Block lotions don't work for them.

Very good outcome for both you and your daughter!!

I wouldn't recommend it to anyone as an intentional preventative though!!!

LOL