Poison Ivy

I have to veer off of my organizing challenge tonight because I finally broke down and went to the doctor’s after work for the poison ivy that has been bugging me for two weeks.  In addition to the fact that I simply didn’t have time to do any organizing, I learned some interesting things about poison ivy that I thought I would share.

1.  The rash you get from poison ivy is not contagious.  The only way you can get poison ivy is from the oil of the plant itself.  No one will probably want to touch your rash because it is hideous and nasty looking, but if they did, they would not get a poison ivy rash from touching your poison ivy rash.  I was worried about the rash spreading to the kids, but according to the doctor,  that won’t happen!

2.  My doctor called the rash a “delayed allergic reaction”.  I came in contact with the plant on a Saturday and the rash didn’t begin until the following Saturday.  I had been doing yard work and I was pretty sure that I had come in contact with the plant, so when the rash showed up a week later, I wasn’t surprised.  She also said the oil adheres (yes, adheres) to your skin within ten minutes of exposure!

3.  You cannot spread the rash to other parts of your body.  You might find that the rash starts in one area, like your wrist and then a few days later shows up on your elbow, or your knee or ankle.  You have not spread the rash by scratching or using lotion.  It’s just that good old “delayed allergic reaction”.

4.  You can definitely cause an infection by scratching.   Do NOT, I repeat, Do NOT scratch your poison ivy.  I can’t tell you how many people told me that great tip and how many times I warned myself not to do it.  But guess what, I would wake up in the middle of the night to find myself scratching IN MY SLEEP!  So, guess who ended up with infected ivy rash?  This girl.

5. Don’t wait for your rash to look like this before seeing your doctor:

Sorry!  That’s so gross!  I’m such an idiot for not going days ago.  When I called the doctor’s office they asked how big the rash was and I said about 6″.   And the nurse said, “Oh, that’s pretty big”.  In my mind, that wasn’t that big.  I was thinking like if it covered more than 25% of my body it would be considered big.  Not this patch on my ankle.  They also asked if I had a fever (I didn’t), so know that info before you call, but just because you don’t have a fever doesn’t mean it’s not infected.  I also thought the area would be swollen or painful if it were infected.  Not the case.  If it looks super nasty, it’s probably a problem.

6.  If you think you have poison ivy on your face or your, ahem, private areas, get thee to the doctor right away!  Don’t wait to see if it goes away and if you have some left over steroid medication hanging around, don’t use it on these areas.

So I ended up with an hour at the doctor’s office and a tube of steroid ointment.  Woo hoo.   I can’t wait for the roid rage jokes at work tomorrow.

PS.  Is it wrong if I tell my husband I’m not allowed to do yard work ever again until the poison ivy has been obliterated from the yard?  Discuss.