Poison Oak

[NYWayfarer]

Got my first ever case of poison oak rash after pond fishing on Wednesday. It's on my right foot and calf.

 

As Spring is almost over the pond vegetation is now in full bloom. I guess I got to close to some when releasing a bass at the ponds edge. I learned my lesson, it will be aerial acrobatic bass releases from now on.

 

We have a Telemedicine like service at my job. It was a real easy experience. After downloading the app, I called the service. They told me take a pic of the infected area and a doctor will call me back. When the doc called back I had him on speakerphone and he walked me through sending him the pic. He diagnosed the problem and wrote me a script. Amazingly simple and a wonderful use of technology.

[jr231]

Wear pants and boots when bank fishing. Helps guard from tics too. 

 

Foot is a bad spot to get it, as it will always be rubbing as you walk. Get a script from your doctor if it's in your cards. Predezone* I believe is what they will give you. Otherwise air it out the best you can and your body will do the rest. 

 

Go swimming in a chlorinated pool. 

[NYWayfarer]

1 minute ago, Yeajray231 said:

Wear pants and boots when bank fishing. Helps guard from tics too. 

 

Foot is a bad spot to get it, as it will always be rubbing as you walk. Get a script from your doctor if it's in your cards. Predezone* I believe is what they will give you. Otherwise air it out the best you can and your body will do the rest. 

 

Go swimming in a chlorinated pool. 

 

Thats the script I got, Predezone. I will be wearing boots from now on. No more sneakers and no-see-um socks.

[jr231]

Yessir! I've made that mistake many , many times . I don't do it if I can help it. I hate the heat and am forced to wear pants when I work (construction/remodeling) so I usually really want to wear shorts when I fish.. and I do if I'm on a kayak or boat! For bank fishing tho it's jeans and boots for me .. I'd rather be hot than have an ugly itching rash for 7-10 days. 

 

A few years ago I was fishing a chain of ponds, and the front one has stunted bass problems in which we removed and started stocking larger ones again . Long story short I caught a decent one in the back pond and decided I'd take it to the front one, I was wearing shorts and took a thorn to the fleshy part around my ankle... Unbelievably deep and we couldn't get it out. And guess what!?! it's still in there . Doesn't bother me really but it bugs me when I think about it. Wouldn't have happened if I was wearing pants ! 

 

[NYWayfarer]

We have bad tick problems here so I always were jeans. Even today with the 90+degree weather.

 

I think I got it when squatting down at the ponds edge to release a bass. The jeans rode up to my ankle and exposed enough flesh to the plant.

[deaknh03]

Personally, I can tell you there are 3 horrible places to get poison oak..the obvious crotch area, I remember scratching my groin with a hairbrush, the eyes, mine swelled shut, and probably the worst, between the fingers. Unbelievably hard to scratch there. I used to be a land surveyor, and would get oak, sumac and ivy constantly. 

[RoLo]

 

From what I've seen, contagion and immunity to poison oak, poison sumac and poison ivy

are 'highly variable'. I've traipsed through all 3 toxic plants between the deer archery season

and the rifle woodchuck season but never experienced a problem. When I took my friend

hunting with me, he got poison ivy so bad he ended up in bed, and was swollen like a blow-up doll.

The following year, it happened to Vinny again and he decided to give up a sport that he loved,

and I in turn lost a good hunting companion.  Mother Nature is a tough hombre.

 

Roger

[Bluebasser86]

I've had it in my eyes and between my fingers as well, it's awful. I used to get it just getting too close, now I can walk through it and not be effected unless it's cut and the oil is oozing out. Weird how it's changed that drastically for me but I'm glad it has. 

[ww2farmer]

I have had poison ivy multiple times. It's not pleasant, but it's no big deal. In fact as I have gotten older, I think I am becoming less sensitive to it. The last time I got it, is was nothing more than a mild spot rash, that never really itched. 

 

Poison Oak on the other hand. I have gotten into it ONCE in my life, and it's an exp. I will never forget. I had it head to toe, and in places I would rather not describe LOL.

 

On prescription drugs/ steroids for weeks. The rash and discomfort was unbearable, it made my physically ill.....fevers, run down feeling, dizzy and light headed, and more. IDK if it was side effects of the drugs, the Poison Oak, or a combo of both............but either way It was worse than just about anything else I have ever had in my whole life. I don't know if that's normally how it effects people, but it sure whooped my behind with belts. I remember the one most unbearable side effect was how on a cool upper 60/low 70 degree day in late summer/early fall, it made me feel like it was 110 degrees out side and I was miserable.

 

The clothes I had on when I got into it had to be burned, as it never washed out of them, and re-triggered the whole thing the next time I wore them. Good thing I washed them separate from the rest of my clothes. I ran the washing machine with ultra hot water and bleach after finding this out, and fortunately it never infected anyone else's clothes in the house. I chose burning the clothes I had worn when I got into it, as I didn't want to throw them in the trash and risk some one else coming into contact with them.

[Bankbeater]

There are two things I watch out for when I go fishing, snakes and poison oak, sumac, and ivy.

[deaknh03]

13 minutes ago, Bankbeater said:

There are two things I watch out for when I go fishing, snakes and poison oak, sumac, and ivy.

That's 4 things.

[Catch 22]

I had it so bad once that when I dropped my pants the Dr actually jumped back from me. It looked like I had  red swim trunks on. Prednisone works  for me .

 

[TnRiver46]

14 hours ago, Catch 22 said:

I had it so bad once that when I dropped my pants the Dr actually jumped back from me. It looked like I had  red swim trunks on. Prednisone works  for me .

 

Prednisone is magic for poison ivy. I have it all spring summer and fall, sometimes in winter. The dead vines can still get you when you operate a chainsaw, splatters everywhere 

[gim]

Yes, I believe the most common prescribed solution in this case, is a tapered steroid dose of Prednisone (not Predezone) which is what was posted earlier in this thread.  I have gotten a rash from poison oak at least a dozen times in the past 20 years.  My skin reacts to it very quick, and it spreads to your hands, towels, sheets, etc so it can get out of hand quickly.  I got it once inside my neoprene waders I use every fall for duck hunting and then kept getting it in October for several years after that.  Once I figured out where I was getting it, I got of those waders immediately!

[CTBassin860]

I used to get oak,ivy and sumac all the time as a kid.I can roll around in it now with no ill effects.

[NYWayfarer]

14 hours ago, gimruis said:

Yes, I believe the most common prescribed solution in this case, is a tapered steroid dose of Prednisone (not Predezone) which is what was posted earlier in this thread.  I have gotten a rash from poison oak at least a dozen times in the past 20 years.  My skin reacts to it very quick, and it spreads to your hands, towels, sheets, etc so it can get out of hand quickly.  I got it once inside my neoprene waders I use every fall for duck hunting and then kept getting it in October for several years after that.  Once I figured out where I was getting it, I got of those waders immediately!

 

That's what the doc gave me, Prednisone.

 

I also found the source of the rash. The oils were on my fishing sneakers and the cuff of my jeans I wore that day. I touched the cuff by accident with my wrist and had an instant reaction. I was able to wash it off before it spread to much. Needless to say, sneakers and jeans are in the trash.

[jr231]

Aye now! I put an asterisk! Lol. Meaning I wasn't sure on the spelling ! 

[NYWayfarer]

15 minutes ago, Yeajray231 said:

Aye now! I put an asterisk! Lol. Meaning I wasn't sure on the spelling ! 

 

Me too. I had to go look at my prescription bottle to see the correct spelling.

[Bassin' Brad]

Thankfully I have never gotten any of that stuff. And I spent a lot of time in the woods of Oklahoma as a kid. But I had a cousin that took an emergency bathroom stop in the woods and grabbed some poison ivy to clean up with lol. I'm sure it's not really funny but since it was my cuz I can laugh.....

[jbsoonerfan]

On 6/12/2017 at 9:48 PM, Catch 22 said:

I had it so bad once that when I dropped my pants the Dr actually jumped back from me. It looked like I had  red swim trunks on. Prednisone works  for me .

 

 

I had a Dr do that once, but he thought I had a snake in my pants.

 

Who am I kidding, more like a grub worm.  

[TOXIC]

In my 60 years on this planet, I never got it until about 10 years ago.  I was ignorant to the effects because I never had it and spent a lot of time outdoors.  I took my weedeater to a brush covered hill in the forest behind my house while in shorts and when the briers cut my legs, the poison ivy got into my bloodstream.  Needless to say I watch out now.