Poison Ivy/Oak//Sumac is the worst, DH, D1, & I are hideously allergic. I’ve had my face swell so I was unrecognizable, my DD had her fingers swell and split open, DH tends to get blood poisoning from scratching it. Once it was so bad (he took down ‘tree’ branches wrapped around another tree and tossed them on a burn pile the three of us were working on) that we sat in a dark house for a week, crying, using hairbrushes to scratch until we bled because pain was better than the deep level of itching, and showering in the hottest water we could stand to use up all the histamines for a few hours. Prednisone injections did not touch it.
We temporarily moved to an area that turned out not to have the poisons and we decided to stay, with that being one of the deciding factors, we can touch our pets, hike, and relax. I can still spot the poison stuff when traveling.
I can barely click on this thread and type anything it brings up such an intense visceral reaction & makes my chest feel tight. If spies were threatening me to get me to betray my country, I think Poison Oak would do it ;(