<p>My oldest son pulled down some vines for us over the weekend. He woke up with what he thought was bug bites. Then he went to his grandparents (2 hours away) to do some work at their house and now a rash has spread to all over his body. We’re guessing poison sumac. It’s oozing and very itchy according to him. From what I’ve been reading baths with Aveeno soaps are helpful, so is calamine lotion, and baking soda pastes and aloe. Any other suggestions?</p>
<p>Zanfel. It is over the counter and works fast.</p>
<p>I had the same thing last summer. I tried EVERYTHING and it just kept getting worse. I finally went to the doctor after 2 weeks, and had the prednisone treatment which cleared it right up. If it doesn’t get better within 48 hours, I would suggest you contact a doctor.</p>
<p>“All over his body” sounds very serious. Is it on his face? His private parts? Aveeno baths are good for milder cases, as is Benedryl, hydrocortisone, and ice, but he sounds like he may need a prescription item. It will likely escalate for the next couple of days 
An immediate care clinic would likely consider oral steroids.</p>
<p>Zanfel will take care of the itch immediately. If there are signs of infection, you should see an M.D. for antibiotics.</p>
<p>Pop some Benadryll and lather on the Calamine Lotion…</p>
<p>I have a horrible horrible reaction to poison oak, you don’t even want to know the details.</p>
<p>What I have learned is that once your body reacts, you have to wait for it to heal, the best you can do is to stop the worsening. For me, prednisone was something I only did when it was really really bad and it did not make me any more functional, it would be hard to say if it helped or not as I was so swollen & miserable (eyes swollen shut, etc)
Take the strongest anti-histamines you can get, constantly, don’t wait for it to get any worse, keep them going 24/7
Take advil too
very rigorously and cautiously wash every single item of clothing & shoes/belt/gloves/etc that he touched, bedding too. The car, too. The urushiol oil is pervasive and will just be sitting there waiting to cause more irritation. You have to get it off everything or will be re-attacked!</p>
<p>Use anything that works topically, it is now all about symptom relief, cold is better than hot, heat/sun/etc will worsen the itch, cool things (ice pack) will relieve some of it.</p>
<p>Do NOT take a bath until you have thoroughly washed his entire body in a cool shower with powerful soap. Use cool water to close the pores, not open them. If you soak in a tub and the oil is still on you, the allergy will spread to new places as the oil floats around and touches your skin.</p>
<p>When we have had it severely bad (serum oozing from the skin) sometimes the only sanity relief is to go in the shower with a hand held shower massage and beat the spots with hotter & hotter water, which drives you crazy, but after a few minutes uses up all the histamines in your body so you have a few hours of less itching. This is only in the most severe cases.</p>
<p>I have been obsessively careful for they past 20 years so am not up on the latest and greatest options, but nothing I ever used really helped much with the itching, now I might try a lidocaine cream to just numb it!</p>
<p>Feel free to PM me if you have specific questions.</p>
<p>I’ve had poison oak before so I’ve done some research in this area. </p>
<p>First thing - don’t wash it with most soaps since most of them contain oils which only serves to spread the poison around and infect more of the body. It sounds like this has already happened to him.</p>
<p>Use a solution specifically designed to get rid of the oils from the plant - you should be able to find something over the counter at the drug store. </p>
<p>I got rid of mine by washing the area with an abrasive cleaner which I don’t necessarily recommend (very painful) but it did clear it up quickly.</p>
<p>Even though it looked really bad, once it healed there were no scars or evidence it was ever there.</p>
<p>Call the doctor and get the prednisone. It is the only thing that clears it right up, otherwise he’ll be oozing all over for a couple of weeks and nobody wants that. Also, as mentioned above, make sure every piece of clothing he was wearing and everything his clothing touched gets washed. </p>
<p>Good luck to him, it’s a miserable condition to be in, but it is survivable.</p>
<p>Some people have reactions to prednisone - some get a lot of extra energy, some get a little testy, so have some patience with him.</p>
<p>I’m extremely sensitive to sumac, and the only thing that helped once I had the little itchy spots was Benedryl Gel, which I lavished on as needed. That was a dreaded week that I don’t want to re-live. Good luck with whatever solution you use.</p>
<p>As I mentioned, he’s not at home. I called the doctor’s office and the message said they weren’t in today, so I guess they are on vacation. I don’t think it’s spread everywhere, just his extremities and he said that where it first started is dried up and not itchy now. My Mom was going to wash his sheets and clothes. She went to the store to get some Aveeno bath stuff and was going to look at the store for anything else that looked helpful. He’s had several showers already so can’t help with that.</p>
<p>I’m very sympathetic as I seem to get it almost every year. I will also recommend Zanfel which not only helps with itching, but will stop spreading. Here is an explanation of the product: [Buy</a> Zanfel Wash For Poison Ivy, Oak & Sumac (Urushiol) Online at drugstore.com](<a href=“Walgreens: Pharmacy, Health & Wellness, Photo & More for You”>Walgreens: Pharmacy, Health & Wellness, Photo & More for You)
It is a bit expensive, the CVS here carries their own, less expensive version. Also taking Benedryl before bed helps curb itching at night. Good luck.</p>
<p>Sounds like something to add to the ‘A-Z take to college’ list. I have OTC hydrocort, addiing Zanfel.</p>
<p>One of my children had a horrible case of contact dermatitis (bc they did not know whether it poison ivy or poison xyz) several years ago. I took him to a dermatologist who sent him to an allergist. The allergist could not help and sent him back to the dermatologist IMMEDIATELY that day because it was so bad. He was given a very strong topical steroid and was told that if it did not improve that they would need to do more. He did improve, but he was pretty sick for about 2 weeks (first week was horrible). I am sorry but I don’t recall something specific that he soaked in. I just recall the medication and that he was happiest staying in his bed for the first week. He did use Caladryl type of product, but it was a drop in the bucket as far as getting relief in this situation.</p>
<p>Kathiep, I am so sorry!</p>
<p>Glad to hear about the Zanfel, will give it a try.</p>
<p>I get poison ivy horribly. Prednisone is best if the case if very severe. For at home remedy, the best I have found is Tecnu. It is sold over the counter at places like Walgreens. It helps immensely with the itch and speeds the drying up process. Tecnu works both as a prevention if one knows he has been recently exposed and also is curative if it’s too late for that!</p>
<p>To kill the itch, I recommend the hottest water one can stand for as long as possible. This really does take away the itch.</p>
<p>We use Ivy-Stat because I couldn’t find the zanfel. 2 part thing, 1st part is exfolliant - if you clear out the urisol, then itch should decrease considerably and quickly. Once it’s been scratched, it’s a bigger pain of trying to heal. I agree with others, if widespread, or inhaled (had friends who cut vines and inhaled it so that it inflamed their throat - that was serious), get to dr. Aveeno oatmeal bath helps but not as much as the ivy-stat/zanfel things. If he scratched, cut nails short and make sure none of that oil is under the nails (to avoid spreading it). </p>
<p>Sorry and hope these help! We have tons of experience with our yearly hit of poison ivy!</p>
<p>we don’t have much in this area- although I have seen poison oak
[Poison</a> Ivy, Oak, and Sumac Information Center - (<a href=“http://www.poisonivy.us)%5B/url%5D”>www.poisonivy.us)](<a href=“http://poisonivy.aesir.com/view]Poison”>Poison Ivy, Oak, and Sumac Information Center - (www.poisonivy.us))</a>
this might have some additional ideas</p>
<p>Tell him to avoid eating mangos and cashews for a while as they are in the same family and some people experience sensitivity due to recent exposure to poison ivy.</p>
<p>EK- where in WA have you seen poison oak? I have been told it exists here, but never met any one who has actually run in to poison anything (oak/ivy/sumac). In what type of setting have you seen it?</p>
<p>Kathie-I hope he is better today, but I suspect he isn’t. Make sure he washes the clothes he was wearing when he contacted the plant asap and don’t rewear them til they are washed. If he then sat in his car with those contaminated clothes on, wipe down that too. It will sometimes take several days for the areas of skin touched by lessor amounts of the oil to break out. Have him go to a clinic or doctor if it is really bad for relief. We have used Ivy-stat with and it has helped but we used it right after contamination. Fingers crossed the worse is over.</p>