Is this poison oak?

[F250DSLPWR]

I have seen poison ivy with a 3" thick vine also! I used to not be bothered by poison ivy, then my Dad and I were clearning the brush off a lot. I accidently ran my chain saw through a thick vine of it as I was cutting down a tree and the saw dust of course was all over me. I didn't realize until later what had happened. I was miserable for months with the rash on my arms chest, face, stomach, and legs. I was really lucky I was wearing safety glasses... Another story, I brought the tractor home and tilled up my yard, front and back, then leveled it and seeded it with Bermuda grass. I had the nicest yard of Bermuda come up, then a week later my entire yard was covered with poison ivy plants. The seeds must have been in the soil. I had to burn the yard down with round up three times to kill it all...

[wildaggie]

This is definately poison ivy, not poison oak or sumac. However, poison ivy and poison oak are similar enough that some botanists treat them as the same species. They are in the same Genus. Poison sumac is a shrub, and doesn't look much like poison ivy.
To help with the itching, use Ivarest cream (like calamine lotion) and get the steroid shot from a doctor. I once had it so bad on my legs that it would go away and then come back weeks later. Doc wouldn't give me the steroid shot due to diabetes. Steroids make your blood sugar go up. So, I suffered. I get poison ivy rash every spring during turkey season. I have even gotten it from the dog rubbing against my legs after she had run through it. Hate the stuff.....

[Shortbow]

Go buy yourself some Ivy Scrub and some Ivy Dry. Be ready for it to spread to any other part of your body that touches it. I had it a few weeks ago and ended up with it moving from my arm (looked like yours but not as bad) to the inside of both of my legs and my chest. This was due to where I put my arms when I slept.

[Blake8504]

Go buy yourself some Ivy Scrub and some Ivy Dry. Be ready for it to spread to any other part of your body that touches it. I had it a few weeks ago and ended up with it moving from my arm (looked like yours but not as bad) to the inside of both of my legs and my chest. This was due to where I put my arms when I slept.

Everything I've read says that it can't spread. It may seem like it's spreading, but certain areas of the body react different than others depending on how much of the oil comes in contact with the skin. So if it shows up real bad in one spot then a few days later it is in another spot, it's not because it's spreading it's just because the spot that showed up later didn't have as much oil penetrate the skin as the spot that showed up first.

[Dejashoot]

That is poison ivy. You can tell by the leaf and also by the "hairs" that the vine has attaching it to the tree.

[wassaw]

this (Technu) comes in a two pack. one bottle for washing off the oils and the other for drying it up. benadryl will help also
I think it's a Cortisone shot you get from the DR. also a pill pack, 5 pills the first day 4 the second and so on. most times they only give the shot if it's around the face or drastic areas.

[Blake8504]

this (Technu) comes in a two pack. one bottle for washing off the oils and the other for drying it up. benadryl will help also
I think it's a Cortisone shot you get from the DR. also a pill pack, 5 pills the first day 4 the second and so on. most times they only give the shot if it's around the face or drastic areas.

Good deal I'll have to stop by walgreens after work, I've been putting benadryl cream and hydrocortisone cream on it and it's been helping. Looks like that stuff can be used to clean your tools so that will help as I was using a post hole digger, a sawzaw, an auger. I threw the gloves away I was wearing, but I can't really throw the tools away lol.

[Snakelover]

Everything I've read says that it can't spread.

Not the rash, but the oil (urushiol) itself can spread, though. So you can, for instance, scratch a place, get the oil under your fingernails and then move the oil to someplace else. Or pick up a load of laundry and transfer some oil onto your skin from the jeans you were wearing, etc.. Be sure to wash everything really good, including under your fingernails, under your watch band, etc.

[Dave]

Its really probably poison ivy but in Texas there is no difference between the two. Ivy has a lot more variation in the leaves but the species cross ranges here in Texas and cross pollinate so there is no telling. Treatment is the same regardless.

To debunk some myths, you can't spread it from a clean rash, breaking the sores won't cause it to spread either. It takes direct contact with the oils from the plant to get a reaction. Those oils can stay on cloths and even dead plants for years if you don't wash them or destroy the vine.

[mistyblue]

A lot of good info. It is true that the liquid in a blister does not contain the allergenic oil, and fire does not burn the oil up. It goes up in the air in ash and can land on your skin and be inhaled into your lungs. In the past this could be deadly, but cortisone will stop the allergic reaction.

Benedryl is one of the older antihistamines, and makes you drowsy, so doctors prescribe it for nighttime, to help you sleep, but antihistamines don't stop the itch, because other chemicals besides histamine are released into the skin by the immune reaction.

Most remedies will not help the itch very much. The best way has actually been scientifically studied---the application of heat. Not warm or hot, but as hot as you can stand for a couple of seconds. Hot water with the arm, for example, going in and out works well, but I found that a hair dryer gives you more control. You have to be very careful not to burn yourself. Bring the dryer closer and closer, moving it back and forth. Move it away when it is almost painful. I used to have head to toe cases, and heat allowed me to sleep for at least 6 hours straight. A hot shower is not hot enough, and will only help for a short time.
My credentials: I wrote "The Poison Oak & Poison Ivy Survival Guide
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[Tmag]

Cut the bottom of the vine and put roundup on it. Then go to the Doc and get a steroid shot.

This, they will give you a scrip for a "6 pac" that will kick it in 6 days.

[cattlelackranch]

That is one healthy plant. I have some on my property that big. I always think of going to cut them at the base to kill them. Then I see something "sparkly" and don't think about it for awhile. This thread made me want to go cut them again.

Do ya'll see that? That Sparkly thing?

[BrianL]

When poison ivy grows on trees, the vines get thick and woody and the leaves get larger and darker green. As the leaves get larger, the center leaflet usually gets more deeply lobed. I have seen it grow so large that the center leaflet is the size of your hand and the vines close to 3" in diameter. I usually cut the vine at ground level and again at around shoulder height. Then I peel that section off the tree and just wait for the upper part of the vine to die. Don't burn it! Your rash looks like what I typically get, but people react to it differently. It actually doesn't matter whether it's poison ivy or poison oak because they both have the same compound, urushiol, that causes the reaction. So if you're sensitive to one, you're sensitive to the other. And, yes, people's sensitivity to it can change over time. Anyone who doesn't react to poison ivy is very lucky.

This. I have it everywhere around the house.

[Stoof]

100% PI!!!! I work around it almost daily. Take the advice of others. Cut low and paint on Roundup.