Thursday, September 04, 2008

Treatments for Poison Oak



My husband is currently recovering from a nasty case of poison oak. He got it at the local archery range when he went into the brush looking for his arrows that missed the target. The rash started a few days after the archery outing. At first he thought the itching was caused by a bug bite, but after a few days it turned into a pretty bad, bright red rash. He went to see the doctor who seemed to correctly diagnose it as poison oak, and prescribed a steroid cream. Unfortunately, the cream spread the poison oak oil around on his leg and made the rash spread and turn even more red than it had been.

Tonight I went to the drug store and bought every poison ivy remedy in sight. My husband ended up using something called Tecnu. What he didn't realize until tonight was that he had never really washed off the oil properly after the initial contact, so it just kept spreading around and creating new, little satellite rashes. Poison oak oil doesn't seem to wash off from daily showers, and evidently not even from multiple washings with Palmolive dish washing soap (a home remedy treatment I got off the Internet).

One other product he found that was really helpful was called ProtectX. It came with a first aid kit I bought at Sam's Club. ProtectX came in towelette form and immediately stopped the itching and some of the redness. Unfortunately there were only two towelettes in the kit and we could not find any place else to buy it, online or off. Too bad. It seemed like a great product.

The Tecnu is supposed to actually get the oil off for good. So tonight we rewashed all of his clothes he has worn over the last couple of weeks and he washed his skin everywhere with the Tecnu. He said this made the itching stop, unlike the steroid cream which made the itching worse.

Even though the Tecnu helped, he still ended up getting oral steroids from the doctor. Steroid aren't very alternative health oriented, I know. But in his case the common home treatments, like Calamine lotion and washing with Palmolive just weren't helping him. When I was young I lived near woods and used to get poison plant rashes on a fairly regular basis, but I don't remember them looking anywhere near as bad as the pictures above. We have a friend who isn't allergic at all to poison oak. He can literally rub it on himself with no adverse reaction. My husband must just be one of the people on the opposite, highly sensitive, end of the spectrum.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow, I can honestly say I've never actually seen the rash from poison oak. That doesn't look fun!

michael said...

This looks very sore, my farther-in-law had a similar soreness on his leg and had many consultations before he was finally diagnosed with excema, other doctors had given him three lots of anti-biotics, which was not good for him. It is worrying that doctors cannot get a simple thing right.

Clara said...

First time I'm hearing of this treatment, but apparently works well. Thanks for the info.

Health Coaching said...

Wish him a quick recovery...from the picture his state looks quite bad.

Victor said...

I once got poison oak while digging in an old dead oak tree to hollow it out so I could hide from my brother and sister. I woke up that night and I looked like a giant blister. I floated in the tub. We used vinegar and baking soda and some aromatherapy that my mom was into. I like the different smells that did seem to help the constant discomfort, I mean ir really did help. I live in Colorado now and get allot of information and advice and aromatherapy oils. I like this place. http://www.oasisbotanica.com

Natural Stress Relievers said...

Wow, you have been through it with this nasty little rash.

I understand your concern about the steroids not really being alternative related. However, I believe also that modern medicine has its placed.

When alternative treatments work, go for them first and foremost. In more serious cases like this one, taking medication won't hurt in the long run.

It's when people take meds for everything that the problems come in.

I hope your husband is feeling better.

Kratom Tea said...

Wow. I need these treatments. I just look at poison oak and get it. Thanks for the tip!

Anonymous said...

The only remedy I can think that may help is aloe vera. The plant has a cooling effect.