BillyBob58, I read your post to my husband and he said, "Yep, you're in sync with that one!"
BillyBob58, I read your post to my husband and he said, "Yep, you're in sync with that one!"
I think I am immune to PI as I have never had a reaction to it. Maybe I am just real good at avoiding it. Worked on a crew clearing land one summer and after clearing one section of woods I was the only one on the crew that did not call in sick from PI. Bad part was I had to do all my work and theirs while they were out for a week.
Did a hammock demo for a state park here in North Carolina a few years back and every tree in the area they wanted me to set up in had PI growing up every tree. Told them they had to clear the PI out before we would set up there. The Park did a great job of clearing out the PI and no one helping with demo had any problems.
I am still 18 but with 52 years of experience !
My husband is immune to it, too, as well as possibly some of our kids. Not sure about the kids... they may just have never gotten into it. But I know my husband has been in it when we cleared some land for building a fence. He is completely reckless bout handling the evil stuff and he's never gotten it.
I have a theory that those of us with dry skin get it worse, which makes sense if you think about it.
I read somewhere long ago that roughly 15% of the population are immune, and I'm guessing that I'm among that number because I've never had it despite being raised in the panhandle of FL and running around in cutoff jeans and no shoes for my entire childhood. Friends got it but I didn't, although we all did occasionally step on a prickly pear.Originally Posted by gunner76
Five Basic Principles of Going Lighter (not me... the great Cam Honan of OZ)
“If everybody is thinking alike, then somebody isn't thinking.” ~ Gen. George S Patton
I used to be immune to it, but now that I'm older, it gives me a terrible rash. I now carry a travel size bottle of soap just in case I get some on me. (I usually hike in shorts) Thankfully in the White Mountains, water sources are usually readily available.
- Clyde
DocWatson - is that any particular soap? I’m lucky - or not - because we don’t have any poison oak or ivy in the high desert around here. That’s a plus - except because of it, I have very little awareness of it. Many plant books would only show line drawings of it (“Leaves of three, let them be.”) but even with photographs, the plant looks like a lot of others.
At least in some areas - like the hikes around the waterfalls in the Columbia River Gorge, there are warning signs to stay on the trails.
In order to see what few have seen, you must go where few have gone. And DO what few have done.
I'm immune, but heard about this. So I'm always cautious just in case.
Just some castile soap. Last year I carried liquid in a small bottle. This year, it will be a small piece a bar of soap. Just need something that won't hurt the environment and will remove the oils that cause the rash. Thankfully, I've only gotten into it while day hiking so far and never while backpacking, but I want to be prepared just in case. I've gotten to know the feeling when my skin first starts to react and I can wash it off before it gets too bad and it'll just look and feel like a mild sunburn for a couple of days.
- Clyde
Hum, kinda like my putting a small bottle of white vinegar in my Kit when I’m kayaking in places I might swim (i.e. oceans) - after one episode with a jelly fish.
In order to see what few have seen, you must go where few have gone. And DO what few have done.
There are herbalists who can help with building immunity to it. One, Darrell Patton, actually swallows a tiny bit of a leaf, wrapped in bread, each spring and swears that it helped him. Others may offer drops that you can take on a daily basis.
The drops are working for one of my relatives who had become extremely sensitive to it. She was getting systemic poison ivy from breathing the oils anytime she went into the woods, even in the winter. The drops have drastically reduced the severity and frequency of her rashes.
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