Poison Ivy
Natural Remedies

9 Natural Poison Ivy Remedies

The comments below reflect the personal experiences and opinions of readers and do not represent medical advice or the views of this website. The information shared has not been evaluated by the FDA and is not intended to diagnose, treat, or prevent any disease or health condition. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional for medical concerns.
Rubbing Alcohol, L-Lysine
Posted by Sherry (Saginaw, Michigan) on 07/23/2009
★★★★★

Just recently, while clearing some brush and trimming some overgrown city property,I developed a case of poison ivy. I picked up some Hydrocortisone cream with 1% aloe. That worked very well, but I really don't like to use creams, so I sprayed some rubbing alcohol on the infected areas. Instant relief. The blue ribbon goes to the L-Lysine tablet taken every morning for a week. The blisters, sores, and itching quickly disappeared!


DMSO
Posted by Jack (Tampa, Fl) on 05/27/2009
★★★★★

Cure: Use DMSO either liquid or gel applied externally. The DMSO seems to neutralize the oil from the Poison Ivy that causes the rash and immediately stops the itching and dries up the blisters quickly.

Aloe Vera
Posted by Tali (ST LOUIS, MO) on 05/26/2009
★★★★☆

I am having Poison Ivy Rush right now and what helps me for itching is the hottest possible shower and Aloe Vera Gel from Walgreens (only for couple bucks). This Gel is also fantastic for moskito bytes, sunburns and just burns. Make sure to keep it in refrigerator. It's great for babies too.


DMSO
Posted by George (Altoona, USA) on 05/12/2008
★★★★★

Poison Ivy cure DMSO applied to the rash and covered with a gauze bandage stopped the itching immediately and the rash dried up in less than a week.

DMSO
Posted by Robert Henry (Ten Mile, Tn) on 10/05/2008

In the 60's I worked for the paper company who made DMSO and supported the research. DMSO could never be used in a double blind trial because it's use caused your breath to smell of garlic. It has zero to do with garlic.

The plant was located in Bogaloosa, La. No employee in the DMSO plant ever had a cold nor the flu while working in that section. The Doctors and Big Pharma killed DMSO because it was so effective and cheap. Read Dr. Jacob's books on the subject and you will cry.

Joyce is right about the poke plant but not about DMSO.


Salt
Posted by Tammy (Wellston, Oklahoma) on 11/09/2006
★★★★★

Salt cures Spider/Insect bites, poison ivy. Last year I had a spider bite on my inner thigh. At first it was just a small red bump, but then it grew into what looked like a ring worm. A week later it was the size of a tennis ball and the center of it was a infectious white and itchyyyy as poison ivy. I showed it to my family in India via web cam, she knew immediately what to do. Said just wet it, pour table salt on it and let it sit for at least 20 min. After about one minute it began to burn some, nothing unbearable, although i only let it stand for about 5 min as I'm a big baby. It WORKED!! Dried it up in a matter of days. Since then, I have done this remedy for a number different insect bites, even have done on poison ivy and same result. A few days of doing this once at night cleared it. You can literally feel the salt drawing out the poisons.

Comfrey
Posted by Louis (Sc) on 09/29/2020
★★★★★

Comfrey is amazing

Even f the rash is old, swollen n leaking fluid, comfrey is probably the only medicinal herb that immediately stops the itching n starts the healing. Personal experience. It is truly better than the expensive otc junk, hot showers - which seems to aid in spreading the itchy oils systemically, and the other stuff I've tried which seem useless after the initial set in stage.

EC: Hi Louis,

We presume you mean comfrey for a oison ivy rash? If not, please reply so we can put your feedback on the correct page. Thanks!


Hot Water
Posted by Michele (Chicago, IL) on 06/20/2019
★★★★★

I am completely amazed that hot water relieved my poison ivy! Thank you earth clinic peeps! If I just glance sideways at poison ivy I will break out, so recently I had it on my hands and forearms, I pulled up my Dr. Earth Clinic and went searching. When I read about the hot water remedy I thought “what have I got to loose”? I ran the faucet over my arms and hands, hot as I could, being careful not to burn myself and believe me - they itch to high heaven when this is going on but then it slowly dissipates. Afterward they did not itch for over 8 hours! I promptly did it again and it was almost 16 hours this time. Each time the effect lasted longer, I'd say all total I might have done it 7 times. my skin is rather dry and flaky but that's a small price to pay for relief!


Ice Water
Posted by William (Texas) on 02/12/2019
★★★★★

Editor's Choice

I have had poison ivy many times in my life!! My "go to" remedy is ALWAYS "ICE WATER". Why? Because it is instantaneous relief from misery. 100% relief in a split second! Just leave your hand, arm, feet,... in the icy water for about one minute or two full minutes.

The relief is immediate and lasts for two to ten hours (depending upon how severe your poison ivy reaction is). Repeat as many times the first day as needed. The second day you won't need many.

By the third day you are almost home. WHY does it work? Heat is a catalyst for ALL biological reactions. Heat speeds up biological reactions. Heat is required for all biological reactions including poison ivy. When you put your hand/arm in ice water (approx. 33 deg F), the ice draws the HEAT out of the area with poison ivy. Essentially, shutting the poison ivy reaction down and giving your skin time to heal. HOW I do it: Just say I have a poison ivy outbreak on my forearm. I take a large ice chest. Fill it with water up to about 4 inches from the top. Then put in a full bag of ice. Maybe two bags. S

wish the ice around with your hand. If all the ice melts, then you should add another bag. When ready, I just submerge my entire forearm into the ice water. I like to leave my arm in the ice water for at least a full minute. Two full minutes is better. I had a friend who once had poison ivy on almost all areas of his body. He took quick baths in the bath tub in ice water. It worked and in 3 days he was done. That's it. Works 100% of the time. William Note that heat is a catalyst for chemical, bacterial, and biological reactions.

How to Develop Poison Ivy Immunity
Posted by Timh (Ky) on 05/04/2017 2042 posts

For all you've been doing to recover your health looks like it's beginning to really happen, so hurray! I forgot to mention Histamine in the first post as one of the bad chems produced in the inflammatory condition, so any antihistamine natural or pharma would be worth the trial. Pseudoephedrine was once the big otc antihistamine but the meth freaks have caused a big disturbance in it's sale because it is the main ingredient in the clandestine production of methamphetamine. Big pharma has created another chemical antihistamine to replace the problem one that can't be used as a precursor to meth. So, reduction of Histamine 1 and COX 2 is what you want. Lots of awareness of the potential in ant inflammatory diets across the world lately as this approach reduces many illnesses in itself.

I'll skip on the platelets frenzy on two counts. It is rumored that george sorros takes regular blood transfusions from young children or possibly aborted babies so??? As for healthy skin there are a number of good natural ways to achieve. Carnasine is the best. Check out Jon Barron as he's the expert on it as well as many other health & nutrition topics. He has lot's of info and excellent products (Baseline I think). I take Raw Bovine Bone Marrow regularly to keep my blood up. GABA and Ornithine are my favs for boosting HGH/IGF. I recently started D Aspartic Acid for the Testosterone boosting and getting good results. Yes, the very hormones that can take one right outa the sick-bed can immediately place you in the sex-bed, which is another situation that must be under control. But the longevity experts agree that boosting both the HGH & Test. together make for way better results.

My recovery is so difficult that it's always impossible to know the outcome. I have so many major problems and it's way to much suffering for anyone to endure. I take the smart & aggressive method and like Bill Belichick coaching football, identify & correct every mistake big or small.


Clay
Posted by Mmsg (Somewhere, Europe) on 07/18/2016

M to M, we rarely pick off the dried clay. It just stays there for as long as it wants and eventually comes off in the shower. If it still needs attention, we put new clay (usually wet) on top.


Clay
Posted by Steven (LA) on 01/20/2022

Even if it works for you, that is not proving anything. What works for some people does not necessarily work for others, and in the face of people becoming deathly ill from doing this, the mom is unequivocally RIGHT for not experimenting/trying this on her son.

Go try it on your kids (which you definitely do not have, because if you did, you'd never advise anyone else to do this with such naive sureness) but don't tell someone else to do it.


DMSO
Posted by Deedii (California) on 10/13/2015 1 posts

Thanks!


Remove Oil with Towels
Posted by Mama To Many (Tennessee, Usa) on 09/14/2015

This summer, someone told me that it was better to rub the oil of poison ivy off of your skin with towels than to wash the oil off with soap and water. Having heard to use soap and water for years and years and years, I was skeptical. He said that soap and water just spread it around and made it harder to get off than rubbing it off with paper towels.

Today I was making some salves and was having to clean oil out of jars. I used paper towels to get as much oil as possible off of the jars before using soap and water. I realized it was much easier to clean the jars if I used the paper towels. I also realized that when my hands were covered with oil, paper towels got it off much better than hot water and soapy water. Hmmm....

So I think I believe him. Next time we are exposed to poison ivy, I will try it. Maybe it is best to do both. One handy thing is that if you are exposed to poison ivy and are not near soap and water, you may be able to rub the area with your clothes, or an extra towel or garment in your car.

I think regular towels will work as well, but I like to minimize how much oil I am expecting my washing machine to get out of cloth. I have never been quite sure I was getting all of the poison ivy out of the clothes in the washer.

Has anyone else ever heard of this or tried it?

~Mama to Many~

Dave's Poison Ivy Test
Posted by Dave (Fountain Inn, Sc) on 09/02/2015

EXPERIMENT WITH POISON IVY

I'm experimenting with what I think is the formula I heard over 50 years ago to make oneself resistant to Poison Ivy.

I heard this from a Cherokee source. I do not know if it is authentic or not as a proven method. I am obviously proceeding with great caution.

First: I have dried PI leaves....about 40 leaves.

Second: I took a pinch of the dried leaf and rubbed in on the inside of my wrist. I washed my hands but left the wrist untouched. If any itching or PI evidence had showed up on my wrist I would have immediately used my anti PI remedies to stop progress. I use Borax to clean the infected area...repeated...then use bentonite clay topically and internally.

If no negative results from the "wrist" sensitivity test emerges...and it did not... I then take a very small amount again...about half the size of my fingernail...and put that in my mouth. I do not swallow. I just let the brief exposure in my mouth stay for less than 10 seconds.

No reaction to that "mouth" test also. So far so good.

Next I will take a whole leaf and put in hot water and steep.

Again, I will first apply the liquid to the wrist.

If no reaction to that will do a "mouth test" using the steeped liquid...about a teaspoon full and spit out after ten seconds. If no reaction to that...

The REAL test begins...and hopefully what will begin the "immunization" test.

WARNING...I AM NOT RECOMMENDING THIS FOR ANYONE. THIS TEST IS ONLY FOR ME. I MAKE NO CLAIM THAT IF IT DOES WORK FOR ME IT MAY NOT WORK FOR SOMEONE ELSE WHO IS MORE SENSITIVE TO POISON IVY THAN ME.

Next: I will drink a teaspoon of the PI tea. This is the beginning of the real test. The idea and theory is that by ingesting a degraded amount of the PI poison the body might build a resistance to the poison.

So....gradually....over the next few months I will drink tiny amounts of the tea to test the theory.

AND THEN...next summer...

You guessed it....I will intentionally expose myself to Poison Ivy.

I fully expect to get the rash....that is, I do not think this experiment will work.

So why am I doing this? Because I am tired of wondering if the old remedy I heard from a Cherokee Indian...55 years ago is a myth.

Thus I am my own test body. Guinea pig.

Stay tuned...I may be reporting back in 9 months just how stupid I am. Note...I will only touch the poison ivy leaf to my hand next summer... and be prepared to immediately act if the rash begins.

Turmeric and Nettle
Posted by Mama To Many (Tennessee, Usa) on 07/13/2015
★★★★★

Last night my son could not sleep because of the intense itching on his legs from bug bites and poison ivy. (Occupational hazard - he does lawn care.) He told me about it today. He said, "I got up and took a boatload of nettle and turmeric and put anti-itch salve on my legs and it helped a lot! " I laughed and asked exactly how much a boatload was. He said about 6 nettle capsules and 6 turmeric capsules. I love that he knew what to do and didn't have to wake me up. :)

He knows that Turmeric is a great anti-inflammatory and will help itching of poison ivy and bug bites. Nettle is great for allergic responses. Both herbs are blood purifiers.

~Mama to Many~


Goldenseal
Posted by Mama to Many (Tennessee, US) on 03/28/2015
★★★★★

One of my sons had poison ivy on his forearm this week. It was painful (his poison ivy manifests with pain and not itch) and was beginning to ooze. He had been ignoring it and after a poor night sleep was wanting to be more aggressive in treating it.

He was going to be working outside and didn't want to deal with poultices or salves or anything. I thought about how I used Goldenseal powder to dry out a newborn's umbilical cord. I had some homemade Goldenseal tincture that I had been making. So we put some in a small spray bottle. Because it was an alcohol (vodka) base, it did sting when it hit the broken skin, but that passed quickly. The Goldenseal worked very, very well to dry up the poison ivy! He would reapply every 2-4 hours if he was home.

At night, I used goldenseal root powder, turmeric powder and oregon grape root powder mixed to dry up the "ooze" the first night. I sprinkled it on liberally, covered with a piece of old sheet, and attached the sheet to the arm with an old sock top. In the morning, he rinsed it off and we sprayed on more Goldenseal. He had slept much better.

It took a few days for his arm to heal up, but there were times in the past when his poison ivy took weeks to heal up, so I was pleased.

Internally, I had him taking Vitamin C (1 gram a couple of times a day), nettle leaf capsules and turmeric capsules (8 of each of those a day.)

One of my little boys had a few poison ivy blisters on his foot. The skin was not broken. We tried the goldenseal tincture spray. It did not sting and even after a couple of hours he could see improvement.

Goldenseal is an expensive herb. Supposedly, Oregon Grape Root will work as well, but I haven't tired that yet. I may make some tincture up and try that and see. I am sure I will have more opportunities this summer to try it out!

~Mama to Many~


Oak Bark
Posted by Amy (Riverside, California) on 05/07/2014

Old fashioned Poison Ivy skin cure.

I once read a book about a young man that raised Honey bees. This was back when rural areas had few telephones (can't recall the state but I think it was in the Midwest U.S.A.). Probably in the 1920's or 1930's. This family lived in the woods and the boy would explore the area enjoying the outdoors. The boy said that he once got into some poison ivy and was going through misery all over his body! No one could help him so his mother got on a telephone and called his grandmother in another state.

It took hours to get a hold of his grandmother but when the boy's mother finally got the grandmother on the phone the grandmother told the boy's mother to go out into the woods and take an ax and go to an oak tree and cut down a load of OAK BARK! She then told the mother to place the oak bark in a big tub or sink and fill the tub or sink with water covering the oak bark and to boil the oak bark and water. The oak bark was to be taken out of the tub and the boy was to soak in the oak bark hot water (hot to where the boy could stand it) and soak in this solution until the water became cold. Then the boy was to get into his pajamas and go straight to bed and sleep.

The boy claims that when he woke up the next morning the poison ivy irritation was gone! Just thought I would share this story with others. I have the book in storage but with 6 full storage units I will have a hard time finding it. But I think it is a true story.


DMSO
Posted by Renee (Bergen Co., Nj) on 08/22/2012
★☆☆☆☆

DMSO, applied topically to my husband's poison ivy, caused the itching to increase and it looked more irritated. He tried several applications, all with the same result. It did not help it go away.

DMSO
Posted by D. Saettel (Farmersville, Ohio ) on 06/10/2015

When I am finished working in the garden or hiking, I come in and shower with dish soap and a small amount of ammonia using a net wash cloth. Suds up all over, rinse, never get poison ivy anymore. Think the ammonia neutralizes that poison acid.


Milk
Posted by Lorraine (Indianapolis, Indiana) on 07/05/2012
★★★★★

I blog and last week I posted something about "Poison Ivy" a reader commented by sharing the following:

One thing I've found that works amazingly well came from the website of a hospital in upstate New York, where it is the only hospital for miles around, and where campers and hikers frequently come into contact with poison ivy. Rather than withholding information in order to get people into the ER, they put this remedy on their website:

Milk. Just soak a cloth with it, and hold it on the area affected. I did this with my 3-year-old, when initially it looked as if someone had slapped her (and I suspected my 8-year-old). There was an area of distinct red with a sharp edge that crossed from her cheek, halfway over her eye, and onto her forehead. But instead of fading, it got worse, to the point when she woke up the next morning that half of her face was swollen and her eye was swollen shut. I knew poison ivy in the eye was dangerous so I was looking for advice online (when to take to the ER, anything we should/shouldn't do in the meantime), and came across the advice to put milk on it.

We had pet milk (milk from a farm, unpasteurized), so that's what I used. I put her in the tub, soaked a washcloth, and held it on her face. When it got warm, I flipped it and added more milk.

Within 15 minutes, I could see a crack of eyeball, and her face was less puffy. Within half an hour, her eye was most of the way open. And within 45 minutes, the redness and swollenness was pretty much gone everywhere on her face, with just one little spot. She was 3 and so done with sitting in the bathtub while I held a washcloth on her face, so I let her out for a bit, and then before bedtime just patted some more milk on the one remaining spot, and after 10 minutes it was no longer red. It took a few days for the blistering to heal, but at that point it wasn't itchy or spreading at all-just damaged skin from her exposure.

My husband, at the same time, started cleaning up the yard (a tornado had deposited shredded poison ivy leaves in our yard) and got a very bad case. He went with over-the-counter remedies for 3 weeks, while it continued to get worse, and then finally caved and tried my "weird" remedy. His was so many places on his body it did take a couple of days to get it all, but it was just a couple of days. Yet the next time he had poison ivy he tried the conventional stuff again and again it was over a week before he'd try milk on it, but now he has learned his lesson and turns to milk right away!

We instantly tried milk on my mom who has a rip-roaring case of PI right now, and it brought almost instant relief. Better than ACV! Hope this helps!!! :)


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