9 Natural Poison Ivy Remedies

Odd Cure for the Itch: I get poison ivy, and I get it BAD. i never find products that work EVER. not even for temporarily relief. a few years ago, i actually got fed up with the scratch and had to do something about it. so i ran a towel under hot water, and began scrubbing the infected areas as hard as i could, making sure the blisters would bleed. it burns, like crazy. but for me, the burning is much more bearable than the itching. i've recently used this method for every outbreak. just make sure you actually have blisters first, otherwise it just might make it spread worse. also, clean the bleeding areas with rubbing alcohol.. as crazy as that sounds. hopefully it will cure your itch like it did mine. also, be prepare for scars.

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~

OMG! Yes, this does work for poision ivy. Nothing I purchased ever worked. I used liquid laundry detergent, distilled white vinegar and 3% H2o2 and it instantly took away the nasty itch. I did several applications as Ted directed. THANK YOU!

The toxin resinous oil called Urushiol, can actually be detoxified by several ways. With the resins you can remove, or neutralize it nevertheless.

First start simple and wash the effected area with a strong detergent to remove the resin. When it is removed and the rash, is no longer reducing, you go to the next step of removing which is vinegar which will remove the other part of the resins.

How it is done is to grab a towel and try dabbing several times with vinegar, for example, to remove the resins. Try different areas of the towels that are clean and keep repeating until they are all removed. What vinegar does is it detox it and remove the oil. Rubbing alcohol will also work but less effectively than a vinegar.

Finally, after this is done several times, get the 3% hydrogen peroxide. It must not be weaker than 3% otherwise it will not neutralize the by oxidation of the resins.

The peroxide will cause drying, but it will also dry out whatever resins left over. So with a towel, this is rubbed with a 3% hydrogen peroxide several times, and find a new clean area of towel and do it repeatedly. The peroxide will neutralize what is left.

Finally, when it is done about 5-10 times, we apply this with lavender oil, 2-3 times liberally so that the oil will neutralize the toxin resin. Peppermint oil might further reduce but not necessary unless it is still irritating what is left of the rash and most resin at this stage should be removed.

The secret I think lies in the number of applications for it to work, which must be done for half a day, at one hour apart, at least. The reason why some antidote don't work is improper understanding of the mechanics of resinous oils on the skin.

Oh by the way, a traditional remedy for poison ivy is jewel weed (touch me not), but it is not easy to get, this is why a vinegar, alcohol, detergent, and lavender are a bit easier to find, and hence the remedy are geared on convenience.

Also, Ordinary vinegar works the best. Most supermarket vinegar will work. An antidote for jellyfish poisoning is vinegar, but then it is also antidote for toxic alcohol (methanol), aspartame, splenda, etc. Vinegar works by detoxification and it is in fact actually anti-histamine, anti-inflammatory, to most toxic oils. That I found out quite by trial and error.

I had poison ivy for the first time a couple years ago. It was sooooo incredibly itchy, I could barely stand it. After looking on the net, I found' a remedy from a lady dr. She said to make a paste of Vit.C powder (just add water). Apply and let dry. I can't swear that it did the trick immediately, since I'd suffered with the rash for several days by then, but it surely helped!

I applied generic white vinegar to any itchy area. The itch and irritation would stay dormant for 4-8 hours. I would say vinegar is 10 times more effective than calimine lotion. And its instantly effective. I had the rash for about a week. Finally I decided to apply Bleach and water 50/50. All of the rash was gone by the next day. I would have used H202 if I read up on EC in time but bleach worked for me. It would burn when dabbing the rash with vinegar and bleach, but above all the vinegar made my poision ivy seem non-existant.

Yarrow for Poison Ivy. I make a paste of the dried flowers, add some clay and sometimes comfrey to make it stick. Leave on 20 minutes. Blisters dry up and skin heals after one application.

EC: Pics of yarrow here: http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=yarrow+flower&gbv=2&aq=0&oq=yarrow