Seeking Poison Oak Relief

[UTurn]

My husband has the worst case of poison oak (Rowena Crest...thank you very much!) and he is going on week 4 trying to combat it. He's gone to the doctor and they said they no longer prescribe medication for this but recommend a paste of baking soda and water along with Benedryl. That didn't work so he used Caladryl. That didn't work so now he's on to another over the counter tube that is actually a wash called Technu. It's provided some relief but hasn't kicked it.

Here's my question. Do any of you have a tried and true method that has worked for you? Something we haven't tried already?

Thank you!


Lori

[Guy]

I got a bad case of Poison Oak all around the eye a few years ago (Thanks to wiping my eye with a gloved hand while scrambling in the Gorge). The whole thing had swelled shut by the time I gave up & decided to go to the doctor.

Went to the local clinic and the doctor said there was nothing she could do for the poison oak itself but she gave me some kind of steroid shot to speed up the healing process and it worked like a charm.

Some people swear by this stuff, others say it doesn't do all that much.
http://www.zanfel.com/help

[CampinCarl]

I had a really bad case the last weekend in March. The only thing that helped me this last round was a prescription of prednisone. I tried caladryl, oatmeal paste, baking soda paste, benadryl, and technu scrub and after a week of misery finally went into urgent care and got the prescription. Maybe try another clinic (I am in Salem and went to Salem Health urgent care and got the prescription)? They dosed me for 10 days and by the end all I had left were a few small scars that are gone now.

[adamschneider]

Tecnu will do ABSOLUTELY NOTHING four weeks later. Its purpose is removing the urushiol oil from your skin, and that needs to be done IMMEDIATELY after contact with poison-oak. After a post-hike shower, the oil is gone from the surface of your skin, and any subsequent reaction is due to your body's own immune system. Relief of symptoms is the only recourse at that point.

[kepPNW]

Find another doctor, stat! Steroids are needed, now.

[Koda]

I had a small but bad case on my wrist last fall. Had it covered in calamine lotion and wrapped in gauze for about a month, no relief at all.

So I stopped the calamine and washed it in hot water clean and saturated it with coconut oil and wrapped in a clean gauze. Noticed immediate relief in swelling and itching the next day and was able to remove the gauze finally about week later. Kept up with the coconut oil until it was totally gone but it left a scar.

Good luck. Its the plant from hell...

[UTurn]

Thanks, everyone. This is a HUGE help.

[kelkev]

Prednisone, as mentioned before, helped me a few years ago.

[Chip Down]

Slightly off topic. I hope the OP doesn't mind.
I wonder how people get a case of "the poison oaks".
Guy (post above) knows exactly how it happened, but I suppose for most people they don't the precise moment they were exposed. Whenever I feel a plant brush up against me*, in spite of all my caution, I look to see what it was, and if I think it may have been PO then I clean up as well as I can with plain water immediately. Does that do any good? Avoiding contact with the plant is one thing, but I don't even know what to do about secondary contact. It's damn near impossible to avoid touching something that touched something that touched PO.

* interesting how I phrased that, as if I was just standing there and the plant came and brushed up against me

[UTurn]

Slightly off topic. I hope the OP doesn't mind.
I wonder how people get a case of "the poison oaks".

* interesting how I phrased that, as if I was just standing there and the plant came and brushed up against me

That's exactly how he got it. We could see it around us along with leafless branches right along the trail. He grew up with severe reactions to poison oak when living in Mexico. Trust me, he did everything to avoid this, including walking extremely slow as to not stumble into it.

Our mistake was wearing shorts---- and knowing that even being in the vicinity can seem to bring a reaction for him, we seriously messed up by continuing on. I did not get it and walked the exact same steps he did. (heading up to McCall Point at Rowena Crest)

He is off to urgent care after work tomorrow and will be insisting upon the steroids.

Thanks, again.