Monday, April 21, 2008

Poison Ivy

How could I forget to mention this?

A couple weeks ago Jody went hunting (for turkey) with my dad. A couple days later he noticed a rash on his cheek...and a spot on each leg. So, he assumed it was chiggers. He had me lathers each little dot with my clear nail polish. We did this for like 3 days. But the rash was spreading, and the paint was peeling. LOL.

Then we tried cortisone cream. That relieved the itching some, but again, still spreading.

We are pretty sure its poison ivy now.

I bought some cal-gel.

It seems to be helping. But he's still itching a lot and it seems to still be spreading.

Here are a couple of questions I have for you all:
  1. What are the chances of the rest of us catching this from him? I feel like its slim to none, but he's been reluctant to get to close to any of us.
  2. Is there anything we can do to make this stop spreading? Any ideas?
My dad thinks this is all very funny by the way. He killed a turkey, didn't get poison ivy and Jody didn't even SEE a turkey and has an infectious disease.

8 comments:

Karen @Snakes-Snails-Puppydogtails said...

I've always heard that once the spots start to dry up they aren't likely to spread. Whenever Bryan gets it I must admit that I change the sheets nightly. FYI - don't stick a pillow case in the microwave to "kill" the bugs... There's a story to that one!

Stacy said...

I think that if you have washed his hunting clothes to get that poison ivy oil, or whatever it is, out of his clothes you should be good? Also, he may need to go to the doctor and get a shot of steroids to get it under control. I had a terrible case on my legs when we went camping at Red Rocks Lake in Montana/Utah and I ended up needing a shot of steroids. It was TERRIBLE! You may have him soak in some Aveeno oatmeal bath, and maybe make a paste of it for his face?

Anonymous said...

Try Caladryl its calamine and benadryl together. Helps with itching. Thats what we put on Elijah's shingles. If he doesn't want a shot, he could ask for a round of Prednisone (sp?). Thats also a steroid that will help calm down the inflamation.

Holl

Anonymous said...

Burows Solution or Domeboro from Bayer works well (if you can find it at a Drug Store). It helps dry the rash up. Poison ivy is no fun!

Stacy said...

Sarna anti-itch lotion helped me a lot too. It also cools the skin which makes it feel much better. I almost forgot about that one. My only problem with it was that I didn't like the smell.

The Via Colony said...

Yeah, once the spots are dried up they are no longer contagious. Josh gets poison ivy/oak at least once a year and none of us have ever gotten it from him.

Anonymous said...

look on webmd.com it is a medical page with all kinds of suggestions. It is always helpful especially since you have kids.

Pegsy said...

One last thing I thought I might add. If Jody gets worse and his sores start oozing, he will definitely be contagious. Wash his clothes and the sheets in HOT water everyday.

We've used some stuff called Cala-Gel and I believe it came from Wal-Mart. It dries things up really well. Joshua used to use bleach, of all things, because he swore it dried everything up! After I married him and he got poison ivy, I wouldn't let him do that anymore!