As I write this article I am under the influence of Prednisone, a prescription steroid which inhibits auto-immune inflammation. One of the side effects of Prednisone is sleep-disorder. It seems to inhibit a deep and satisfying sleep. It also makes the thoughts quite shallow. The sentences short. The bad grammar. It also makes me angry, at least for the first couple of days, but then I become too tired and dull-witted to yell at or rebuke anyone, so I become just listless.
I do not like to take Prednisone. I do not like to be in the “Sone”. The last time the oils of Poison Ivy covered my body and I stepped into the Sone I decided that next time I had poison ivy I would try something else. Someone told me about a new product that would eliminate my poison ivy. I was so excited that I did some research and posted a status update on my personal Facebook account:
The next time I get a case of poison ivy, oak, or sumac, I’m trying Tecnu Extreme, the extreme itch relief solution from Tec Labs. Tecnu Extreme Medicated Poison Ivy Scrub actually cleanses the urushiol that is bound to the skin, eliminating the source of the rash, and relieves itching with a natural homeopathic ingredient. Buy it now at Walgreens for $14.99.
For $13 I purchased the stuff from Walmart and waited, almost eagerly, almost carelessly, for the urushiol oils of that hated plant to cling once more to my skin. I was confident that Tecnu Extreme Poison Ivy Scrub would be able to easily handle the rash and clear out the oils immediately.
The time finally came about 10 days ago. Doing some yard work, I contracted poison ivy all over my arms and legs. The blanket of oil was thick and strong, and seeped into my skin. I wasn’t worried, because I knew that Tecnu Extreme Poison Ivy Scrub had micro beads that would scrape away the upper layer of my skin and allow the urushiol binding chemicals to find their targets and carry them down the sink.
I did not start scrubbing myself with Tecnu Extreme until the rashes were clearly visible, because I was not sure that I had actually contracted poison ivy rash. If I had used Tecnu Extreme within an hour of my exposure I am sure it would have cleared away everything. Rubbing alcohol will also clear away the oils, if applied within an hour or two after exposure.
I applied Tecnu Extreme Poison Ivy Scrub to the rash areas morning and night for several days. The scrubbing action felt very nice on the rash, but immediately after application my rashes appeared redder and more numerous then before, probably due to the irritation of the micro-beads. The homeopathic anti-itch ingredient in Tecnu Extreme Poison Ivy Scrub worked well for a few hours after the scrub until the itching sensation returned once more, with a slight vengeance due to the irritation of the scrubbing and the drying of the skin, probably.
The application of Tecnu Extreme Poison Ivy Scrub increased the time needed in the shower by 15 minutes or so, because I had to scrub each area with a marble sized bead and then rinse. The necessary extra shower at night also added time spent rubbing my poison ivy. Because it still itched a couple hours after application, I also used much time rubbing coconut oil into the rash to sooth it. Overall, I used many good hours applicating various substances onto my poison ivy.
So what do you think is the ending of this story? Is it a happy ending, a sad one, or questionable with no solid conclusion?
My poison ivy did clear up, but it was because of Prednisone. The day I swallowed those 60mg of prednisones I found relief within a few hours, but because of it I am a man who is either half-awake or half-asleep and never all of either.
I liked Tecnu Extreme Poison Ivy Scrub because of the hope it gave me with each application. It didn’t have any bad side effects like Prednisone, but the only good effect seemed to be the hope. But who knows, maybe my ivy would have been much worse at the start had I not used Tecnu Extreme?
My recommendation is to try the stuff yourself. I think it has different effects on different skin types. It did not work for me, nor for one of my friends, but for my other friend it worked perfectly. “It dried right up and went away!“, she said. You can only try it to know. If I were you I would order some from Amazon for about $9. Just tag it on to the end of your next order, so that you’ll be ready.
I know this is an old post but maybe some of what I write below will help those who are trying to avoid the Sone!
First, Tecnu must be used immediately after exposure. Even a few hours after exposure is too late and you might as well not waste the product. At that point wash with soap and water and get ready for the itch.
If your case is so bad that you get the urushiol into your blood stream (systemic exposure) you will experience a really interesting and very unpleasant condition whereby you will get rashes in places on your body that were not exposed to the poison oak in any way. Anywhere you have particularly thin skin the rash will pop out. If you happen to scratch yourself someplace it will look like you got hit by a bad stick and break out in blisters. This is no fun and the only solution is steroids.
However if you are experiencing just a really bad local exposure on your arms or legs for example, I have a completely drug free treatment that costs essentially nothing and will kill the itch for typically 4 to 8 hours, and have the nice side effect of leaving you temporarily feeling, there is no other way to describe it but as orgasmic. The trick is to run very hot water over the affected area for a couple minutes. To do this you may have to spend some time slowly turning the heat up higher and higher until you can barely stand the pain, then let it run for another minute or so. I suspect that the pain releases endorphin’s and other natural pain killers that have the effect of dulling the itch but also have a really nice side effect. Be careful, the feeling can be so good that you may be tempted to reinfect yourself after you heal.
BTW this treatment does nothing to speed recovery, it simply helps with the itch. Good luck.
Thank you, Bradney, for your advice. I have tried the hot water treatment in the past and it is indeed pleasurable. In my experience, though, it caused the poison ivy rash to bubble up and become even more irritable 4 or 5 hours later, once my nerves had regained their feeling.
Just recently I got poison ivy on my legs and I was able to control it by soaking myself in a chlorinated swimming pool every couple of days for about 30 minutes. It never really spread or got unpleasant, thanks to that.
Tecnu works like magic for me if I use it pretty soon (few hours or less) after exposure.
If I didn’t catch all the poison ivy or I get affected by putting on work gloves I forgot about I use Technu to get through the 3-4 days of rash. I apply the Technu and leave it on. It last 5-6 hours or through the night and I put on a new application in the morning.
I only wash off the old application in the morning / evening before I apply the knew amount. I never wash off this application until It had dried and worn off by itself. This is the only product I have found to combat poison ivy.
Very informative but certainly not everything you need to know here’s some more: Urushiol the chemical involved is not what attacks you; Your body attacks you! In fact your body is incapable of even recognizing any molecule as small as the Urushiol. Your immune system has an amazing trick, we only have around 30,000 genes but yet we can create millions of antibodies. But how does the body do that? In simplified terms certain genes form a mechanism to spit out random antibodies in millions of forms but wouldn’t that mean certain ones would be designed to kill skin cells or bone or nerves or intestinal walls…. Of course the answer is yes. So your body has developed a system to sniff out possible self harming antibodies and kill them before they get released into your bloodstream. Urushiol rash represents a failure of this system. Once the Urushiol gets absorbed into your skin it oxidizes and binds with a protein in your skin. Your body would not attack the skin protein by itself normally nor would it attack the Urushiol (too small to detect). But combine these two and a defect, that’s right a complete flaw, of your immune system sends out T cells to literally burst your own skin cells open and kill them. This is completely senseless, this is a defect in your body’s immune system. Those who are immune to the effects of Poison Oak and Ivy and Sumac are basically those without this genetic defect. They are the normal ones. Those who can suffer like me and you are the Freaks. Make no mistake about it this chemical is harmless it’s a defect in your body’s immune system that destroys your own cells. It’s absolutely fair to call this rash an autoimmune disorder. P.S. I am intimately aware of all the processes that occur in the production of the rash but a couple hundred pages of chat would not be appropriate.