Some of you guys know that not only I enjoy walking barefoot as much as I can in the bush, but also recommend it. To me it really has been an amazing experience that changed a lot of things. Maybe I’m just a hippy who knows. That said as I am in the bush all the time and usually focused on a specific task, there has not been a single year I did not get caught by poison Ivy in the last 10 years.
The first year or two I had normal reaction, a week and a half later it was usually over. As I got caught on year 4 and 5, I noticed the reaction were much more severe. The clusters were bigger, more painful and I would get covered in more than 40% of the body. On year 8-9-10 ... it was simply too much to tolerate, I began taking med to recover better from it. My body was clearly fighting hard against it, my ganglia were very swollen. Now it takes several weeks to recover from it. You can get reaction from touching a dog that walked and rolled around a plant, or by cloths you are washing that been in contact with the plant.
Toxicodendron radicans - Poison Ivy
o Poison ivy has pointed leaves that grow in groups of three. o The middle leafs stem is longer than those on its side. o Strong teeth (at least 1) often visible on a side of a leaf. o Grows as both a vine and as a shrub. When you find one there are almost certainly more near around. o Some of them should be linked together by a wooden vine roaming near the ground level. This is usually how I confirm ID o Usually green in the spring and reddish-orange in the fall. o Before the urushiol has been absorbed by the skin, it can be removed with soap and water. However, time is of the essence, as 50% of the urushiol can be absorbed within 10 minutes.
Wikipedia :
'' Urushiol is an oily organic allergen found in plants of the family Anacardiaceae, especially Toxicodendron spp. (e.g., poison oak, Lacquer Tree, poison ivy, poison sumac) and also in mangos. In sensitive individuals, urushiol can cause an allergic skin rash on contact, known as urushiol-induced contact dermatitis.Urushiol is a pale-yellow liquid with a specific gravity of 0.968 and a boiling point of 200 °C (392 °F). It is soluble in alcohol, ether, and benzene.[8] Urushiol is a mixture of several closely related organic compounds. Each consists of a catechol substituted with an alkyl chain that has 15 or 17 carbon atoms. The alkyl group may be saturated or unsaturated. The exact composition of the mixture varies, depending on the plant source.''