Home made cure for poison Ivy

Don't laugh at this one everyone but I'll tell my story and let you decide.....

I had Poison Ivy when I was a kid growing up in the back hills of Kentucky. I had gotten it so bad my hands were stiff and could not bend them and my eye lids were puffed out, the only way I got rid of that was a friendly visit to the nearest Doctor for a shot.

But that's in the past but from time to time I do happen to get Poison Ivy.

I was getting ready to lay cement around the foundation of my house. at the time I also noticed that I had developed blisters on my wrists, I knew it was Poison Ivy at the time but paid no attention.

At various times I had submerged my wrist into the cement, of course it stung like a wasp got hold of me. After 5 days of mixing and pouring cement, I had noticed the poison Ivy on my wrist was almost completely healed.

So I took some powdered cement placed it in a air tight container and mixed rubbing Alcohol in with it, and when ever I get poison ivy i would go to the medicine cabinet, get the container and dab it on.

This is a vary unorthodox way of taking care of poison ivy, I do admit, but compared to a doctors visit and paying an enormous bill, I try this first and so far it works for me.

O.K. you can laugh now...........

reply to post by tiso_us


Tiso_us that is actually very smart and I can see why it works. Poison ivy is oily while cement (montmorilanite) absorbs liquids, even oil.

I had poison ivy when I was a kid, and in the same manner as yourself. It was terrible, I had been helping my uncle pull poison ivy from his fence row and had gotten it everywhere. He of course was not allergic to it.

A few of the old timers around here in the mountains used to take a stalk of polk plants, split the stem and rough up the pithy insides and scrub the area affected with poison ivy with it. It stings like the dickens but it clears it up pretty fast. Wash your hands afterwards though, the as the mature polk plant is farily poisonous. It cleared up in about a day.

reply to post by RussianScientists


My wife thinks the only solution to a problem is to run too the Emergency Room and get meds, I on the other hand, think its best to try home remedy first.

The other day, my daughter developed a sinus headache, my wife insisted taking her to the ER, I simply told her to lay down and take a hot rag and breath in through the nose, an hour later, her nose began to run and had no headaches.

But getting back on track, we have poison ivy that creeps into the yard from the fence row. While I'm busy cleaning up the yard, I have a constant bother of remembering the locations. I could spray the area for poison ivy but i don't like pesticides or herbicides.
Having Grand kids running in the yard is sometimes a bother also instructing them to play in certain areas.

reply to post by twitchy


Polk you say...Hmmmm, never heard of doing it that way before. Come to think of it polk season is almost upon us.

I could go for a mess of greens right now.

I haven't tried your particular home remedy, however I've tried about everything else as I'm very allergic to poison ivy and have had several bouts with it. We have 10 acres, mostly wooded, and apparently I run into or through the stuff without noticing it - until it's too late.

There is, however, one OTC remedy that really works. It doesn't just temporarily quell the itching or cover it up, it actually makes it GO AWAY, and very quickly. A couple of summers ago I had it really bad on my ankle. After one application of Zanfel it stopped itching and started healing. Within 12 hours it was dried up to healing scabs and no longer itched.

Here's the stuff: Zanfel.

It's fairly expensive (about $25 - $30 for a tube) but it's still cheaper than an ER or doctor visit and it really, really works.

Originally posted by tiso_us
I could go for a mess of greens right now.

OMG Kilt Lettuce... We always keep a tub of bacon grease when the garden starts comming in, that fresh leaf lettuce and some spring onions, man I could eat that stuff every day... I don't know how many times I've run out the door with a flaming pan of bacon grease though
I've tried Polk Greens before, I think they changed the water it was boiled in five or six times though, I didn't like it much. I once got my little brother to eat a bunch of the berries, he ended up having to have his stomach pumped and it almost put him out.
The polk salad poison ivy cure works really well, you have to rough up the skin to apply it and like I said it stings like crazy for a minute but it definately works.

[edit on 20-3-2009 by twitchy]

reply to post by twitchy


A vary interesting plant the Polk is, my wife said that she puts it in a frying pan and after so long of frying, she adds cooking oil, then just before you eat, smother it with some white vinegar. mmmmm... making my mouth water.


Zanfel, I heard of that, I got to look that one up also, I think it was in my Physician Desk Reference (PDR).

O.K. Zanfel....30 seconds to relieve iching. vary nice, and at Waliworld to.



[edit on 20-3-2009 by tiso_us]