The Road To Wellville

I am happy to report I have finally managed to survive my poison ivy and am almost completely mended.

I can tell you though that I haven't been that miserable in a very long time. I found myself not really wanting to do anything, even writing on this blog. I just wanted to scratch myself to death. I ended up having it everywhere. I suppose this was due to working outside, sweating, and it just got all over me and I am just that allergic to it. At the worst of it, I looked like a beaten up Rocky Balboa with leprosy. I honestly am starting to think when Job was struck down, he was afflicted with poison ivy from head to toe..... just to make him as miserable as possible. (The bible does say he scratched himself after being afflicted you know.....)

Anyhow, I initially started treating it with my usual weapon, an OTC remedy called Ivy Dry. This stuff is great and usually does the trick. It dries the rash out (so dry it turns almost white), and stops the itch. However, I still had a couple of spots that continued to itch, even after drowning them in Ivy Dry. So I took it up a notch and on the advice of my wife, reached for her can of Zambuk. Zambuk is a sort of herbal remedy (it's really just Camphor Oil and Eucalyptus Oil) that comes from South Africa, where Daleen is from. Did you ever see "My Big Fat Greek Wedding"? You know how the dad in the movie uses Windex as a cure-all for everything from cuts to boils, to joint pain? Well, Zambuk is pretty much South African Windex. I have had it put on scrapes, cuts, and even a nasty spider bite one time. It actually seemed to help with those cases, and the can does say it is also an itch remedy, so I tried it. I can tell you, that I now could be the poster child for Zambuk. That stuff worked even better than the Ivy Dry and would temporarily relieve the itching on all my worst spots. Zambuk... it looks like a can of snake-oil, but it works wonders, it smells particularly lovely, and ....it's expeditious!

So I had temporary relief fom the itching, so I wouldn't run around scratching myself silly in public and embarrassing myself, but I still needed something to speed up the removal of the rash. Now, as I stated in my last post, an ivy rash is actually an autoimmune condition. (Apparently, I have a very strong immune system that will basically try to cream anything my body thinks might be a potential invader.) Knowing this to be the case, that my problem was inside my body, I still went back to the drugstore and bought a tube of soapy stuff called Zanfel and a big old box of Benadryl tablets. The cheap box of Benadryl helped a lot with longer term itch relief. The expensive tube of Zanfel soap which advertises it will remove the rash right away didn't seem to do anything.

Finally, after reading the comment that Connie left on my last posting, I shuffled over to my doctor and was hooked up with what I really needed. I guess I never thought the doctor could do anything to help. The doctor seemed pretty amazed by my case, commented on how miserable I was probably feeling, and started my new treatment right away. The treatment consisted of two parts, a shot of some kind of steriod and a prescription for Prednisone. I normally hate needles. I mean I HATE them. But when the nurse came in to stick me this time, I told her that I wanted to hug her and that she could feel free to give me two shots if she wanted. From the look I got, I think she was beginning to believe that I really did need two. But I only got the one and it felt great! Since then, I have been on a steady diet of Prednisone and Benadryl, although I get to start cutting back on both today. A couple of the rashes are still there but they are much smaller and all on my swelling has gone back down. My eyes are also back to normal now.

Thanks for all your prayers and sympathy. And thanks for the tip Connie, I owe you one. I am definitely going to be a lot more careful in the future. Unfortunately though, when cutting my grass the other day, along the edge of our property, I found three new patches of poison ivy that I am going to have to deal with..... someday.