It Itches!!

Normally once a year I get a case of poison ivy. It usually shows up in late spring. When it didn’t this year, I was surprised, relieved and happy. For some reason, it was just delayed, kind of like some of our garden crops.

The complication I have with poison ivy is that I don’t just get a little patch. It will start off in one small place then kind of blossom, usually on my forearm. Even with treatment, it tends to kind of ‘grow’ up and down my arm until I look rather frightening.

After the poison ivy is well established, blistering and itching like crazy, my psoriasis kicks in. There is something about getting a rash from poison ivy that initiates a psoriasis reaction. I’m not sure what causes it, but it does it every time. I get a flaming red, very, very, itchy rash across my stomach and this year it has decided to visit the front of my neck as well.

I have tried many different remedies in the past, but usually resort to a very strong, prescription hydrocortisone type product I got from a dermatologist. And even with that, it just seems to run it’s course. This time I started using this cream right away, but as you can see, it is still blistering after about a week. It doesn’t leave until it’s good and ready to. And did I mention, it ITCHES? Oh yeah, that was the title of this piece, wasn’t it?

A while back Frank bought me a bar of natural soap for poison ivy. It contains sassafras root bark, Noni, white willow, organic oat bran, and pure natural clay. I haven’t tried it before this outbreak. After using the hydrocortisone with little results, I decided to try this soap. It does a fair job of subduing the itching for a while, but one of my concerns is how the psoriasis will respond. I started using this soap yesterday and the psoriasis on my stomach has spread quite a bit this morning.

Another facet of this little adventure is that my skin is very particular and I can use a very limited number of products on it without getting little itchy red dots. Nice, huh? I use only specific brands and types of lotion or moisturizing products. So the spread of this outbreak on my stomach this morning has me wondering about this soap. I will give it another day to see if it is the culprit, or if it’s just me.

So, now I am asking you what your remedies are. Since I have the underlying reaction of psoriasis, which is also very itchy too, by the way, some of the normal poison ivy treatments may not work. But, on the other hand, if I could knock out the poison ivy, maybe the psoriasis would subside as well. You may know by reading some of our other posts that we are trying to cut down on the chemicals we ingest or use on our skin. One of my long-term goals is to be able to make my own ointments and salves from herbs I have grown. Unfortunately, I’m just not quite there yet.

What are your solutions? I would love to hear them. Excuse me while I try not to scratch………

Until next time – Fern