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Home remedy For Poisin Ivy

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A home remedy for poison ivy needs to cure not only the unsightly outbreak but the terrible itch as well.

The number one home remedy for poison ivy is, and has been for a long time, calamine lotion. This time honored solution cools the skin and reduces the itch considerably. It works as a home remedy for poison oak and sumac as well.

What happen with both poison ivy and poison oak is that the blood vessels in the skin develop unusual gaps and these gaps leak fluid right through the skin. This leakage causes the oozing and blistering. When the skin cools, the vessels constrict and the leakage is lessened considerably.

Another effect of this great poison ivy home remedy is that it leaves a residue on the skin that is a powder consistency and that keeps it from sticking to the patient's clothing. Calamine lotion should be applied to poison ivy-infected skin three or four times every day until the oozing stops. If the treatment continues beyond this point the rash will dry up too much and the itching will get worse.

There are times when a home remedy for poison ivy or poison oak is not adequate. This happens about 15 percent of the time. 120 million U.S. residents who have an allergy to poison oak or ivy have an allergic so sensitive that the rash appear and swells as soon as 4-12 hours after coming in contact with the vine. Normal outbreak doesn't begin for 24-48 hours. Some highly sensitive may experience eyes that are swollen shut and skin blistering. This severe an allergy requires an immediate trip to the hospital emergency room for a shot of corticosteroid.

If an afflicted person is one of the 85 percent that are not so seriously affected by poison ivy or poison oak the home remedy might include an oral antihistamine in addition to the calamine lotion. These can help dry up the afflicted skin. Benadryl and Chlortrimetron are two physician recommended products to counter the effects of poison ivy.

Home remedy alternatives to calamine lotion that also work well on poison ivy, such as witch hazel, zinc oxide and an aluminum acetate solution called Burrow's also tend to have alcohol in them and dry the skin, sometimes too much. Baking soda is an alternative drying agent as well.

If the household has no calamine lotion or other drying products a cotton compress made of a cloth soaked in cool water will work too. This would be placed over the rash and a fan should be placed to blow over it. The effect of the evaporation and the cooling is very soothing. The disadvantage of this over the calamine lotion, however, is that it does not soak up the ooze. Oatmeal, however, can dry up oozing blisters and there is generally some somewhere in just about everyone's cupboard. It is applied by cloth directly to the blisters, or it makes a great bath with lots of home remedy relief from poison ivy. The one drawback to this is that the bathtub gets very slippery and very messy.

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