Poison Ivy Remedy

Heres the story of how I accidentally stumbled upon this amazingly simple treatment for poison ivy. It works immediately, clears it up in days, and is sooooo easy...and free!

I was camping at a place that luckily did have a hot shower nearby, so when I felt some itching on my leg after a hike through the woods, I knew what it was. Id had severe poison ivy as a child and was painfully familiar with its symptoms. In fact, I became allergic to poison ivy and only had to be downwind of it before my face would puff up. It was awful.

I knew the symptoms very well. So I went to the camp shower to try to wash off the oils that brush onto the skin and cause the reaction. While running warm water on the leg, it felt so good that I made it a bit hotter.

Well, that felt even better. It felt like I was scratching it without scratching it! A delicious feeling.

After a few seconds of that, I made the water a bit hotter. Oh, wonderful! I kept doing this, making the water a bit hotter after reveling in the sensations for a while each time.

At a certain point, the water got almost scalding and the relief I felt was becoming marginal. So I turned the shower off.

Looking down, I saw how pink and almost throbbing the poison ivy patch was and thought, maybe it would be a good idea to cool that down. So I began to run cold water on the spot. The colder the water got, the better it felt, until it all felt kind of neutral and numb.

Stepping out of the shower, I was careful to just pat the area dry and not rub it. Amazingly, it didnt itch any more. Hooray!

And even more amazing - it didnt itch again for almost 12 hours!!! Then, when it acted up again, I knew exactly what to do and went to the shower, repeating the gradual heating up and instant cooling down Id done before.

Each water treatment gave me 12 hours of relief before the itching would resume. But on the third day, I noticed that the poison ivy was turning brownish - something that usually only happens after it "runs its course" in a week to 10 days, IF it doesnt spread to other areas.

Well, the poison ivy never spread. It didnt itch at all after a few days. It dried up and died off.

Years later when I was exposed to it again, I did the same water treatment - so natural, just varying temperature, so easy, so effective, so simple a cure for something that makes millions of people miserable every year.

So thats my story. You can try using an ice cube for faster cooling down and numbing of the itching. Just make sure you get to the limit of your "hot" tolerance before you go to cold. And, happy camping/hiking/gardening/childhood!!!

Another simple remedy for poison ivy is to mix baking soda and apple cider vinegar to form a cream (not quite a paste) and apply to affected areas. You can do this after youve done the water treatment and it speeds up the overall healing time.

If the poison ivy has gotten around the eyes, just use the cream. It might not be a good idea to do hot water around the eyes.

Just remember, if it itches, dont scratch. That will only spread it. If its poison ivy, youre in luck -- all you need is water!