The Happy Camper: You’re More Likely to Get the Itch from Poison Ivy Now, Before the Spring Leaves Emerge
I led a group of students out on a very early spring trip a few years back and warned them about possible poison ivy growing alongside the trail. I instructed them to wear knee-high boots. All did, except one. Josh walked off the school bus with open-toed sandals strapped to his feet. I questioned his footwear for the day, but he insisted it wouldn’t be a problem because the poison ivy wasn’t out yet; and beside he was apparently immune to it. He was wrong! He skipped class the next week because he got a good dose of steroids from his doctor and was smearing himself down with calamine every day. He had it really bad…and the pain and suffering had just begun.
And if you think the mid-summer leaves are the worst to brush up against while wandering the woods, you’re dead wrong. It’s now, in early spring, before the “leaves of three, let it be” even sprout.
The stems of winter berries contain the oily resin called “urushiol”—the nasty stuff that gives you a rash and uncontrollable itching. The sap of the plant pumps up from the root cellar just like a maple tree’s does with its sugary water. That means it’s leaf-less stems are loaded with dreadful poison ivy oil. The white berries that have hung on the stem throughout the winter are also toxic balls of itchiness.
The worst part is that in early spring most of us don’t even notice the plant is growing, either low to the ground or strung up around a tree like a grapevine. All you see are the wooded stems and maybe a clump of yellow-whitish berries.
But I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s start with a few facts not many know.
The first—why don’t animals like deer, insects and birds get it? Heck, they can even eat it. And why doesn’t your dog get it—and what if he comes rushing back to you after rolling in a patch of poison ivy, and then contaminates you?
The hypothesis is that the plant creates the “urushiol” oil to act as an antimicrobial for it—a way to protect it from bacterial and fungal infection. It’s not meant to be a venomous, itchy nightmare to us humans. In fact, it’s believed to be one of nature’s most misunderstood villains.
Humans react to the oil like someone allergic to cats would react to cats. The immune system thinks you’re in danger, so it releases proteins to protect you from the attacking adversary. It’s your body’s defensive mechanism, not the plant, that causes the rash, blisters and itchiness.
Some just get a mild reaction, and some have the rash spread all over their body and it feels as if a billion mosquitoes just feasted off your blood. And since it’s the immune system that’s the culprit, the younger you are and the better immune system you have, the worse you’ll react to it. Take note, however, that it’s not contagious—even though you’ll look like the Lepers in the 1959 classic movie Ben-Hur.
Some say they are immune to poison ivy, and they can roll around and bathe in it without mishap. That might be true—but only to a very few individuals. Studies have shown that a small percentage of people are genetically immune to it. However, 85 to 90 percent are not. So just don’t take the chance. Also, first-time exposure can be minor, but like a wasp sting, the more you become exposed to the toxin the harsher you’ll react.
The scariest part of poison ivy oil is that it can linger on your clothing and boots for years. I was told a story the other day of a farmer who cut a pile of it and got it on his hands. Then, the rash kept coming back. Why? The oil was on his tractor’s steering wheel. I also had a work mate that burned a pile of it, then breathed in the smoke accidentally and was hospitalized due to it getting into his lungs. Yikes!
To be affected by the poison ivy oil, it must be released from the plant. That means it has to be agitated somehow, become like an open wound, to let the urushiol ooze out. That’s a bit of a saving grace. With that note, I’ll never forget two of my past students on a canoe trip that had a fist fight on the portage. They ended up wrestling each other on the ground and the other students asked me to break it up. I said no, but Mother Nature would have her revenge. They were the two thugs in the group that were caught earlier in the day tossing their litter behind the campsite and didn’t deserve any help or sympathy. They were also shirtless and tumbling amongst a patch of poison ivy. Boy, did they suffer the next morning.
That story brings me to my last point—at least for now since I plan to write more about this plant in the summer months when the leaves are out.
If you come in contact with poison ivy, or your dog brushes up against a patch and rubs itself on you (one of the most common ways to get it), you literally have minutes to wash the oils off your skin before you react to it. If you wait until you get home to rinse off with warm, soapy water, it might be too late.
Thankfully there’s a new product out that outdoorsy types are buying up like hotcakes. It’s called After Ivy Complete Wipe. It comes in a box of 16 single pouches that contain a chemical wipe to wash off the poison ivy oil from your skin or clothes the moment you think you’ve been exposed to it. It can also be used after the fact to relieve itching if you end up reacting. Perfect to throw in your day pack or first-aid kit for longer trips. It’s from the well-known brand After Bite and is also effective for poison oak and sumac. I picked mine up at Mountain Equipment Co. but I’ve seen it at Canadian Tire with all the various bug sprays.
The active ingredient is camphor, and the inactive ingredients are: water, ethanol SD-40, cocamidopropyl betaine, polysorbate 20, lavender essential oil, grapefruit essential oil and orange essential oil.
Luckily, I’ve never suffered from poison ivy. I’m surprised at that since, most of my life, I’ve been wandering the woods where it commonly grows a heck of a lot. And I doubt I am genially immune to it. My dad got it once when he mistakenly used a few leaves for toilet paper while we were fishing a local trout stream. It wasn’t pleasant!
I think the main reason I’ve escaped the nasty itch is that I learned long ago how to identify it—in all seasons—and avoided it at all costs.
Check out my new video of poison ivy in early spring on my KCHappyCamper YouTube channel:
