Eating Crow, Not Poison Ivy

May 13, 2004 on 3:15 pm | In Health & Fitness |

The Wednesday night ride was going so well – after an initial rainstorm we climbed north boundary at Bent Creek with a giant posse of about 15 riders.  The air was clean and the breeze was cool.  At 5 points Ben said “where to?” Facetiously I answered “that away” without pointing, or so I thought.  Later I was told that because I was “sorta” looking at Tony Michael’s, that was my choice…yeah right…more climbing!  But I cheerfully dug in, knowing it would be good for my lungs, not realizing that poison ivy hell was on its way.
In just a few minutes we were whizzing through my idea of a plant induced nightmare – with poison ivy brushing my ankles, arms and even (gasp of horror) my face!  I think Angela thought I was dying from the repeated cries of “ARGH” and “oh no!”   For someone who has been highly allergic to poison ivy my whole life, I really just wanted to cry.  We arrived at the top and I immediately asked if anyone had a wet nap …of course no one in this large group did – least of all me, the one who should have been thinking about it (I only think about poison ivy when I am smack dab in the middle of it – drug stores seem very far away at that point).    Ken produced 2 dried up alcohol prep pads that didn’t even smell like alcohol anymore.  This is where the arguing began.   Someone said, “We are going to rinse in the creek, that should wash all the oil off”.  Since I am a huge know-it-all, this immediately made me see red.  I said, “well that doesn’t work for ME” thinking that I needed to get to soap and hot water as soon as possible – in my mind I had about 45 minutes to get the hideous oil (known as URUSHIOL) off my skin.  My logic is, you don’t clean an oily pan with cold water, so why should it work with urushiol?  More on that later….

I bombed down Betty Heinous with Scott - super fun, especially with my new Marzocchi bomber MX-Pro fork – plush and oh so sexy.  I totally forgot my poison ivy troubles for the longest down hill I have done yet.  Looking for the shortest distance to the car, we ended up riding by the campground entrance, where I spotted a bottle of rubbing alcohol in the window of the registration booth (“eagle eye Sanborn”, that’s what they call me).  The wonderful attendants (who are getting homemade cookies tomorrow by the way) shared the alcohol, as well as paper towels, soap and a hot shower (I just jumped in with all my gear on and lathered up).  I was saved!

NOT TRUE!  This is where I eat MAJOR CROW.  This morning I went to the Internet and typed in “poison ivy” and turned up some wonderful websites.  I got a trouncing from the FDA (http://www.fda.gov/fdac/features/796_ivy.html) and the American Academy of Dermatology (http://www.aad.org/pamphlets/PoisonIvy.html) totally schooled me.  Here is what I learned:

What we rode through may not even BE poison ivy, but Box Elder.  At the “Poison Ivy, Oak and Sumac Information Center” you can find a Q&A page – people have sent in pictures of what they think are poison ivy and an expert tells them if they are correct – it’s a great learning tool: http://poisonivy.aesir.com/view/picqna.html

1. The person who suggested the cold water was RIGHT (oh why couldn’t I have been right???)  According to the FDA, bathing in cold water within 5-10 minutes after exposure will keep the oil from soaking into your skin.
2. You are only supposed to bath with hot water AFTER you wash with cold water. The hot water opens your pores and allows the oil to soak in more.
3. Soap and cold water is ideal, and isopropyl alcohol works great too.
4. If you can’t wash within 5-10 minutes, bath anyway, because even later, you can prevent the spread of the oil, reducing the amount of rash you experience.
5. There are some great products for sale that will prevent the oil from staying on the skin – you put it on before you ride (can I possibly remember to do this??? Maybe if I put it next to the chain oil….) – these products are available at your local drugstore.

The websites I mentioned will help you with identification, and with other facts about poison ivy, blowing away the common myth that the oozing pustules of gore will spread the rash…its only the original urushiol oil that causes allergic contact dermatitis – the true name of what I am hopefully not about to experience as I write this article.  One last note:  if you are allergic and you do get exposed, a physician can prescribe cortisone, which can be taken even before the rash appears (news to me, I usually wait till I am miserable before going in for the injection) to prevent itching hell.

One last site to check out (http://www.poison-ivy.org/) has incredible pictures of what you will experience if you don’t heed my warnings.  So sit down, check out the websites and eat some crow with me!

-Kristi Sanborn