As I alluded to in my last article, I dealt with some repercussions after my hike at Seven Tubs. It had been a hot day, and my attire for the hike had been minimal; bathing suit, tank top, short shorts, and sandals. Two days after my hike at Seven Tubs, the back of my legs started to itch… I honestly gave no thought to the itchiness; I had just figured that I had a heat rash or something of that nature and that it would dissipate within a matter of hours…… WRONG! While I did pack the sun-screen to account for the blazing sun, I did not account for Mother Nature’s other mean streak - poison ivy. My legs had red itchy bumps all over the back of them, right up until my short shorts line (yikes!)… I distantly remember sliding down an embankment while straying from the well-beaten path at the tubs. As I look back on that decision, I realize that it was a pretty bad idea, considering I didn’t scan the area for poison ivy (or poison oak or sumac for that matter).

I did some immediate research after discovering that I had poison ivy, motivated mostly by the most irritating itch I have ever experienced. I found this website, http://poisonivy.aesir.com/view/welcome.html which helped greatly in advice for the future, and fully understanding poison ivy itself. I was incredibly nervous about spreading the poison ivy by scratching the rash, however, I did not have enough willpower to make myself stop. When I found out that the most common myth regarding poison ivy/oak/sumac is that it won’t spread after the rash appears, I was able to breathe a huge sigh of relief…. and continue scratching. I also learned that the cause of the rash is Urushiol oil, a sticky residue that exists on poison ivy (oak and sumac included as well), and that the reason it appears to spread is because different parts of your skin (depending on their sensitivity) have a different latent period. That basically means that some parts of your skin are more sensitive to the rash, and therefore the rash develops more quickly than other less sensitive parts of your skin. If you have poison ivy, and are anything like me, you’ll want something to take the itch away immediately… The less you itch, the faster the rash will heal.

I frequented my local CVS drugstore, spent about 30 minutes reading labels of various poison ivy itch relief miracle creams and finally settled on Ivarest, a cream put out by Blistex. While the smell of the lotion is questionable, it does relieve itch immediately, and helped me to stop scratching. My rash healed completely (once I started using the Ivarest cream) within 3 days. My advice to you - be sure to be able to identify poison ivy, oak, and sumac, so that you can avoid those patches of rash-inducing plants, or so that you know in the future to don a pair of pants and a long-sleeved shirt just to be on the safe side. Visit the website listed above to see pictures of poison ivy, learn about ways to recognize it, and ways to prevent breaking out in a rash. Also if you look in your local drugstore, some of them may sell soaps or ointments that you can apply before going on a hike to prevent getting a rash altogether, regardless of whether you come in contact with urushiol oils or not.