How to tame that poison ivy itch

Now that summer is upon us those wonderfully relaxing leisure walks though the woods can turn into a nightmare. Well, for some of us they can. For those who are allergic to the sap of a poison ivy. oak, or sumac vine, it can be terrible. That walk we looked so forward to can culminate onto a itchy, rashy, miserable experience. Never fear, there are a few things you can do to help lessen that itch. Unfortunetly there is no cure for poison ivy or its friends but you can ease the symptoms. There is a selection of over-the-counter lotions, Aveeno, Benadryl, calamine lotion, and Zanfel, just to name a few, that will wash away the poisonous oil and soothe the itch with hydrocortisone or antihistamines. While these do work well, for those of you who are going natural you may want to try a home remedy. It appears that they are as effective as those over-the-counter lotions and can be made with items you currently have in your kitchen or find in the woods.

Whatever way you decide to go, don't let it ruin your summer. If you are sensitive to poison ivy, wear long pants and a long sleeve shirt to help proctect you from coming in contact with the plant. Or you could simple stay away from brushing up against plants. Don't let poison ivy spoil those nice, leisurely walks, you deserve them.

 Baking Soda

Ingredients:

3 tsp baking soda

1 tsp water

Directions:

Mix baking soda and water to make a thick paste.  Lightly apply paste to your poison ivy rash and let dry.  Rinse off with room temperature water.

Oatmeal

Ingredients:

1 pkg unflavored instant oatmeal

1/3 cup of water

Directions:

Follw package directions to make oatmeal.  Let oatmeal cool to room temperature.  Lightly apply oatmeal paste to your rash and let dry.  Rinse off with room temperature water.

Epsom Salts

Ingredients:

2 tbsp epsom salts

drops of water

Directions:

Add a drop or two of water to ebsom salts to form a paste.  Lightly appy to itchy area and let dry.  Rinse off with room temperature water.

You can also make a bath salt with epsom salts to ehlp rrelieve the symptoms of poison ivy.  The magnesium sulfate helps dry out the rash and reduce inflammation.

Ice Cubes

Directions:

Lightly rub ice cubes over your rash to cool area and relieve itchy burning feeling.  This will also help reduce inflammation.

Jewelweed

This vine can often been found growing near poison ivy.  How great is nature?  It has pretty trumpet shaped yellow or orange flowers.  It's leaves contain called "lawsone" which is said to relieve the skin irritations cause by poison ivy.  As soon as you have come in contact with the dreaded poison ivy simply crumble the leaves and rub on the area that has come in contact with the poison ivy leaves.

Other hebs and stuff

There are a number of other pants and hebs that are said to help lessen the misery brought about by poison ivy. 

• sassafras
• plantin
• impatients
• peppermint
• mullein
• lilac
• burdock

If you are a child of nature you are in luck.  For those of use who can't tell the difference between plants there is good news.  You can also use the dried leaves and herbs that may be in your cabinet or growing in your yard..