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nutmegger1973

Extreme poison ivy sensitivity - help!

10 years ago

My poison ivy sensitivity is totally out of control and I haven't found anyone with my level of sensitivity to it. My family hunks I'm just making it up at this point...I can't be the ONLY person who feels immediate reactions? soon after reacting to poison ivy for the first time at age 30, I became hypersensitive, I jokingly refer to it as "quantum level sensitivity" but there may be truth in that. There is no delay in the itch starting after exposure to mere fractals of the stuff - for instance if someone may have had some on their shoes and walk through my home. I am now 43 and I have spent June, July and all of August to date itching because my husband stepped in some PI while playing gold in early June. I have cleaned every floor, every piece of clothing, all the shoes, but any time I am in my house I begin itching after walking on the floor barefoot, or touching an object that has become a "carrier" even though it's been cleaned with soap and alcohol numerous times. The itching can spread - if I touch that area and then touch another part of my body so all summer I have been wearing thick cotton pants and shirts day in and day out. Linens get rewashed every other day and hubbie and I have a routine for getting into bed involving multiple changes of clean socks to avoid contaminating the sheets. At first I got spots of red poison ivy on various parts of my body - including a place the sun doesn't shine. Think about it - hubbie picks up golf balls that rolled through PI, then he goes to the men's room, and contaminates his private parts. Guess where I got PI as a result? So the spots are now under control with only an occasional one cropping up, but the itch is non-stop and only calms down when I leave the house to go to work. I come back and it starts up again! The itch CAN BE WASHED OFF but the only thing that works well is Zanfel and I have spent a fortune on the pricey tubes this summer. I have also tried dawn (smelly), technu (ineffective), mean green hand scrub (mildly effective) and scrubbing with ecos dish soap using a scrub brush (only works for less sensitive body parts). The most sensitive body parts are my finger tips, the soles of my feet, my inner thighs and my stomach. These areas "flare up" so quickly! The sensation is like little prickles or a gnat nawing at you. I've gone up to 12 hours suffering the itching without showering and not getting any red spots but the soapy Zanfel shower is the ONLY way to end the itch! And I have been on 2 mini-holidays this summer during which I didn't itch, so this crazy experience is definitely limited to my house! At this point I have to assume the urushiol oil has simply spread everywhere and I need to undertake an even deeper surface cleaning of just about everything. Please provide your suggestions for cleaning the wood floors and wood furniture, digital devices like smartphones and objects like TV remote controls. I also have leather sofas and some cloth covered furniture that may be a total loss. And if you have ever been plagued by this itch - is here a soul out there who also has quantum level allergy to urushiol? It is so lonely to go through this solo.


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