Arrghh! Poison Oak

[corinne]

I recently moved to central california and just had my first encounter with poison oak. I was at a friend's house on Friday night and petted her cat. From what I can figure out, the cat had been through a patch of poison oak. I must have touched my face and gotten the oil on it. When I washed my face that night, I must have spread the oil over my face. I woke up with a burning face on Sat. morning. My entire face was bright red, my right eye was swollen shut and blisters were starting to come up. I went to the walk in clinic before both eyes swelled shut and they gave me a shot of steroids. Today things have calmed down but I'm sure my students will have a few comments tomorrow about my lovely complexion. I even have blisters on my right eyelid. No more cats or leaves of three for a while.

[Ursa Major]

Yuck, that doesn't sound nice. I'm glad the steroid shot helped some. Hope it will clear up quickly!

[Guest Robbin]

Wow, do I know your pain, I had the most horrible case of poison ivy this year, and someone on here recommended a scrub to remove the poison--I bought a similar product, cortaid with the scrub and lotion, and it worked a miracle. I wouldn't use it near the eyes, but on the face it would be ok.

Also, you will make your students' day, they will have a blast laughing at teacher, lol, now didn't we do that too?!!

Take care and I hope this heals quickly for you.

[CarlaB]

When I get poison ivy, it's usually just a little rash, but when I get poison oak, I get it ALL OVER!!! I don't know exactly what happens, but it ends up all over my body every time! I take Benadryl, but if you have steroids, that's probably better. We lived on 19 acres and had so much poison oak, I wouldn't get of the driveway .... it was sad ... well, from the house to the pond was safe. I even got it one year in January when I went out to get some kindling for a fire, I thought for sure I would be safe in the middle of winter!!