Poison Sumac

There's plenty of hazards when fishing. Slipping on rocks and twisting an ankle, getting a hook in your hand, getting shot at during deer hunting season or getting a nasty case of poison sumac. Every decade or so, I get some bout of poison ivy. The last time was in Salmon River, New York back in 2005. I'm surprised that I don't get it more often as I recklessly charge through the woods. Leaves of three, leave them be? Good luck spotting that in the dark. Now add posion sumac to the list.

blisters from poison sumac

Innocent looking, nothing to worry about right? Just a few blisters, it should go away eventually.

rash from poison sumac

Uh oh, this is getting worse. I had to go to the drugstore to stock up on calamine lotion, cotton balls, Benadryl and gauze wrapping. It started to itch like a mother.

rash from poison sumac

Holy shit, this is getting nasty. Now I'm googling for remedies and any ideas on how to stop it from spreading. Luckily I had some apple cider vinegar in the cupboard. My bedroom reeks of it. The vinegar does the trick in relieving the itching and drying out the blisters. As for the rash only time will heal it.

rash from poison sumac

You would think that I poured acid on my skin. This is just my forearm. I also had it on my chest as I didn't wash after fishing and napped when I got home. I probably tucked my forearm under my chest. I was lucky that it was a rash and not a festering mess of blisters. Then throw in my histamine attack and right side of my chest is blotchy red. My poor girlfriend won't touch me.

poison sumac bush

Here's my antagonist - Toxicodendron vernix. This rotten plant that gave me over two weeks of lousy sleep, endless applications of apple cider vinegar, nightly doses of Benadryl, and the nastiest blisters that I've ever had. Three week later my wrist is almost back to normal as there a small hint of red. My chest is getting better as the blotches are barely noticeable. Just this past weekend I was on Conneaut Creek and was shocked see that it grows all along it. For years I've walked right through it, thinking it was just sumac. While not everyone is allergic as I am, just be careful out there. 

6 comments:

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Anonymous said...

That was brutal. Thanks for the info.

Anonymous said...

Im dealing with something similar.. Ive never gotten anything like it before, its insanely itchy and spreads so easily.. Its an adventure for sure.. Thanks for the info, i havent tried the AC vinegar..

Anonymous said...

Fyi: I did use brush on nail glue in an attemp to prevent them from spreading, but after I carefully sqeezed the liquid out of the biggest culprits, with plenty of gauze and alcohol prep pads of course.. I keep bumping and hitting those exact spots due to having adhd, and a hands on physical job 6 days a week, 10 hr days.. So im constantly brushing up against things.. Also ive been wearing long sleeves, in 80° weather unfortunately.. Not sure how the nail glue will hold up, only covered a few single blisters to see what will happen.. Ill give an update soon.. 👍

Addie F said...

Thiss was great to read

Jude said...

This was great too read