Mary -- I just found an unusual solution for myself that I wanted to share somewhere on the web and it looks like your situation may be similar to mine.
I live in the woods and am surrounded by poison oak -- tried to clear some blackberries in July and ended up standing in the poison oak whacking away at the weeds. Naturally, I ended up with a reaction to the poison oak. I, too, went to my physician and was placed on prednizone because on my right arm, the reaction to the oak never seems to clear (have been through this before...). He put me on pills. As soon as the pills were gone, the poison oak reaction came back on the one arm. And so did some digestive issues... probably in reaction to the pregnizone since this may destroy the natural stuff we need in our digestive tracks - intestines- to process our food). So, I ate yogurt-- organic, unflavored, natural, with lots of live cultures including L.acidophilus, S. thermophilus, L. bulgaricus, L. casei, L. rhamnosus, B. bifidum (Nancy's Honey Yogurt made in Eugene, OR). Eventually, the reaction to poison oak cleared. And last week, the reaction came back -- maybe from one of my cats rubbing against a spot on my right wrist. And the skin rash started and spread up my arm and continued its slow spread despite the Tecnu, despite the anti-itch stuff....
What did I do? I got out the YOGURT and not only ate it but PUT IT ON the RASH ON MY ARM. It stung until it dried. (I smell like sour milk.) And then NO ITCH... I slept with it on the arm for the past two nights. ITCH FREE ALL NIGHT LONG. I wake in the morning. NO ITCH. I'm still applying the Yogurt once a day only. I think this is my third full day of yogurt. The bumps have turned hard. The redness has been reduced. The spreading appears to have stopped. And, no itch. This seems to be working for me. And I wanted to share it. (I also took some ADVIL and tell you this just-in-case, ADVIL has something to do with it but... the itch stops as soon as the YOGURT dries... And I have gotten plenty of sleep -- naps and itch free nights!)
Hope you are better soon!
Judy |
