At age fifty six, I got my first case of poison oak (not quite a month ago). I had smugly believed (as many of us do...or did) that I was immune. I went to a doctor because I truly had no clue as to what was wrong with me! I had assumed that I had been bitten by a batallion of fleas or by some exotic spider! I wouldn't have gone to a doctor at all except that my lower right leg started to swell up...and that alarmed me. I knew absolutely NOTHING about poison oak!
In the past few weeks I have educated myself on this subject and here are my tentative conclusions: individual reactions vary greatly, both to the poison plant AND to the steroids (usually Prednisone) routinely prescribed to treat the rash and inflammation. Lydia echoed my worries when she wrote, "Did taking the cortisone just delay what I have to go through?"
Naively, I had assumed that my doctor knew something...so I submitted to a steroid shot in her office and then I began taking oral Prednisone on her advice. For my case at least, the Prednisone was a thoroughly inappropriate medicine! I was uncomfortable with the poison oak but I was not SICK with it. The Prednisone made me sick AND confused about what was going on with my body. I am convinced that, for most of us, the Prednisone does, indeed, lengthen the period of recovery.
This morning, for the first time in more than three weeks, I awoke with a healthy feeling: not much itch, not much fatigue or that "chilly" feeling. I stopped the oral Prednisone after only three days. I never WAS able to take the whole 40 mg. prescribed for me. So, for the past two weeks, I have done precisely nothing for my rash and it has steadily (though too slowly, of course) gotten less severe. It is now virtually gone.
So, to answer your question about "how long": expect to feel uncomfortable for at least three weeks but expect to feel better before about six weeks. However, if you continue to take the steroids (in the absence of life-threatening inflammatory symptoms), then DO be open to the possibility that you have compromised your body's ability to fight off the poison from the plant.
I'm not a doctor. If I'm all wrong on this issue then I surely welcome a critical response from a health care professional.
Thank you.
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