| My family and I have just moved onto a new piece of property in Clayton, NC. Being 42 and never having had PI before I never totally educated myself in what PI looks like. I generally understood about the 3 leaves with the longer stemmed one in the middle but I had never, let me say this again, never, EVER, heard ANYTHING about these "hairy" vines that grow up trees. WIth that being said, I unwittingly added about a three foot section of one of these vines to a brush pile and I am very thankful none of my kids were around at the time. I woke up about three days later with a puffy red face and the start of itchy red patches on my torso. It soon left the my face but I am continuing to battle red, itchy patches on my arms, legs, and torso more than a week later. Calamine is doing the trick for me as far as halting the itch but my question is this: Since I don't have any bumps or oozing blisters (although the redness does start out as spots) can the urushiol be attacking me from the inside out since I probably inhaled some? I have been having very stuffy sinuses and a bit of a cough with some chest congestion. My wife was told by a pharmacist that I may need to break down and go get a shot from a doc. Any info? Sorry so wordy. Mark B. |
