i am an organic gardener, and i use leaves for everything, from compost to mulch to creating raised beds. leaves are a remarkable and wonderful natural resource, and i have huge and healthy plants because of them, but i have come to modify my life from one poison ivy rash to another...
i actually do not know if it is poison ivy, as i have never been able to clearly identify the leaves (mainly dried leaves ) that are poison ivy or any other poison plant, for that matter. i live in florida, and i had a mango tree, to which i am severely allergic to, the leaves of which are in the family of poison ivy. the tree fell down in one of our more severe hurricanes (Wilma) but there are still many leaves throughout my yard. i also have been told that there is lots poison ivy in my yard, but i have yet to be able to identify it, particularly when i am using dried mulched leaves for my plants...
a remarkable thing happened to me this morning...i am suffering from my latest bout of poison ivy, and swathing myself with calomine lotion and washing in hot water has not relieved any itching. i have actually drawn blood on my neck due to scratching (this is fairly normal for me...i usually mutilate myself due to severe scratching)and i have a cluster of blisters starting to form near my eye. things were getting really bad...i didn't sleep one whole nite this week and an anti-histamine (Benadryl)helped only a bit...
i was brushing my teeth this morning with an unusually large amount of toothpaste (i now see it as Divine Intervention)...and some of that toothpaste dripped down my neck...i have the rash on my neck, and particularly under my chin, where this toothpaste went. immediately i felt relief, something i hadn't felt for almost two weeks, with the intensity of my rash growing every day...
i immediately made a soapy paste with more toothpaste and started putting it on the rest of my neck, my wrists, near my eye, between my fingers, on my arms, my upper back, and it relieved all the itch immediately...
i feel as if G-d definitely answered my prayers...for relief from this horrible pain and itch...with this episode of accidentally discovering toothpaste!
years of suffering are gone...you don't know...i have been suffering for years...my ownly respite was to live in calamine lotion - which was not too effective - and i have even resorted to putting plain yogurt all over the rash...which works, but barely...
i just wanted to share this because i definitely anticipate getting poison ivy again in the future - even though i wear gloves and long clothing, heavy socks and shoes, and take all the necessary precautions...i love organic gardening and i use dried leaves as my primary source of mulch and compost...and to have found a relief for this is clearly a miracle...
thanks for letting me share...hope this can help anyone else who suffers...
p.s. i made a soapy lather from toothpaste and water for most of the rash...but on the really bad oozing or bleeding parts i applied the toothpaste just as is...right out of the tube..both the lather and the straight toothpaste worked like magic...thanks again...
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