I am just past my second week of contracting poison ivy or oak (can't tell which) - I took the Medrol pak for the six days as prescribed by my doctor. The best help to stop the awful itch is hot, hot, hot water directly applied to the affected area. If you can't run it under hot water, try soaking a wash cloth then applying it to the skin. Not so hot it can scald you. After doing this, I actually got relief for 8 hours. Forget the drying stuff like caladryl or calamine lotion. As that dries on your skin, it makes you itch again. But the hot water, at the moment will sting/itch for like 20 seconds - then it's aaaaaaaaaaaaah, relief! |