I had bad poison ivy as a teenager but was clear for the last 25 years until last summer while horseback riding I picked up a fairly mild case of poison ivy. However this spring I have had three re-occurences - March, May and July. Each getting worse than the last. I've been to the doctor twice now and they gave me cortisone type cremes that don't help. They say it's because my immunities are low that it comes out. I find ice packs relieve the itch and getting in my pool - anything cold. I appreciate the homeopathic suggestions (rosemary) because I hate using cortisone.
I understand prednisone is really bad - 1 in 100,000 suffer some hip malady that sounds pretty serious.
So glad to hear others suffer from the same thing - but it still seems awfully weird and I sympathize with you.
