Re: Trip report 7-6

Wizard, I ended up having my poisen oak rashes for almost 2 to 3 weeks. It was interesting how it would break out in one spot for a few days then I would get a new breakout somewhere else a couple of days after that. The worst and longest lasting rash was on my groin area. I had tried different anti-itch sprays and lotions but they were not very effective. Thanks to your's and a few other peoples suggestion of using very hot water that was what worked best for me. I tried the jacuzzi at my gym but it did not seem hot enough. I then tried my own bath tub and that worked but I ended up getting my whole body so hot that I was sweating for a good 20 minutes after getting out of the tub. I finally settled on just standing in a hot scalding shower and blasting the affected areas for a few minutes. Luckily my gym's showers have super hot water so I was able to get my itch relief after finishing my workouts. After doing the hot water treatments I was itch free for half a day or better. It is amazing the euphoria that you feel using this treatment. After getting past the inital pain of the super hot water on your skin you feel a few brief urge to itch the area and then all of a sudden the itching feeling goes away and a kind of euphoria comes over you and you just feel so amazingly good.

I also looked up some home remedies and found that a lot of people had success with applying a mixture of chlorine and water (1 part cholorine to 2 or 3 parts water). This mixture is suppose to help dry up the oozing that comes out of the rashes. I did not start trying this treatment until the second week of my rashes, I would say that it did seem to help a little bit, better than the over the counter items I had been using. If I get these rashes again I am thinking of trying to also use a super hot washcloth on the affected areas in addition to the hot shower treatments. I am curious if the hot cloths would work because I could apply them during the day while I am at my job. I hope your rash will clear up quickly and not be too great a bother to you.