Poison Ivy

MY SON HAS poison ivy, and I am as helpless to cure him as if he had smallpox.His face is streaked with tiny blisters, and his eyes are red and swollen. Each morning, another angry slash of poison-ivy bubbles shows up somewhere else on his body, like wild strawberries in the spring. The poor child looks as though he's been hacking through the deadly thorn hedges around Sleeping Beauty's castle.I took him to the doctor, where I paid good money to learn that nothing can be done. Only time heals poison ivy, and it gets worse before that happens.

I was surrounded by frightening, costumed folks Sunday: New York Yankees fans in town to watch the first-place battle with the Baltimore Orioles. There were even more unusual characters in town for Baltimore Comic-Con. Here's a photo gallery with a sampling , from Captain America to Poison Ivy.

When researching my master's thesis for the preservation of a historic road, I hiked the old road with a local man. We walked through a field of shoulder-high plants for about 50 yards when he turned to me and said, "I hope you're not allergic to poison ivy, because this is a field of it." When I noticed a small spot on one hand starting to itch, the man pulled a weed along a hedgerow where he said it usually grows. He crushed the weed to produce a small amount of liquid and rubbed it on the spot.

This is one of those products Gear Girl wishes she did not have to test. But although she is very careful outdoors, she sometimes misses the warning signs ("Leaves of three ... "). The lack of vigilance leads to little red bumps, a rash and the insatiable desire to scratch 24/7 - the calling card of poison ivy. The American Academy of Dermatology estimates that 85 percent of us will develop an allergic reaction if we touch poison ivy, oak or sumac, so finding relief ranks high on the adventure must-have list.

Q. There is a huge, hairy vine growing up a maple tree in my back yard. I've been told it's poison ivy and I need to know how to safely get rid of it. Will all the poison ivy plants in my small wooded lot grow up to be big, hairy vines? A. Poison ivy is classified as a vine. Each plant has the potential to grow into a monster vine if growth is not interrupted and a tree for climbing is available. Approach this job with caution. The irritating oil is present year-round. Wear a cheap pair of thick work gloves you can afford to throw away.

Q. I'm sensitive to poison ivy and have had it almost every summer since childhood. At the end of this summer I had a bad case that itched at night (as always). I tried everything I had on hand: cortisone cream, Ivy Itch, alcohol. Finally I grabbed the Vicks VapoRub out of desperation and dabbed it on. It eased my itching immediately. I applied some every night until the poison ivy had cleared up. I've shared this information with my family, and I'd like to share it with your readers, too. A. Camphor, one of the main ingredients in Vicks VapoRub, is found in over-the-counter remedies for poison ivy. Others have shared their success using Vicks for the itch of mosquito bites, but this is the first time we have heard of using it for poison ivy. Q. I have had bad luck with prescription antidepressants.

My mother-in-law is incredibly sensitive to poison ivy. A walk in the woods is guaranteed to end in disaster. Is there anything she can use that would either prevent an outbreak or speed recovery? The itchy, red blisters drive her crazy. If she can't avoid poison ivy, the next best thing is to use a barrier cream before exposure. Products such as IvyBlock or Stoko Gard can keep the irritating poison ivy oil from penetrating the skin. After accidental contact, cleansing products such as Tecnu or Zanfel can help.

There's yet another downside to our warming climate: bigger and badder poison ivy. When researchers adjusted carbon dioxide levels to match those anticipated during the next 50 years, poison ivy in an experimental pine forest grew much faster and was far more toxic than the plant that annoys us today. In fact, the experimental plants grew twice as fast as normal poison ivy, and their leaves contained a more allergenic form of urushiol, the carbon-based compound that causes contact dermatitis, scientists said.

There are many ways of getting poison ivy, but one of the best is to get naked and to roll around in a patch of it, coating your entire body.I apparently did this a couple of weekends ago. I have no memory of it, but there is much I do on weekends I have no memory of.One of the best things about poison ivy, aside from the oozing, crusty pustules that keep people from crowding too near you on the bus, is all the stories you are told about it."You think you got it bad?" a guy next to me on the elevator said.

Ronnie Turner, 14, remembers the prank he pulled as a 10-year-old on his father, Michael. One night while camping at Susquehanna State Park near Havre de Grace, the Norfolk, Va., boy drifted off to sleep as his father wove a traditional spooky bedtime story. Just before dawn, Ronnie stuffed his sleeping bag, making it appear that he was still in it. He sneaked out of the tent and stretched fake spider web he had saved from Halloween across the tent's entrance. "I've watched a lot of camping movies and shows, and I know lots of good tricks, and I wanted to get my dad for scaring me," Ronnie said.

Perhaps a herd of goats will help Gibson Islanders solve a mystery that was created when an ancient tulip poplar that blew over six years ago during Tropical Storm Isabel revealed several handmade bricks in its extensively tangled root ball. Earlier this year, a Gibson Islander out for a stroll with his dog was greeted with a present of a handmade brick when his dog exited the thick underbrush. A quick glance and the passer-by realized that it wasn't a typical run-of-the-mill Home Depot brick; it turns out it harks back to the 18th century.

In yet another partnership between Maryland government and goats, Anne Arundel County Executive John R. Leopold said that the munching power of a herd of 40 goats will be employed to help clear invasive vines and plants from a half-acre site at Hancock's Resolution Park in Pasadena. Monday's announcement came two months after the State Highway Administration enlisted another group of goats on a similar mission in Carroll County to protect the habitat of the bog turtle. The goats, on loan at no cost to the county from Garden Farms in Davidsonville, are scheduled to graze on overgrown bittersweet, honeysuckle and poison ivy plants for two days later this summer.

Question: : I started taking lisinopril for high blood pressure in December. Soon after, I developed a nagging dry cough that wouldn't stop. I have thrown up because the coughing was so bad. I also have had blood tests and chest X-rays. They all came back negative. In desperation, I went to an ear, nose and throat specialist, who told me this kind of cough is common in people my age (50) due to postnasal drip. He knew I was on lisinopril but gave me an antihistamine and cough suppressant.

If ground ivy is permitted to climb a tree, will it eventually kill the tree? We believe you are referring to English ivy, not ground ivy, which is a lawn weed also known as Creeping Charlie and cannot climb trees. It is true that English ivy should not be allowed to grow up trees or shrubs; it envelops branches and blocks sunlight, causing branch dieback and potentially fatal weakening of the tree. The added weight also makes trees susceptible to blow-over during storms. To begin controlling English ivy, cut it off at the base any time of year.

When researching my master's thesis for the preservation of a historic road, I hiked the old road with a local man. We walked through a field of shoulder-high plants for about 50 yards when he turned to me and said, "I hope you're not allergic to poison ivy, because this is a field of it." When I noticed a small spot on one hand starting to itch, the man pulled a weed along a hedgerow where he said it usually grows. He crushed the weed to produce a small amount of liquid and rubbed it on the spot.

No one would ever mistake the median strip of Interstate 95 for the Grand Canyon's breathtaking Indian Springs campground. Maybe an ancient Indian burial ground, what with all the carcasses of animals sacrificed to four-wheeled machines that menace mere feet away. Yet there's something wild and slightly adventurous about pitching a tent under the stars and having dinner by the glow of thousands of headlights. Maryland - that is you and I - owns the land between the northbound and southbound lanes of the artery that connects Maine to Florida.

Most of us know the age-old saying "Shiny leaves of three, leave them be."Yet most of us know someone who has suffered from not heeding that saying. Fifty million Americans ooze and itch from an allergic reaction to poison ivy every year.Sharon Lukens, 41, of Jarrettsville says she knows what it looks like, takes precautions when gardening - and still gets a bad case at least four times each summer."I've had it on my face, in between my fingers, ankles and behind my knees," she says. "And once I think I've gotten rid of it, then it appears somewhere else."

Did you know?--Poison ivy contains an oil called urushiol that causes an itchy, red rash in most people. - American Academy of Family Practice Physicians

"Measles make you bumpy. And mumps'll make you lumpy. And chicken pox'll make you jump and twitch," the Coasters warned us eons ago. "But poison ivy, Lord'll make you itch." You can be on red alert all summer for poison ivy and its evil cousins, poison sumac and poison oak, but when your number's up, there's not much you can do. Cortaid is selling a scrub and wipes that remove urushiol, the oily substance that makes you bumpy and scratchy. The scrub comes in a kit ($30) that includes a spray to cover the affected area to allow healing.

Baltimore's school buildings are the oldest in Maryland, so whether there's a leaky roof or a broken boiler, officials are used to having things go wrong. But a school infested with chiggers? "I've never heard of chiggers in my life," said Alice Watson, a longtime school system official. "It's a first for me." The trouble began Friday afternoon at Violetville Elementary, when a teacher noticed on a classroom windowsill a slew of the mite-like bugs, known for bites so itchy they feel like a poison ivy rash.