Poison Ivy - Honey
Connection?
Any Grad Students Interested?
FAQ: << Is there an organic way to deal with POISON IVY. (I feel itchy just talking about it.)>>
As a child I never caught poison ivy. I knew it bothered other people, but I could walk in it, or roll in it, with no effect at all.
As a young adult, working in orchards, I was continuously plagued by poison ivy rash. It was never seriously affected, but usually my wrists, forearms and between my fingers were itchy and sometimes blistered, enough to keep we awake sometimes at nights.
Now I am once again immune. I usually wear sandels, and often walk through poison ivy as I work.
What is the common thread? I had a flash of illumination when I discovered that spring honey, at least in eastern North America, is loaded with poison ivy pollen.
When I was a child, we had family members who kept bees, and we were always well provisioned with fresh raw honey. When I was a young adult, the beekeeper family members had both gone to a nursing home, and I thought honey was too expensive to use as a sweetener. Then I got into pollination, ie., I began keeping bees. So, once again, I had honey continuously on the table.
That was when the poison ivy reaction disappeared, and it has never returned. I think the effect is from the poison ivy pollen, just as an allergist injects a tiny amount of the allergen to help your body learn to deal with it correctly.
Why not try it? It's a pleasant experiment, safe, unless you are diabetic, and not costly at all, compared to other medical treatments.
But be sure that your honey does have the pollen. Supermarket honey is ultrafiltered to remove all pollen, then it is also cooked to prevent it from crystallizing on the shelf.
You need to get what is called "raw" honey (usually directly from a beekeeper). And raw honey cannot come thru supermarket channels because it will have to sit in a cold truck or warehouse at some point, and it will crystallize. In the supermarket trade, they play a devious game, where they have redefined "raw" honey as a darker grade. But it is just as filtered and cooked.
When you get the real thing, keep it on the table, not in the fridge. Use it as your primary sweetener. And see if the poison ivy reaction disappears, like it did for me. If you are a grad student looking for a research topic, here you are!
This didn't completely answer your question, I know. I don't know of any organic or inorganic means of getting rid of poison ivy. If you succeed, it is only temporary, because birds will quickly reseed it. If it's in an area where children play, I keep hitting it with Roundup (which is not organic, but is one of the milder pesticides as far as human effects), and it will be controlled for awhile.