The Bike Hermit has Posion Ivy

[Sky King]

Ugh, The Bike Hermit calls me mid bike tour (I stayed home to run the shop) He says "what looks like a insect bite but isn't a bite and it spreads" - Hello!!! I said sounds like poison ivy or poison oak. He got home last night and sure enough... So we had him wash with dish soap and he has been putting alcohol on it. Well about 10pm last night my leg starts to itch and I look at it, Crap! 3 itching bumps.
I realized I carried his sleeping bag for him when he was unloading his bike and it must have the oil on the stuff sack. So today, everything gets washed.

I am thinking I will spray his panniers with diluted vinegar or perhaps diluted alcohol - they are canvas. Any other ideas?

Just typing this makes me itch :)

[OakLeaf]

Murphy's Oil Soap on a damp cloth, then "rinse" with a clean damp cloth? You want to take the oil off, so just spraying won't do anything I don't think.

Good luck ...

[ny biker]

The last time I got poison ivy from mountain biking, I think read that Simple Green was good for cleaning the oil off stuff.

My sympathies to you both. I've had some epic cases of poison ivy over the years (though my sister holds the family record, after hiding in it while playing hide and seek). I generally put calamine lotion on it, and sometimes use compresses of burow's solution:

http://www.walgreens.com/store/c/domeboro-astringent-solution-powder-packets/ID=prod5012-product

For really bad cases, I think I've gotten cortisone shots.

[Irulan]

DH had an epic case when he had a brush cutting business during college. Let's just say it was ***everywhere** and "no, you are NOT going to touch me".

[marni]

cold tea compresses also help on more sensitive areas where you don't want to put calamine or benedryl.

[Owlie]

Wear disposable gloves, and wash the things down with either Simple Green or some kind of strong soap/detergent.

[OakLeaf]

I'm assuming the canvas is either coated or waxed and that's why the caution about what to use on them?

I'll never forget the PI I had on my wrists when I did Women's Quest. The week before I'd been clearing brush that included both PI and multiflora rose. My glove gauntlets were a little too short and the only thing I can figure is that I must've got PI inside the rose scratches, so it was under the skin. By the end of it I had four layers of blisters under blisters under blisters under blisters, the lot of it oozing like some disgusting science fictional creature. Thank goodness it was only a few square inches on each wrist, because the itching nearly drove me out of my mind as it was. Not much sleep for a couple of weeks!

[Owlie]

I'm assuming the canvas is either coated or waxed and that's why the caution about what to use on them?

I'll never forget the PI I had on my wrists when I did Women's Quest. The week before I'd been clearing brush that included both PI and multiflora rose. My glove gauntlets were a little too short and the only thing I can figure is that I must've got PI inside the rose scratches, so it was under the skin. By the end of it I had four layers of blisters under blisters under blisters under blisters, the lot of it oozing like some disgusting science fictional creature. Thank goodness it was only a few square inches on each wrist, because the itching nearly drove me out of my mind as it was. Not much sleep for a couple of weeks!


Ugh!

[Sky King]

I'm assuming the canvas is either coated or waxed and that's why the caution about what to use on them?

I'll never forget the PI I had on my wrists when I did Women's Quest. The week before I'd been clearing brush that included both PI and multiflora rose. My glove gauntlets were a little too short and the only thing I can figure is that I must've got PI inside the rose scratches, so it was under the skin. By the end of it I had four layers of blisters under blisters under blisters under blisters, the lot of it oozing like some disgusting science fictional creature. Thank goodness it was only a few square inches on each wrist, because the itching nearly drove me out of my mind as it was. Not much sleep for a couple of weeks!

Yikes! I am lucky to just have 3 spots on my leg from carrying the sleeping bag. He took a poison ivy spray we got at our food coop - a mixture with vinegar and bunch of other stuff and then lightly sprayed them and wiped them down. They are Gilles Berthoud panniers constructed out of heavy duck cloth (I guess that is how I would describe it) He washed all the compression bags in dishwashing soap -
the tough thing is we really won't know if we were successful until we head out again -I will pack the posion ivy supplies when we do