• July 2, 2017 - Day 1 - In April, I learned that I am severely allergic to Maple tree pollen. Okay, so I had a bad week back then. In the past week, though, I learned that I am not very allergic to poison ivy (Well, I thought!). I did learn that even if you were not allergic to the oil in the past, you shouldn't go rolling down a hillside loaded with poison ivy. Things do change in life.
  
  I went as far as to cut a branch off a big vine and get the urushiol sap and smear it on my arm (suntanned side). No reaction at all after hours.  This is good information to have, if you decide to try to find a wash or cure. While learning about the stuff, I found the poisonous part is the urushiol oil that is in the sap of the plant. It causes a urushiol induced contact dermatitis, for most people. I also learned that this is the same oil that the poison sumac and poison oak have.
   
  Here's the interesting part. A mango tree is in the same family, but the only people to have a reaction to mango fruits are those that have very severe allergies. I understand that the reaction is still pretty mild, though. You might as well look up cashew, too.
  
  Would anyone like to be my Guinea Pig, while I find a wash or a cure that works?

The poison ivy that I chose as my specimen. Each set of three leaves is roughly four inches in width and length, just to give you a size idea. I didn't have a dollar bill to pin to the tree for comparison.

Three leaflets that were rubbed vigorously on my left arm.

The pinkish/white sap, which turned to a dark brown, due to oxygenation, is at the end of the stem.

The brown sap.

My arm, where I rubbed in the leaves. The red circle is where I smeared the actual sap onto my skin. This photo was taken a few hours after exposure.

• July 2, 2017 - Day 1 - I found a mature poison ivy plant growing at a friend's house. At 4:05 pm, I grabbed a branch and when the sap began to flow, rubbed it on a more sensitive area of my forearm.
   
  At 4:10, there is a very slight redness in the area, but no irritation. The redness could be from me rubbing the plant material on myself too hard.
   
• July 3, 2017 - Day 2 - Where I placed the urushiol oil on the sensitive area of the forearm proved to be a little more susceptible to the urushiol. I have no itching or irritation, as of yet.
  

The photo above shows 3 small red irritation marks where I rubbed the sap onto my arm. If this heals, this will be the end of my little poison ivy cure mission, unless I can find a person willing to suffer on my behalf.

If the irritation gets worse, this blog will continue.

• July 5, 2017 - Day 4 - Two days ago there was a slight blister in the area. The next day, it was gone. Today there is a very small scab (1 mm), but no itching or pain. I may have caused the scab, possibly while scratching the area while sleeping. I guess I'll never know.
   
  The other areas of the arms that I rubbed the leaves and branches on show no sign of any irritation.
   
• July 6, 2017 - Day 5 - Last night there was a slight itching in the area. I lightly rubbed some hydrocortisone on it and the discomfort went away. Today there are some small bumps (blisters?) but no irritation. I'd show a photo, but the difference is hard to see.
   
• July 7, 2017 - Day 6 - The area appears more red today and feels like a bump if you run a finger over it. No itching or pain, though. My guess is that I am a bit sensitive to the urushiol. I may not have rubbed enough of the oil on my arms when I first began testing.
  
  I may have to do another test of the sap on my forearm, but not on the underside that is more sensitive.

• July 8, 2017 - Day 7 - The bump is a bit higher and more red, but still no irritation or itching. See below.

• July 9, 2017 - Day 8 - No change from yesterday than it seems to have reached its peak and hopefully will start healing.. There was some itchiness last night that I took care of with hydrocortisone.
  
  I think that I either didn't get enough oil on me or that I only have a minor reaction.  The top of my forearm was rubbed with leaves, but it seems that if the leaf is not broken or leaking the invisible urushiol oil, the chance of me getting infected is minimal.
  
  The top of my forearm was washed with "Goop" brand mechanics' soap without water. It was rubbed off using fresh paper towels.
    

• July 11, 2017 - Day 10 - The redness is about the same and it's still slightly swollen and hard. During the night, I woke up scratching the area. I put some hydrocortisone on it to relieve the itching, but that wasn't until 3:00 pm. I do have some minor itching in the area, but I am using the little discipline I have left to fight the scratching.
  
  I've got to say one thing for this stuff; as little that it has affected me, this crap is horrible and I wouldn't wish it on anyone. Urushiol is one helluva nasty oil.

• July 13, 2017 - Day 12 - A case of the hives around the area of my arm where I put the urushiol has swollen somewhat due the body's histamine effect. Although the hives are causing an itchy feeling, I will not scratch it for fear of causing more of a reaction. At least my body is working correctly.
  
  I think that I will stop my testing of this stuff, as I found it to be quite nasty. My advice is to learn what poison ivy and sumac look like. If you live in the west, I would also learn to identify poison oak. These three plants contain urushiol, the poison oil that most of us are allergic to.
  
  Like I stated earlier, the mango and the cashew plant also contains some urushiol, so they are related to poison ivy.

• July 15, 2017 - Day 14 - The swelling has receded and it is red where I placed the urushiol. The skin still feels  tougher in the area around the test zone. The toughness is about the size of a half dollar.

• July 16, 2017 - Day 15 - There has been more frequent bouts of itchiness, but I have not scratched at all. I got some advice on slapping the itchy area with my open hand and that seems to help quite a bit. I guess it's like stomping on a guy's foot because he has a headache (You get his mind off the headache)!
  
  Anyway, the image below shows what it looks like on me after playing this game. The description is as follows:
  
  Just below 3 is the area I placed about a drop of the urushiol oil (poison ivy sap) directly on the skin. I washed it off about an hour later using "Goop" brand mechanic soap, without water. I then used clean paper towels to friction off the Goop.
  
  I now believe that because the urushiol is invisible, I may not have removed enough of the oil in the initial washing.
  
  While asleep, I apparently folded my arm and area 3, which still had some oil, pressed against area 1, spreading it.
  
  Area 2 and 4 may have been spread by me because being always cold, I wear a hoody in air conditioned areas. The long sleeves may have help spread it more.
  
  I originally placed some oil on the top side of my arm (above 3). The skin seems a little tougher there and there is not much of a reaction. There is a hardness there. I have read that tougher areas of skin may sometimes delay the reaction. I hope that's not the case here.

• July 18, 2017 - Day 17 - The redness is about the same as yesterday (above photo). On the top of my forearm, above point 3 seems to be a bit swollen and itchy today.  Overall, it seems to have peaked and is now healing.

• July 19, 2017 - Day 18 - The areas are still red, but the swelling and itching are nearly finished. Relief!

• July 22, 2017 - Day 21 - I am including this, since it is part of the healing process. I have no irritating skins symptoms anymore, but I do get an occasional bout of the area itching. This is probably due to dryness of the skin. The sensitive area  feels leathery or rough. I am sure that it will heal back to normal soon. Urushiol oil certainly can cause some human skin damage.

• July 23, 2017 - Day 22 -  The arm is healing quickly now and the skin is getting softer. The redness has diminished.
  
  In the photo below, I will explain the numbering system:
  
  Area 1 - The area on the top side (sun tanned side) of the forearm is where I originally placed some oil. I had a very light reaction there. I placed some more oil on the whiter, more sensitive area below the number 1. I had a rash there with irritation, but it didn't start until day 2.
  
  Areas 2, 3 & 4 - I thought I had thoroughly cleaned the oil off, but apparently while sleeping, I spread the oil from area 1 to areas 2 through 4.
  
  It seems I had small areas of rash on the torso in areas 5 and 6. I must have rubbed against that with the arm, while sleeping.

•  July 25, 2017 - Day 24 - It appears that it is pretty my healed, but there is still some visible sign of it, similar to the 7th image down from the top of this page. 

• July 28, 2017 - Day 27 - The skin where the oil was still seems to be affected. It appears to be a little more red than the skin surrounding the area where the oil was, and not as smooth. I am using a homemade moisturizer on it, which seems to help it a little.
  
  I want it to completely heal before I start phase two, but I found that the skin discoloration could take months to disappear. I don't have that much patience. It looks like I'll have to adjust my thoughts on this.
  
  My goal is to come up with a natural salve of some type that will hopefully relieve most, if not all symptoms of contact dermatitis, due to urushiol oil.

• August 4, 2017 - Day 34 - I'm only here to say that I still have a visible discoloration of the areas affected. The skin also feels a little rough.

• August 29, 2017 - Day 59 (?) Last night, I could barely see the discoloring of the skin in the sensitive area where I had the oil on my arm. Today, it is safe to say, that it completely healed. Not the second test, but the first one. It took two months for all evidence to disappear.
  
  Thanks for visiting. I hope you learned something. I know I did. That is never to mess with poison ivy. I have no experience with either, but I think it's safe to assume that Poison Oak and Poison Sumac are just as nasty. --Jim

• CONCLUSIONS:  This stuff is nasty, nasty, NASTY!!! And it still is as of August 29, 2017!
  
  I have to infect myself again, unless I can find a willing Guinnea Pig. Hello? Would anyone like to help with the project?

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