Poison oak - again?

[Lynda Kamrath]

Discussion at my house this morning - Is it genetic or environmental?  I say environmental and my husband says there is a genetic component.  But Harpo and I have it again.  I am very allergic and have it now in my eyes and Harpo has it all over.

[F, Calla & Luca]

I say it's both. I am sorry to hear about you and Harpo. The poison oak is of course environmental but the reaction is individual. Anyone can be allergic but some people are much more reactive than others and that is the genetic piece. Sadly, the more often you are exposed the more reactive you become so avoiding it is imperative even though it may be very difficult to do so.

[Lynda Kamrath]

Tuesday we were out at Ft. Ord and I had tried to select some trails without the poison oak because we have a visitor coming next week and she loves to go on walks but has a skin condition that I do not want to aggravate with the possibility of poison oak.  I had gone out of Sunday and saw some great patches of California poppies and went back on Tuesday to gather seed pods.  While we were walking back to the car, the dogs saw some turkeys and took off after them running through the poison oak  under the oak trees.  I knew they had been in the poison oak, so my husband brushed them and blew them off with the air compressor.  Maybe they should have had total baths, but we hate to bathe them so much.  Sooo, I touch something and then touch my face and I have it again.  Harpo has it on his stomach and legs and feet.  I can put the technu on his stomach, but hairy areas as not so easily accessible.  Now, the question is:  Environmental?  Of course they ran through the poison oak, but why does Harpo always get poison oak and Groucho Too has never had it?  In our experience, both our labradoodles would get poison oak, but the goldendoodle has never had it.  My husband says it is something in their genes.  So, anybody else with this kind of experience?

[F, Calla & Luca]

The only way to remove urushiol is to thoroughly wash it off and this should be done ASAP. I guess to prevent this you can not leave your dogs off leash in areas like this. Some people and I suppose dogs too are not as sensitive but all can get sensitized. One of my sons is very sensitive and the other less so. I patrol my yard often and remove PI before it has a chance to flourish. This is an ongoing thing since the birds plant it, by eating berries in the fall.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urushiol-induced_contact_dermatitis

[Lynda Kamrath]

I didn't know about the birds planting it in the fall, but it grows all over the place here under the oaks which are plentiful.  I know that I need to keep the boys on leash in areas that have poison oak but that is so hard to do. They love to run around on the beautiful trails in our oak forests.  Guess that is why Harpo seems to have poison oak all the time (and me too).

[BG and Gavin]

Aww Lynda that sucks! I am sorry for you both.

[Lonnie & Libby Lu]

I am so sorry Lynda and not what you want when visitors are coming!  I have never had any experience with Poison Oak so can't help with the questions!  Hoping for a speedy recovery for both of you!

[Bonnie and Kona]

Sandy! That sounds like a nightmare! 

[Bonnie and Kona]

I don't care how old you were! It's still nightmare fodder to have it internally. I was 22 when I got it the first time and had it all over my entire body. My face was so swollen with the rash that my friend didn't recognize me when I went to her door for help. My DH and I had no idea what it was! 

[Lynda Kamrath]

I got it one time from the smoke from a fire where a hillside with poison oak burned a few miles from our house.  That was the third time I had it internally.  The first time was from sweating.  I had had a case of poison oak and went skiing in the warm spring weather.  Apparently it went in through my sweat glands and it was like a terrible case of the flu.  I was vomiting all the way home in the car.  The next day went to the doctor and he asked if I had had poison oak.  I told him yes and he said that now I had it internally.  The second time was not from poison oak but from cashew nuts.  We were roasting cashew nuts on the ground and I got the same thing as poison oak internally.  I actually made medical journals in Brazil on that one.  Not fun, but there are many ways to get it.

[F, Calla & Luca]

I do not believe you can get internal poison oak or ivy through your sweat glands. I have never read this and it does not make medical sense. Inhaling smoke from burning the plants or ingesting the plants can result in serious, even fatal, illness.

[Lynda Kamrath]

Yeah, I found it pretty hard to believe also, but I was definitely sick and the doctor told me it was from sweating.  I was pretty much over the case of poison oak, but then went skiing on a warm day in my shirtsleeves, and became very ill on the way home that night.  I had not drunk a thing.  Well, that was the doctor's story anyway, and I tend to believe it.  I have never heard of that either.

[F, Calla & Luca]

Well, I hate to challenge another doctor but I would love to see something scientific to back it up. Until then I think you were suffering from something unrelated.