http://www.care2.com/greenliving/green-girls-natural-cure-for-poison-ivy.html
Green Girl’s Natural Cure for Poison Ivy
So, it’s been three weeks since I started working in the garden. For the record, weeding and planting are harder than they may look. I hurt. However, I have come to find that weeding is actually a very therapeutic task. I know, I know. Sounds crazy, right? But, in fact, if you are able to sit yourself down in front of a large number of weeds (it’s not quite as enjoyable if you are standing and not sitting), it can be very relaxing to pull them out. Plus, it’s incredibly satisfying when you get all of the roots.
However, what is not so satisfying is unknowingly digging into a pile of weeds and pulling up a massive vine of poison ivy. I know what you’re thinking: “That’s stupid. Poison ivy is easy to distinguish from other plants.” Well, you are right, in fact, it is. I do, believe it or not, know exactly what it looks like. But sometimes it hides!
Well, point of the story is, I have a large amount of poison ivy on my arm. Not so pleasing. The day after I noticed it, I showed it to one of my co-workers (who thinks that poison ivy is the devil in disguise). Her response was, “I think there’s some jewelweed over in those woods, you should put some on it.”
Jewelweed??? I had no idea what that was. At all. In my life, calamine lotion had always been the solution to poison ivy. I mean, mother had never been pleased with it (lots of dyes covering my skin? Not her idea (nor mine) of a good product), but what else was there to use? No one wants poison ivy spreading all over their body. And I’m bad with itchiness. I don’t like it.
Well, apparently, both my mom and I have been totally clueless as to the simplest, most natural way to take care of poison ivy. Go figure. The juice from jewelweed has been used as a cure for poison ivy and poison oak, as well as rashes, cuts, and bruises, as far back as the Native Americans. It is found all over the northeast, and in southern California. To find out how to identify it, or to order some, check here.
I can attest: I found some in the woods at work, put it on my poison ivy-full arm, and almost immediately it stopped itching. Now it’s practically gone, and none of it spread. Sounds like a good alternative to me.
Note to self: Say goodbye to that gross pink stuff. Hellloooooo, Jewelweed.
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17 comments
add your comment »Thank you for the suggestion. I have been in agony for the last week, and while searching for a cure online found your jewelweed link.
Leaves of 3 let it be ..if I could only teach the dog to count
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Though I'm not allergic to poison ivy, some members of my family are incredibly allergic, requiring extreme measures. One of my natural medicine books suggests adding water to dried, crushed goldenseal leaves to make a paste to apply to the area. It's not very pretty, but it works quickly and wonderfully well when nothing else has. The dried goldenseal was very inexpensive at my local health food store, too.
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Here are a few remedies for poison ivy (from the remedies section of my website http://www.tbyil.com/remedies.htm):
* Stop the itch of a poison ivy rash and prevent it from spreading with the following homemade paste: Mix one tablespoon of salt and 1/8 teaspoon of peppermint essential oil (Mentha piperita) with 1 to 2 cups green clay, and add enough water to form a paste. Apply the paste liberally to the rash and leave it on for 20 to 30 minutes. Store leftover paste in a tightly sealed jar and reapply as needed. The remedy soothes the itch by absorbing the irritating plant oils and drying the rash. It also works for poison oak.
* Watermelon. Take watermelon (the rind and the meat) and glide it over the rash. Let it dry naturally. Within a day, the condition should improve greatly.
* Poke salad root. Boil the root of a poke salad plant until it turns into a paste form. It will have a strong odor. Then, once it has cooled enough not to scald, rub it on the infected area until you can feel it "burn or sting". It should neutralize the poison ivy overnight.
* Burdock roots. Make a strong tea with burdock roots and apply to the skin. Let it dry and re-apply as often as needed. It relieves the itching immediately.
* Peachtree leaves. Get some leaves from a peach tree, boil them and then let the water cool. Take a cotton ball and apply the liquid to the affected areas. Works almost overnight and should be almost completely clear within two-three days.
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p.s. that link also directs you to an image of jewelweed, for those of you who were asking for a picture :)
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Susan, thank you for adding your extra info. Just for the record, though, at least in the northeast, Jewelweed and poison ivy do grow in the same area. One of the women I work with read your comment and was quite distressed (she's big on gardening) because her entire yard is full of both jewelweed and poison ivy. She brought in pictures to prove that they can, in fact, grow right next to each other. I'm not saying that this is the case everywhere, but it is certainly the case here.
Also, if you don't have jewelweed growing anywhere, just order some of the salve from the link in the article!
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Some things need to be said about this. "Healing" one area of poison ivy doesn't stop the possibility of it popping up somewhere else weeks later, as poison ivy is not spread by the fluid from scratched blisters, but rather a delayed reaction to the poison. There is a myth that jewelweed grows near poison ivy, and this is not true, as jewelweed prefers moist, dark conditions (banks of streams, marshes) and poison ivy does not. Also, jewelweed is not yet in bloom in most parts of the country, so depending upon where you live, looking for some in the wild could be futile. In several controlled studies, jewelweed showed no anti-itch properties, suggesting that 'cures' were minimal exposure, naturally body-induced, or by the inflicted's belief jewelweed would work.
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what is jewel weed? do u have a link maybe to a pic of it my email is biscuits983@yahoo.com
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Although I have not had to test this remedy personally, I have been told that slathering thickly and carefully (so as not to spread the poison ivy) with a clay mask. letting it dry hard and carefully picking it off the skin also works. The clay absorbs the urushiol-containing oil. Be careful when disposing of the dried clay.
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jewelweed is an old old rememdy you have to boil it down though before using. I used to use iut when I was a kid as calamine, caladryl etc didn't work worth anything at least not with me. Another great rememdy is brown laundry soap in bar form or even chlorine bleach although both the soap and the bleach will burn like crazy for a little while they will dry it up.
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A tea tree oil solution (5-10% in alcohol) in a spray bottle is kept with us for all trips. It cools the skin and numbs the itchiness caused by poison oak & ivy, bug bites, allergic reactions, etc. It has saved me innumeral times. I don't know where to find jewelweed in Brooklyn, but will try that too if I can find it!
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