Photographic Proof

I'm still in my poison ivy induced misery. I toss and turn at night, fighting urges to scratch and spend the day trying not to touch anyone and making frequent baking soda and vinegar pastes to help soothe the itch. In my research, I found that most poison ivy rashes last around 2 weeks. 2 weeks?!? I think I'm on day 3 or 4...


These photos were taken yesterday and it's spread a little more today. My face, although worse, doesn't seem to itch much. I also have spots on both eye lids, and I am very very careful not to itch those at all.

This looks nothing like it looks now. It's about four times as bad as it looks here. The rash has spread down to my fingers and up my arm. Hundreds of tiny little blisters all over my arm up to my arm pits.

Yesterday, the rash was mostly on the left side on my chest and now has spread to all over my chest and starting to creep down my right arm. It goes up and around my neck, under my chin and stops just under my lip.

I've started wearing long sleeves and I keep my hair up tight, securing stray hairs with a headband. The hairs tickle and make me itch more, so up they go. I am also wearing latex gloves when I do things around the house, fearful of contaminating the dishes or the laundry-- it's that bad.

Picked cherries at the local orchard on Friday and then I wore gloves to pit them and freeze them. I don't dare touch the jars and canning equipment with my rash-covered fingers. I'll make my cherry-almond jam later. My cousin and a friend were supposed to come up and learn how to make and can mulberry jam. I've cancelled that and will pick berries and freeze enough for making jam later, when I am rash free.

If anyone knows any sure-fire tricks to speed up healing, please shoot them my way.

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