GardenBanter.co.uk - View Single Post

05-06-2006, 09:40 PM posted to rec.gardens

wrote:
I went to another dermatologist today, and he took a look at the bites
on my body and said it is poison ivy/contact dermatitis.

My son developed something like that when he was a kid and was told by a
dermatologist that it was a terrible, inherited permanent disease that
would not go away. It took six months to heal up then came back.
Fortunately, an allergist took one look at it and diagnosed it as Poison
Oak and prescribed a surprisingly large dose of cortisone which cleared
it up.

He turned out to be able to catch poison oak just walking past a plant
and it would develop slowly over four or five days, spreading each day.
He did not need to touch the plant to get it! He could not go walking in
the woods at all. He got the rash a couple more times, but each time he
took a large dose of prednisone early which kept it from lasting more
than a few weeks, instead of months. Then he stopped getting it. Has
not had the allergy in years now that he is grown up.

Give the cortisone a chance.

--Jenny