[at-l] Re: Eating Poison Ivy

[egilroy@comcast.net (Ed Gilroy)]

  I have an pal who is an allergist and he said this is not only of dubious
value but could be highly dangerous. His opinion is that even if you did not
get a rash in your mouth or throat, the stomach acids would break down any
urisol oil inside these "young" leaves long before it was absorbed into your
digestive tract, rendering this approach basically pointless. True allergic
reactions increase in intensity with repeated exposure, not the opposite and
a Poison Ivy "rash" is an topical allergic reaction.

   I am personally highly allergic to sesame seeds and each exposure causes
an allergic reaction that is worse than the previous. This has developed
from a minor inconvenience in my younger years, (rash, scratching, numb
lips, etc.) to full anaphylactic shock on the last several occasions. I
would be very, very careful following any such "legend" in an attempt to
de-sensitize yourself to Poison Ivy. You can not really become "immune" to
Poison Ivy since it in not an immulogical condition such as a virus like
Rubella or Smallpox. In those conditions, anti-bodies are created as a
reaction to the pathogen itself or via an appropiate exposure via vaccine.

While it probably won't kill you, it could make for a crappy week all
around.

God, I hate pseudo-science!!!

=================================


----- Original Message -----
From: "William Neal" <nealb@midlandstech.com>
To: "'Jan Leitschuh'" <janl2@mindspring.com>; "AT-Mailing list (E-mail)"
<at-l@mailman.backcountry.net>
Sent: Friday, February 22, 2002 9:10 AM
Subject: Eating Poison IvyRE: [at-l] Poison Ivy eating


> My Grandmother (born around 1880) and others of her generation swore by
it.
> The way I've heard it is that you eat two tiny of the first new leaves
early
> in the Spring.  Then every third day you add a leaf.  By the time you hit
> the 7th course (21 days or three weeks), you should be immune.  I think
Mema
> tried that on me once.  She tried a lot on me.
>
> I've also heard that you can eat three tiny leaves a day for 3 weeks.
> Usually most advice of this kind recommends a course of treatment over 3
> weeks.  And they recommend tiny, new leaves.  Nothing large or left over
> from last season.  It seems based on homopathic or naturepathic (I'm not
> sure of the spellings) practices that believe taking a small amount of
> certain substances builds up your natural immunity to the substance.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Jan Leitschuh [mailto:janl2@mindspring.com]
> Sent: Thursday, February 21, 2002 3:45 PM
> To: DTimm65344@aol.com; AT-List
> Subject: Re: [at-l] Poison Ivy
>
>
>
>
> I have a poison ivy question/observation. But first:
>
> Last April, I met some remarkable home-schooled children - yes, children,
> aged 12, 14 and 16 - who were hiking the Trail.
> They got on in Gatlinburg, TN. Happy, positive, resourceful kids. Friendly
> and wide open as puppies. The eldest, the girl Sass, would read a chunk of
> "Ivanhoe" to the other two at night in the shelters. Hope she found the
rest
> of the book...
> I last saw them at Trail Days in May. The Cummings family, Sass, Torch and
> Bo. Does anyone know how they did? Did they finish?
>
> Anyway, they were immune to poison ivy. I actually saw them pulling it out
> from around my tentsite for me (thoughtful kids, those home-schoolers) at
> Damascus. They fashioned me some extra tent stakes out of poison ivy
> "sticks" (the climbing version). That made for an interesting time
breaking
> camp, as I am highly allergic.
>
> They said their secret came from an older mountain woman, their hiking
> mentor actually, who had advised them to eat two tiny poison ivy leaves
each
> spring. Mouse-ear-sized, eaten when the leaves are bronzey-red. They'll be
> out in about six weeks.
>
> Anyone ever hear of this? The kids swore they used to be allergic..
>
> Is there any immunological basis for this? Anyone care to experiment (I'm
> right behind you, buddy-ro...)
>
>
>
> DTimm65344@aol.com wrote:
> >
> > I solved this problem during my youth by being dosed so many times and
> > getting painted with that purple stuff so many times that I no longer
> react
> > to the stuff - not the recommended way to get immune, but apparently
> that's
> > what happened.
> >
> > Black&blue - but no longer purple
> >
> > In a message dated 02/19/02 6:33:19 PM Eastern Standard Time,
> kahley@ptd.net
> > writes:
> >
> > > Ahhh.............poison ivy...the maintainers ban..................
> >
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> --
> ========================================
>     Jan Leitschuh Sporthorses Ltd.
>
> Website:
> http://www.mindspring.com/~janl2/index.html
>
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