Recurring Poison Oak!

[ItchyRash]

I was badly affected on the forearm by mistakenly cutting Poison Oak with a chainsaw. This was two full years ago. It was treated with Prednisone, properly tapering off. With absolutely no possibility of contact since then, the rash has recurred in EXACTLY the same 10" X 1" spot caused by the pitch from the chainsaw blade. Does the Poison Oak oil lie dormant in the skin and periodically resurface?

[LitX]

Maybe the oil isn't the problem causing the recurrences.  I wonder if cells that mediate immune response, like mast cells or lymphocytes get sensitized, and are more likely to get triggered by irritants other than poison oak/ ivy.

[BrentNally]

I'm so glad I found this chat thread with everyone's comments and stories because I got a really bad case of poison oak on a hike in Marin just north of the Golden Gate bridge in the Headlands on 09/04/16. I got poison oak all over my face, body, shoulders arms, butt crack, penis, scrotum sack, thighs and calves/legs. I went through pure hell for 2-3 weeks. I took 6 days of prednisone. On day 4 of prednisone, my belly swelled up so bad that I couldn't wear my pants! The worst of my rash was in my belly/oblique area. On day 5, my scrotum sack swelled up about 6 times the size of normal (larger than a grapefruit) and my penis swelled up 4 times the size as normal except for my penis head which stayed normal (looked like a freak show) so I went to the Stanford ER and they prescribed a topical steroid and pills to help with the itching. Then, 2 days later, more poison oak rash spots started popping up which was a day after my 6 day prednisone was finished. I then went to see a doctor who gave me a steroid shot in my arm that lasted 10 days according to the doctor but I felt it lasted 3 weeks. That doctor also prescribed me ambien to help me sleep since I couldn't sleep more than 2 hours a night due to the prednisone and itching. I went to an allergy dermatologist who told me to take oatmeal baths which helped with the itching a little and was therapeutic. It's been 36 days since I got poison oak. I still have a few areas where I'm not completely healed up but yesterday I started getting little tiny spots (poison oak) in random areas and some in the same areas I had poison oak before. This time it's much less itchy and tame but hopefully it doesn't get worse tomorrow. I'm convinced that this allergy is in my body internally somehow and is now resurfacing to my skin. Crazy! I hope I don't have this problem the rest of my life like some folks say have happened to them. I love mangos but will not eat a mango for 6 months from now and then eat one to see if the poison oak comes back. That will be the true mango/poison oak test for me. I hope this story helps! Cheers!

[Bahorstman]

Wow! Thse posts are very interesting and confirm my suspicions about the possibility of recurring  poison oak or poison ivy. My husband and I were married a little over a month ago and we went camping for our honeymoon. On  one of our outings we were looking for fossils in a wooded area. We both got poison oak or poison ivy , but mine seemed much worse. His seemed to go  a normal course  for poison oak or ivy.  But mine has acted very differently this time.  I am very allergic to poison ivy but have never had  the struggle that I am currently working through. Over the last month my poison ivy has at times looked like a 3rd degree burn, and had the expected redness, oozing, and swelling. Slowly it had been healing... but not fully. It seems like it is going away then comes out again. For the past 2 days my skin has been fairly  clear, but, once again... I woke up last night and this morning with many pimples in the exact same area where the severe blistering occurred. The itching in these same areas is  intense. This has been the pattern for the last 5 weeks now. Ivy dry, cortisone, ice and even some hives tablets have given me little relief.
Another interesting  point is that I have been enjoying  Chobani mango  yogurt periodically for the 5 weeks .  Hmmmmm ...  Coincidence?
No, I do not think doctors fully understand the human body.
Becky in Va

[nicknaME1212]

I should have read this thread earlier years earlier. I got bad poison oak in 2011 that I didn't have treated immediately like I should have. Every now and then the rash comes back for a about a week then goes away again. I got it again today, read this thread, and realized I ate a mango yesterday. Whoops! No more mangos for me.  

Also, your doctor doesn't believe you, tell them to look in the New England Journal of Medicine from 1998 for "The Mango-Poison Ivy Connection".

[SlimChain]

Wow this is crazy.. I had some kind of poison on my forearm I got in the woods of Delaware like 2 or 3 years ago. It has just reoccured  now for the second time & I just checked the tropical Yoplait yogurt I've been eating & sure enough the 3rd ingredient... Mango. This is strange!!

[duckaducka]

yep, I had poison oak REALLY bad all over a month ago, it took nearly 3 weeks to get rid of it. lo and behold, it healed on my back only to start up again after it was healed! wtf! insane.

[tsultrim]

I had a bad case of poison oak 20+ years ago. It went away and the would re-surface every so often - mainly when i was hot. Then that all stopped and I thought it was really gone. Recently my back when out, and at the same time, the poison oak resurfaced! But not in the same places. I can believe this has been in me all this time. And it moves around. What to do? Yes - the Dr.s do not know, or they do not want to know!

[Melba_Toast]

Me too! I am very allergic to poison ivy, and I have found it to recur in the middle of winter in the very same location and same shape, with the same unmistakable itch, which no chance that I touched the plant or clothing that came in contact with it. I believe it does lie dormant and recur. My doctor thinks I'm crazy, but I know what I'm experiencing! It's good to know I'm not alone!