Smoked! What Not to Put in a Fire

I had no idea where this should've went, so I just went ahead and put it in the "Everything Else Garden."

With wood-chopping season here and the garden nearly cleared out I figured that starting a fire or two in the garden might not be a bad idea - maybe kill some of those weed seeds and add some nutrients to the soil for those heavy feeders? I go ahead and do just that. Unfortunately I happen to love to stand close to burning fires - letting the smoke blow in my face while I watch everything burn to ashes. "Stand back a bit so your clothes don't get all smokey" Pa tells me. I told him something about the Native Americans regularly taking "smoke bathes" and using smoke as a medicinal. I was completely oblivious to what I was getting into.

I wake up the next morning with a thick and extremely itchy rash all over my body - ALL over (It's covering my neck, head, and any part of me that I had touched yesterday. The only area that doesn't have it is my feet.). It just so happens that there was Poison Ivy, a weed that I am particularly sensitive to, in those dried daylily leaves that I had put in that fire. (For anybody that might not know, the Poison Ivy oils where transferred in the smoke.)

So what I was wondering - would building a separate fire using mostly Jewelweed and standing in the smoke of that fire help? Would the oils from the Jewelweed be transferred in the smoke?

Any suggestions of other things that I could do to get rid of this rash? Except for going to the doctor's - don't want to break my streak!

Oh my goodness. You are very lucky that it's only irritating your skin!!! I know a couple of folks who have been exposed to poison ivy smoke and ended up in the hospital with terrible irritation to their lungs (and nose, mouth, eyes).

I have no idea about jewelweed, just wanted to express my sympathies.
Early this year I got a really bad case of it. I tried everything and finally came across Schriners Herbal Solution. Might have been because I was already near the end of the breakout, might have been the herbs – but the rash was almost gone the morning after I applied it.
WARNING – it will LIGHT YOUR SKIN UP for about 5 mins! Then just smells bad the rest of the day.

You poor guy, was going to give same warning as Cane about lungs. If you start to have any breathing problems go to ER right away. Your health is more important then some streak of not going to Dr. I have tried everything over the counter only thing that worked was a Ivy block from CVS, was about $60 a bottle. Exspenive but worth it. good Luck.

Forget the streak and see a doctor. Just in case you do get a lung reaction. You could get in trouble pretty quickly. They have a fairly new product that is a wash for poison ivy. It is expensive but worth it. I think you can get it over the counter now at the pharmacy.

I feel your (intense) pain, SeedO. The same thing happened to me when I was about your age. Campfire.
I also urge you to go to the doctor. There are meds you can get to help you live through the pain and itching.
The one positive note is that I never got poison ivy again after that. You may have immunized yourself.

Oh, ouch Seedo! I'm with everybody else in encouraging you to see a doc. I also know someone who ended up hospitalized from burning poison oak.
You don't want to mess around with poison ivy internally. Traditions aside, I think it's never a good idea to breathe smoke.

I break out badly from poison oak and doctor myself, but we're talking small patches, not all over. Not even going to tell you what my remedy is-GO TO THE DOCTOR NOW BEFORE IT GETS MUCH MUCH WORSE!!!

What Bay said.

Did you know that the rash can continue it's initial breakout for up to 10 days?
(that's where the idea that you can spread it by scratching it comes from - by the way)

A quick visit to the Dr. may very well save you from a long visit to the ER.

Thanks everybody!

I've decided that I will definitely be going to the doctor's to get a better Idea of how bad it is - when it comes to internal damage caused by breathing it in, that's what I'm worried about. My mom is trying to find a good doctor as I type. No issues breathing yet (I usually don't breathe in the smoke if I can help it), I just don't want any issues breathing - I've had many breathing problems when I was young (I attribute that to black mold but still).

While that's been happening I've been doing everything that I can to get the plant's oils out of my skin. I've been smothering myself down in Jewelweed and taking Epsom salt/ baking soda bathes, and drinking mullein tea (healthy for the lungs and actually cleans them out - that's why you might find a lot of mullein in herbal cigarettes meant for people that want to stop smoking).

I know that breakout can last for 10+ days, I've had it before - just not this bad. I'll look into that Schriners Herbal Solution.

Let us know how it goes SeedO. Hopefully you didn't get any in your lungs!