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From: render@uiucdcsb.Uiuc.ARPA
Newsgroups: net.med
Subject: Re: Any cures for poison ivy out there?
Message-ID: <9800004@uiucdcsb>
Date: Tue, 17-Sep-85 18:42:00 EDT
Article-I.D.: uiucdcsb.9800004
Posted: Tue Sep 17 18:42:00 1985
Date-Received: Thu, 19-Sep-85 05:02:18 EDT
References: <4305@alice.UUCP>
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Nf-ID: #R:alice.UUCP:-430500:uiucdcsb:9800004:000:871
Nf-From: uiucdcsb.Uiuc.ARPA!render    Sep 17 17:42:00 1985


I went through a recent bout with the stuff, and I can only mention what
worked for me.  I used calamine lotion (yup, the ol' pink stuff) to dry
up the rash, along with occasional baths with baking soda in the water.
To keep the itching at bay, I used a product called rhulicreme, a topical
analgesic whose active ingredients are benzocaine, camphor, menthol and
zirconium oxide.  The calamine is unsightly, but it cleared up the rash
in short order (3-4 days for a major case).

One note of caution:  for the first few days, I used a hydrocortisone
product to combat the itching.  It helped a bit, but the rash kept 
spreading and I gave it up.  I then phoned an expert on the subject
(my mother :-)) and switched to the calamine and rhulicreme.  A 
friend of mine who was less cautious kept using the same hydrocortisone
product and ended up with a very severe case.