Last week I wrote about some poison ivy rashes that have bothered me for several weeks. I wrote about some treatments I have tried. There is no cure for a poison ivy rash except time. The best I hoped for was something that shortened the time the rash bothered me and prevented further rash.
How did the various treatments work?
Not so much...
A little, but not worth the money...
Got me through the night...
The $40 per 1 ounce of Zanfel was the biggest disappointment. It claimed to stop the spread of the rash after the rash appeared. I followed the directions and applied it to my forearm that had a few individual spots and a rash about the size of a quarter. The next morning, the rash had not only covered most of the area with the individual spots plus become larger in the area with the original rash... and the whole area itched constantly. I did attempt repeated applications, but there was absolutely no noticeable improvement or significant reduction in itching.
We happened to have an old bottle of Caldryl lotion lying around so I put on a coating from the almost empty container. Later I noticed it expired in January, 1989! Yet it worked better at relieving the itching than anything else I had tried. I bought a new bottle and slathered on the lotion and enjoyed a full day without itching. After my evening shower, I put on more lotion and took two tablets of the Costco version of Benadryl and slept through the night.
I still have the poison ivy rash, but am not tormented by it since using the Caladryl.
ADDENDUM:
When all else fails, go to your doctor and get a prednisone shot and some of this....
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