You cannot escape from poison ivy, poison oak and poison sumac.  These poisonous plants are everywhere. There are no areas in the United States in which at least one of these plants does not exist.  Poison ivy is found everywhere, with the possible exception of California and Nevada.  Poison oak grows in the southeastern states, and a western variety exists in the West Coast states, Poison sumac grows in most of the states in the eastern one-third of the country.

If you’re lucky, you may be one of the 50 percent of the population who are not sensitive to these poisonous plants.   If you’re not lucky, and you’ve already had a few run-ins with poison ivy, oak or sumac, you better know how to identify it and learn where it grows. Poison ivy grows along streams, lakes and on sunny hillsides.  It can also grow as a shrub, a small tree or vine.

If you want to avoid poison ivy and poison oak, beware of low or vinelike three-leaved plants, which in fruit have creamy white berries. Poison sumac has ivory to grayish white berries. Poison sumac likes wet ground, so you are less likely to come in contact with it if you keep your boots dry.

Urushiol is the sticky, colorless oil that comes from the leaves and stems of poison plants that, when it gets on our skin, causes the poison ivy, oak and sumac irritation.  Urushiol in poison ivy is nearly the same in poison oak and poison sumac.  If you’re sensitive to one, you’re sensitive at all of them.  It’s important to remember that urushiol can stay active for up to five years on any surface including dead plants, so be cautious when collecting firewood.

If you don’t wash the poison sap off your skin quickly, you will develop a rash within a couple of days. The rash will eventually produce swollen patches with blisters that will break and ooze.

Healing will take about two weeks, no matter what you do, but here is some advice to ease the intense itching and promote healing.  One of the best medicines against itching is cortisone.    If you are sensitive to these plants, take a supply of cortisone along on your trips.  Better yet, use Ivy Shield, a topical cream that’s applied before exposure and will give 95 percent protection to the skin.

If you come in contact with any of these poisonous plants, shower thoroughly with soap immediately.  Start with your head and shower down to your feet washing the urushiol oil downward off your body and into the drain.  Brown laundry soap has proven effective.

Here are some remedies that will relieve the itching:

1-Compresses with Burrow’s solution will ease itching and speed the drying process. Apply for 15 minutes three or four times a day.

2-Calamine lotion, the old standby, will relieve itching.

3-Oatmeal baths are helpful.  Add a cup of Aveeno oatmeal to the tub and soak in it for 15 minutes.

4-Oral antihistamines will help eliminate the itching, but an antihistamine lotion doesn’t help.  Do not use anesthetic sprays and lotions that may actually sensitize the skin and irritate the rash.

If any of these home remedies don’t help, see a doctor for a prescription medication.  There are several, including prednisone, that are effective.  The best protection is learning how to identify these plants and avoid them.  The shiny leaves grow in groups of three, so try to remember “leaves of three, beware of me.”