Poison ivy

[whitehead1972]

Hello all. Has anyone on here been adversely affected after coming into contact with ivy. Yesterday I cleared an ivy-clad flowering cherry that was more ivy than cherry. I managed to get most off though some still remains.

 

Halfway through I began to get a really bad headache and felt sick - so much so that clear up was a real struggle. As soon as I dumped the foliage I returned home and went straight to bed.

 

I'd like to emphasise that it wasn't a skin reaction - just headache, pain and nausea. It is like something is able to leech through your skin into the bloodstream.

 

I remember years ago a similar reaction but had forgotten about it until today.

 

Anyway, 24 hours later I'm almost back to normal.

[scraggs]

My g/f was admitted to hospital 2 years ago with extreme stomach pains and vomiting, nothing was found but she had been removing some ivy earlier that day.

It has happened one time since when she picked some up without thinking about it, so pretty sure it was the ivy.

[Ty Korrigan]

I think we are damn lucky not to have the real poison ivy here as an invasive species.

Time yet though...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toxicodendron_radicans

 

Ty

[arbaholic]

Try using a respirator or real good quality dust mask next time you take on abit of ivy whitehead it makes a big differnce. If your getting a dustmask get grade ffp3 which is the finest grade. Ive known a few people who have had a similar reaction to that. I personally think its the dust as most people use gloves with that kind of job.

[Sandworks]

Any time I face into ivy I use at least a buff and bug eyes goggle, ivy is toxic make no mistake about it if you own stock then you will be aware.... If I'm on a job with a lot of ivy I'll use a full face separate filter system... Nasty and potentially lethal do not underestimate ivy....

[Hobbsurf]

I've stripped out ivy in heavy volumes and experienced the same symptoms, and then when doing a few "as you're here can you just....." jobs which involve just a few minutes of exposure have the same issues.

 

It's a constricted aspect to the breathing that worries me - be good to hear some grounded and scientific explanation to aid future such work.

 

I'm not allergic to anything other than grass pollen, hornet venom, and nosey neighbours.....

[Steve Bullman]

Hello all. Has anyone on here been adversely affected after coming into contact with ivy. Yesterday I cleared an ivy-clad flowering cherry that was more ivy than cherry. I managed to get most off though some still remains.

 

Halfway through I began to get a really bad headache and felt sick - so much so that clear up was a real struggle. As soon as I dumped the foliage I returned home and went straight to bed.

 

I'd like to emphasise that it wasn't a skin reaction - just headache, pain and nausea. It is like something is able to leech through your skin into the bloodstream.

 

I remember years ago a similar reaction but had forgotten about it until today.

 

Anyway, 24 hours later I'm almost back to normal.

Just to clarify...are we talking about english Ivy here?

[whitehead1972]

Yes, English ivy. Many thanks for all the responses. Will take great care with it from now on.