Poison oak and model railroading don't mix...

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
1

Two weeks ago this past Sunday, one of my buddies and I took his model rocket out to the local ball park and launched it. The flight was flawless, and it came down way over there in the thick brush… So, I took off to see if I could find it and got into poison oak in the process.
My advice to anyone looking around in thick brush for a lost model rocket is “wear pants”… Anyways. I’ve spent the last ten days with my legs covered in extremely itchy - drive you crazy water blisters that have a 5:00am scratching time every night/morning. I can’t stand to have anything touch it so I’ve been having to wear shorts even on colder days. They say the stuff lasts for about two weeks then peters out on it’s own.
While all this fun has been going on, I bought a couple of new locos and some rolling stock, and they include a 2-8-8-2 UP Mallet, a 2-8-0 SF Consolidation, a 4-6-2 Pacific, several cars and cabooses.
I also finally got my turnouts wired so I don’t have to stick my hand out into the layout anymore to switch tracks.
Of course while all of this was going on I was scratching - and still am ([:(])…

Tracklayer

2

Nice consolation prizes! For a 2-8-8-2 UP Mallet, a 2-8-0 SF Consolidation, a 4-6-2 Pacific, several cars and cabooses, I think I’d jump NAKED into poison oak! OUCH!

Does calamine lotion give you any relief? I always had to treat any poison oak or ivy. Scratching just opened the blisters and started the process all over again!

Hope you feel better soon.

Darrell, quiet…for now

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Hey there quiet Darrell, and thanks for the suggestion, but I can’t use Calamine lotion. It’s got something in it that makes me sick. I’m one of those that has allergic reactions to almost everything… I’ve been treating it the old fashion way with cool baths, oat mill packs and aloevera. It’s not as bad as it was, but it ain’t gone yet…

Tracklayer

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yo tracklayer …something that my dad told me was to wa***he affected areas with bleach…he says that it kills the rash .Ive tried it and it worked for me.just a thought J.W.

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You know, I can’t think of a thing that poison oak goes good with.

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Tracklayer,

Maybe you could “scratch”-build something till the itching finally goes away. (Who says poison oak and MRRing DON’T mix.) Sorry about your mishap. [:(]

Tom

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I have a brother who only has to look at poison ivy and he breaks out bad. I on the other hand can roll around in the stuff naked and not get it. Don’t know about oak. I know you can get shots from your doctor for the ivy version.

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Dang! I was thinking of using poison oak for my benchwork! Does this mean that I’ll have to find something else? Maybe I’ll have to try poison sumac. Poison ivy doesn’t grow out here in the desert, but we have an over-abundance of poison sumac and all kinds of stuff covered with thorns or needles.

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See why model railroading is safer than model rocketry? [;)]

I’ve never gotten into poison oak or poison ivy, though my neighbor’s son appearently got a nasty case last summer in the tall grass between the two yards.

A couple of ideas for temporary relief of itching. Ice (in a plastic bag), the cold litterally “chills out” the nerve endings. When you feel the need to scratch, slap the area instead. The sting will satisfy the urge, and keep you from tearing up your skin, which only worsens the situation. To avoid sperading, if you are still at that stage, you might want to place a paper towel over the spot before doing these things.

I learned these tricks while going crazy with mosquito bites. Different, but still itchy.

The thing with these plantborne rashes is they are caused by an oil from the plant, scratching spreads it. The bleach idea mentioned above sounds interesting, as it may attack the source of the problem, and speed recovery.

Remember, DON’T SCRATCH!!! (Easy for me to say)

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Back several years ago I got into some poison ivy, on my feet… Did a whole bunch of research on the net about the stuff. Come to find out, the blister do not spread it, according to the sites. Along with it can stay active up to hundred years in certain conditions. Also, seems the more you are stressed out, will also make it easier for you to get it.

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Well, good thing you aren’t allegic to Consolidation…er, I mean consolation prizes like those!! Heh, heh.

-Crandell

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Yes Big_Boy_4005, I’ve got to agree with you. Model railroading is indeed much safer than model rocketry… And thanks for the suggestions of how to deal with it. I’ve been using ice packs all along with everything else I’ve been doing and they work real well, but it’s a little too late to warn me not to scratch. My legs look like something out of a horror movie… Oh well. Live and learn. At least it didn’t shut my railroading down - much ([;)]).

Tracklayer

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Dude

DO NOT wash it with BLEACH unless you enjoy PAIN, LOTS of pain! it’s not a organism caused rash, its caused by oils from the plants leaves that get imbedded in the skin and spread from scratching or if the plant is kicked or jossled these oils can become airborne particularly if its very dry and what you thought was just a mere brushing can result in a widespread case all over your legs, I know cause its happened to me a few times mountain biking.

You need to go to the store NOW and get a bottle of TECNU

www.poisonivy.aesir.com/view/technu.html

www.teclabsinc.com

This is the ONLY thing that works to GET RID OF the oils imbedded in your skin that are causing the hellish itching!

In my 10+ years of off road riding I’ve gotten some HELLISH cases of PO and I swear by this stuff. You rub it onto the sores, wait, then shower, you have to repeat the process per the instructions but it will eventually wa***he Butt-oil of Satan out off your skin and bring about a much faster recovery than with only calamine lotion.

TRUST ME get this stuff, you may need to call around but any good pharmacy, good bike store, good hiking store, or even good outdoorsman store worth its gun-license should carry this stuff.

ALSO this is VERY Important! DO NOT MIX TOWELS after you dry off, once you use it, WASH IT with lots of soap. This is because the oils that were washed off you can still be picked up by anyone else who uses the same towel. This is ALSO true for your BEDSHEETS keep that in mind!

Theres a reason its called Satan-weed! Shrub-of-Hell, and the Devils-dandilions

TECNU

TECNU

TECNU

Actually you should consider yourself lucky, I knew a guy who crashed his bike, at high speed into a grove of dry PO wearing only riding shorts and a tank top. A day later he was head to toe, begging to be shot in the head! Ever seen PO on TOP of someones head? it isnt pretty.

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Shockingly I’m not allergic, no really.

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hey tracklayer
…it may be wise to go to the doctor and get it checked out…i got into some poison ivy in Arkansas one time and it got so bad that I was scratching pits into the sores and my skin still has scars where i was scratching it…I finally ended up going to the dr. and he gave me a shot ,some pills, and an industrial size tube of a powerful strength hydrocortizone that really knocked down the itching…chuck

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Goes to show Rockets should be kept on rails like Stephenson’s!

DON’T put bleach on or in your skin! It’s mostly Chlorine… the stuff they used in WW1 in poison gases. If it stops your nerve endings itching it will have done so by removing them… by BURNING them off.

Bleach will remove the natural oils from your skin and damage the cells that produce them… so you will add a chemical burn to your poison oak.

You are actually best to get into a programme of replacing all bleach products in your home with bleach replacements… your employer should be doing it already.

Hydrocortizone is good stuff… but it IS a steroid… check with your doctor… and your employer if you are Drugs and Alcohol tested.

What model is the UP mallet? Pics?

You could also ask your doc about rehydrating your skin / restoring the damaged areas.

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You’re welcome, just remember, advice is only worth what you pay for it.[;)]

Other advantages of model railroading are, things don’t usually catch fire, explode, or potentially impale you. But then you didn’t know you get poison oak from model rocketry either. I have nothing against model rocketry, i

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hey trust me just talking about it and i get stuck with it, have you tried to get a pennicillian shot, it works wonders for me and its gone in roughly 24hrs just my 2 cents

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BULLLLLSHEEOOOOOOOT !

Elliot,

Click on the link and scroll down about half way for proof otherwise…check the pics then tell me if you still feel this way[;)]

http://www.mylargescale.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=23380

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Thanks Chuck, but it’s not nearly as bad as it was four or five days ago, and I haven’t managed to dig any pits yet, but do show signs of typical scratching - mainly with a wet wash cloth followed by natural aloevera. As for the bleach. I found out the hard way and gave myself a nice 3 X 4 inch chemical burn on my right leg.

The whole story is that this friend of mine got a rocket kit for his birthday last month and had been wanting to fly it, so I suggested we do so out at the ball park at the edge of town (probably illegal for us to be flying it in the city limits in the first place…). Like I said, the flight went text book, but came down in a thicket of brush, so here goes stupid in his shorts tromping around looking for it. After not being able to find it, I went back to the men’s room and washed down as best I could, but noticed my legs were really stinging. From there believe it or not, we pooled our money and bought another rocket… This time we went out to my mom’s place which is out in the wide open. The first flight was great, but the second one snagged the only *** tree for a mile and it took us an hour to get it down. We finally decided it was too dark to fly it anymore and haven’t messed with it since. Rockets seem to be bad luck for me. I never got a rash from railroading.

Tracklayer