I need somebody to help me out because apparently I'm stupid or something. How do you tell if a person has poison ivy, poison oak, or poison sumac simply by looking at a rash?
Rewind. First thing this morning I had a woman approach the pharmacy counter (with her husband in tow) and ask me to identify the rash on her husband. He had a small rash on the inside of his right forearm with matching rashes on the insides of each calf and ankle. Without too much thought I said that it looked like poison ivy. This is where I get the "are you stupid" look from the wife. She informs me that this is not what poison ivy looks like on her husband. Sorry, he looks like the common poison ivy patient. She then wants to know if it could be poison oak or sumac. My response...yes. How would I know what the freakin' rash is from unless you bring me the plant that your husband rubbed up against.
This wasn't what she wanted to hear. After trying to educate this 50-something couple that I can't identify the exact source of his rash based only on the pattern of the rash I attempted to recommend a product to help him deal with the symptoms. Cortaid...never works. Benadryl...tried that. Ivy-Dry...stings. Nothing I could recommend would satisfy this woman. Finally I reached to our special order section and grabbed a tube of Zanfel. I explained that they must follow the instructions exactly for the product to work. That seemed to satisfy her (I think the $30 price tag helped some too). Anything expensive has got to work. And if it doesn't, she can always pour bleach on the rash.
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So here's Pharmacy God's tips to avoiding poison ivy this summer:
- Don't wear flip-flops in areas that may have poison ivy (basically keep you skin from being exposed)
- Don't let your pets run around in areas that may have poison ivy (they can pass it on to you when the rub up against you)
- Wash yourself well if you think that you have been exposed to poison ivy (duh)
- Change your clothes if you have been in poison ivy. Wash the clothes immediately.
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I think it's time for a vacation.
Rewind. First thing this morning I had a woman approach the pharmacy counter (with her husband in tow) and ask me to identify the rash on her husband. He had a small rash on the inside of his right forearm with matching rashes on the insides of each calf and ankle. Without too much thought I said that it looked like poison ivy. This is where I get the "are you stupid" look from the wife. She informs me that this is not what poison ivy looks like on her husband. Sorry, he looks like the common poison ivy patient. She then wants to know if it could be poison oak or sumac. My response...yes. How would I know what the freakin' rash is from unless you bring me the plant that your husband rubbed up against.
This wasn't what she wanted to hear. After trying to educate this 50-something couple that I can't identify the exact source of his rash based only on the pattern of the rash I attempted to recommend a product to help him deal with the symptoms. Cortaid...never works. Benadryl...tried that. Ivy-Dry...stings. Nothing I could recommend would satisfy this woman. Finally I reached to our special order section and grabbed a tube of Zanfel. I explained that they must follow the instructions exactly for the product to work. That seemed to satisfy her (I think the $30 price tag helped some too). Anything expensive has got to work. And if it doesn't, she can always pour bleach on the rash.
So here's Pharmacy God's tips to avoiding poison ivy this summer: