I've always been horribly allergic to it, to the point of ending up with large patches of scarring for years after some bouts with it. The worst go round with it in my memory being after getting a horrible dose of chiggers in Guatemala, I got a round of poison ivy on top of the already chigger-damaged skin. Yeah, that was weeks of misery. The dose that I'm glad I don't remember is when I was 3 and the folks were burning brush. The brush had poison ivy in it, and I got in the smoke. Head to toe. Mom said it was awful. But at least I didn't end up in the hospital with it - I've heard of that happening when the smoke from poison ivy got in someone's lungs and eyes.
It's an evil plant, insinuating itself in with other, more benign and acceptable greenery, just waiting to pounce. And I was doing some weeding yesterday. Grabbed a handful of green and pulled it up and then looked closer. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh nooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!! Run to house. Scrub scrub scrub. Change soap. Scrub scrub scrub. Rinse rinse rinse rinse. I guess I'll know by this afternoon if I got the oils off before reacting.
