Poison Ivy and Blood Detox Cures

Poison Ivy and Blood Detox #720
Written for The Monastery of Herbs in California.

I know what poison ivy looks like in the woods. Rhus toxicodendron is the scientific name, it is found across North America, either as a shallow-rooted vine or as a tree-climber, with aerial roots that give it a "hairy" appearance. Shiny green leaves in the classic set of three, or bare stems in winter. I know what it looks like beyond a shadow of a doubt, leaves or no leaves.

For 31 years I was regularly exposed despite my care in staying out of it. At least I will assume that I was exposed considering my hours in the woods hiking, fishing, and gardening.

When I was 32, I was gardening in the early spring with my 9-month-old daughter crawling nearby. I got my first case of poison ivy ever. All over my hands, forearms, and chest. It may be worth noting that the baby did not get poison ivy.

But I did. Heavily, wherever I had touched myself. And then pretty much everywhere else; it clearly had gone into my bloodstream. Miserable, I called my doctor, who suggested the steroid prednisone. I immediately rejected that, since I was a nursing mother and wound up taking only benedryl and suffering with new outbreaks for almost 10 days, miserable.

The following spring I again got poison ivy, despite my new awareness and expanded care in attempting to stay away from it. I tried the prednisone. It worked, but I was not happy about taking a steroid. Again, the next spring, I quickly got a nasty case of poison ivy and used prednisone to slow it down and help it heal.

The more I know about steroids and how they affect the body long-term, plus the mood altering affects, the less I want to use them. But what else could I do? It got to be a standing joke with my skin doctor, just about April 15th, tax day, I'd be calling for a re-fill on the prednisone.

About this time, through friends, I met a woman who is a certified naturopathic doctor. I mentioned the poison ivy issue to her and she suggested I try a blood Detox, specifically, #720 produced by Monastery of Herbs in California.

The first time I tried this was 2004. I already had a pretty good start on the poison ivy, being 2 days into itching. Taking the Blood Detox as directed, I found that the poison ivy began to heal about 3 days into the treatment, and was no longer spreading, a result equal to the effects of taking Prednisone.

In 2005, I started taking the Blood Detox the first morning that I noticed poison ivy bubbles appearing on my skin. By the next day, no new bubbles were appearing and the ones already at the points of contact were calming down. The only side effect I experienced was mild diarrhea.

My dosage was 3 caplets, 5 times a day, with water or juice. In particular, I noticed that I was not getting outbreaks in places that were not contacted by the plant.

Here we are in spring of 2006. My naturopathic practitioner has moved out of this area, so I contacted Monastery of Herbs directly. It's March 25, gardening season is just getting underway, I will be out hunting wildflowers to photograph as soon as they come up, and I have a bottle of Blood Detox #720 ready to take when the inevitable happens.