This late summer / early fall, I broke out with a terrible blistering skin rash on my legs and it was the first time I’ve ever experienced this. It would just seem to spread every time I scratched. This would happen to a lesser extent on my arms as well.
It’s taken me a little time to figure this out, but with the help of internet research and closely observing my symptoms (when they occur, when they get worse, etc.), I have come to the realization that I had either contact dermatitis with the irritant being plants / weeds and pollen (when I was younger, I’d get hay fever something terrible; this has subsided as I’ve gotten older) or I had contact with / walked around in Poison Ivy (which is on our property; I just hadn’t been paying a lot of attention at the time).
This year is the first year that I’ve walked into the thick of various thorny and prickly plants on a regular basis; nearly every weekend as I’ve hiked and as I’ve worked to clear brush from trees we had taken down, pick weeds, etc. Walking in the thick of thorny and prickly plants along with weeding in general has cut my legs (and arms) something terrible. The open wounds have provided lots of direct exposure to and access points for the plant/weed pollen and oils.
The “dermatitis” had gotten pretty bad at times with lots of itchy and blistering skin. I was able to relieve the symptoms with the over-the-counter antihistamine Zyrtec and through the vigilant application of cold pressed coconut oil to my arms and legs (it turns out dry skin just allows for more irritant contact and more symptoms; cold pressed coconut oil is one of those natural oils that is purported to have anti-itch and anti-inflammatory properties and it has worked the best for me). Soaking in a bath a couple times a week with about a cup or two of apple cider vinegar added to it also helped alleviate the itching and dry skin.
This whole experience was a new one for me and was a little bit scary at first. Now that I understand what’s likely to have been happening, I will definitely be wearing socks and tall gardening boots or pants when walking into the thick of things on our property; and, I’ll definitely wear gardening gloves when pulling weeds.
Live and learn.
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