[bloodrayne]

I was pulling weeds out of my flowerbed (huge flowerbed, all across the front of my house...so LOTS of weeds) about a week ago...I am HIGHLY allergic to Poison Ivy (I also happen to be allergic to weeds in general)...So, normally I will wear gardening gloves and long sleeves when I pull weeds, and I remove all of my clothing as soon as I get in the house after weeding...I also scrub my hands, arms and face with Dawn (because Poison Ivy is oily and grease cutters break it up) and hot water......Well, this has worked for me for so many years that I apparently became bold, or just forgot how badly the Poison Ivy gets to me, because I wore short sleeves, no gloves, didn't change my clothes (because I had so many things to do inside the house, and not much time), and I didn't scrub up until hours later.......

Anyway...Long story short......Normally when I get a rash from it, it itches like hell and usually goes away in about 4 days...BUT, this time It's still here after a week...On my arms (luckily, it's not anywhere else), and the itching is so bad that it has actually woken me up 3 times...I don't know if it's more virulent this time because of all the years that I have avoided it, perhaps my tolerance for it (which was already low) has become completely impaired, but I can't remember it EVER being THIS bad...

Any ideas what to do about it?...The conventional stuff (Calamine lotion) isn't working....And does anyone know what the MAXIMUM amount of time a Poison Ivy rash CAN last?...I don't think I can stand it much longer...