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Mast Cell Issues in Rash Zone? (originally Chronic Poison Ivy)
Hi Guys!
The inter web says "chronic poison ivy" isn't a thing, but I swear I've seen some people say that they have unexplained, recurring bouts. (don't have a pointer for that right now, I could go looking)
Grant has mentioned (somewhere) that the "bad thing" that we react to in Poison Ivy is extremely close to being a carotene. That doesn't surprise me as in the autumn it turns lovely orange-red colors.
A long time ago (at least a decade, but definitely within the time that I have been vitamin A overloaded) I got a horrible case of poison ivy.
I did some weeding and took a nice hot bath afterward. The hot water melted the poison ivy oil from my hands and floated it upon the surface. It affected a circular area on my torso...probably that which was right at the surface of the water at that moment. I had poison ivy over a large enough portion of my body that I ended up at the emergency room. I couldn't sleep, I had chills, the bout lasted for several WEEKS (much longer than normal, and why was that? was it because I was already vitamin A overloaded?). and it was miserable.
I have this chronic problem (which I've spoken of before) that whenever I sweat heavily, (on a day such as this) I get itchy across my torso. I've been blaming it on damaged sweat glands, toxic liver, sluggish kidney function, even clothing dye... but what if? What if we apply what we know about carotenes to this?
What if during that long hot soak, when I was probably in chronic "intox mode", my body pulled those nasty poison-ivy molecules into the surface of the skin, and locked them away in fat and there they have stayed? Perhaps on a hot day... enough of the urishol comes to the surface with the sweat to give me a tiny bout? Last night when I was miserable I was even feeling a bit of the "chills" I felt in the first bout. That is when I started thinking that maybe, just maybe, this is chronic poison ivy!
There might also be an aspect of inability to deal with histamines too, the more I scratch the worse it gets. But maybe that scratching is mixing the bad thing around making more tissues react?
Showering seems to do nothing, although I do engage in that very hopefully each time (NOT BATHING, bathing is right out..)
What do y'all think? (just thought I'd be "southern" there for a minute, we don't say y'all here, haha). From what we know about carotene pigments, do you think they might have absorbed into my fat, and I just have hell to pay until it is all out?
I wonder if my current "intermittent fasting" might be causing some of these fat cells to open up, releasing whatever is inside. I suppose that is one of the reasons I'm doing intermittent fasting. To give the body time to do long-awaited house-keeping. I wonder, if I think back, if this problem is worse when losing weight.
post from reddit:
CLIP
Is it possible to have chronic poison-ivy or phantom itching?
I (33f otherwise healthy) got some pretty bad poison ivy on both of my ankles about 6 years ago. Since then, I have had intermittent periods of what feels like the same case of poison ivy in the same spots. Out of nowhere my ankles will itch like crazy for periods lasting 10-20 minutes, and there will be no signs of rash, discoloration, bug bites, or excessively dry skin. When these episodes happen It genuinely feels just like it did 6 years ago. I don't have any allergies other than penicillin.
Is it possible that the poison ivy caused some sort of mild nerve damage that is resulting in the continued itching? Or can periods of intense itching like with poison ivy cause some rewiring in the brain that might intensify normal sensations in those areas?
This isn't something that really effects my life, but it is very annoying and I'd at least like to know what's going on.
END CLIP
I had a horrible night of itching, and had lots of time to devise a plan.
EDITED TO ADD: I don't think this was a good idea, see further posts for another idea that worked better
I'm going to run with the idea that each time I get itchy after sweating that I've re-exposed my *skin* to poison ivy oils from deep in my fats.
I know how to deal with poison ivy oils on the skin, I've posted about that before. I'm going to do that. ie SCRUB SCRUB SCRUB
I've had 100% good luck with this method, and haven't had a *new* case of poison ivy since my disastrous exposure. I have even found that it is never to late to do this method (even if you start thinking you're getting itchy, it isn't too late to get the oils off)
I have also decided that if poison ivy can store in your fats like carotenes, it is one of the most horrible, evil things out there! :')
EDITED to ADD: This is a good idea for new exposures, but maybe NOT a good idea when the exposure is far behind you in the rear view mirror. See further posts below.
A long talk with the AI about this subject seems to diagnose this as a Mast Cell Activation problem made worse by the fact that it is such a large area.
"When you get an intense, massive allergic reaction like your past poison ivy rash, it leaves behind an invisible "neuro-immune footprint". Your mast cells didn't just forget the event: they became permanently hyper-sensitized in that specific region, creating a highly active neurogenic inflammatory loop."
I wonder if this is true, is it something that is happening with other people here, and why they don't see results from changes they are doing?
If this is true, scrubbing is actually THE WORST thing I can do, and what the AI says I need to do is see a dermatologist for prescription non-steroidal topicals and meds that halt the delayed-phase inflammatory cascade.
Advice for at home is to avoid any friction in the area, wearing seamless loose clothing, cool showers, patting dry, non-sedating antihistamine every single morning, ceramide lotions as a friction shield, moisture-wicking fabrics, sipping ice water while hot, soap-free cleansers, sedating antihistamine at night, keep a fan running at night and get rid of any foam in the bed (which can trap heat), chill moisturizer and put on just before bed, use a cold pack at night if awake itching, exercise early in the day rather than close to bed time.
Mast cell activation problems have been talked about here on this site. I'm going to go visit them.
The one reply that the redditor above got... seemed to be from a physician and said something similar to this.
It could be true! It could also be part of the puzzle for people with extreme rash conditions that end up on this site and aren't immediately seeing results.
As I have said before: the test of a model is how well it works.
https://ggenereux.blog/discussion/topic/mcas-and-histamine-intolerance-theory/
MCAS, Histamine & Lectin Intolerance Recovery Tips — Diet, Methods and Supplements
Quote from lil chick on August 11, 2026, 6:07 amA long talk with the AI about this subject seems to diagnose this as a Mast Cell Activation problem made worse by the fact that it is such a large area.
"When you get an intense, massive allergic reaction like your past poison ivy rash, it leaves behind an invisible "neuro-immune footprint". Your mast cells didn't just forget the event: they became permanently hyper-sensitized in that specific region, creating a highly active neurogenic inflammatory loop."
I wonder if this is true, is it something that is happening with other people here, and why they don't see results from changes they are doing?
If this is true, scrubbing is actually THE WORST thing I can do, and what the AI says I need to do is see a dermatologist for prescription non-steroidal topicals and meds that halt the delayed-phase inflammatory cascade.
Advice for at home is to avoid any friction in the area, wearing seamless loose clothing, cool showers, patting dry, non-sedating antihistamine every single morning, ceramide lotions as a friction shield, moisture-wicking fabrics, sipping ice water while hot, soap-free cleansers, sedating antihistamine at night, keep a fan running at night and get rid of any foam in the bed (which can trap heat), chill moisturizer and put on just before bed, use a cold pack at night if awake itching, exercise early in the day rather than close to bed time.
Mast cell activation problems have been talked about here on this site. I'm going to go visit them.
The one reply that the redditor above got... seemed to be from a physician and said something similar to this.
It could be true! It could also be part of the puzzle for people with extreme rash conditions that end up on this site and aren't immediately seeing results.
As I have said before: the test of a model is how well it works.
I cannot speak much to your condition, but wanted to ask you about your use of AI.
I tend to have really good deep-dive 'conversations' with Claude.ai. Google Gemini tends to act like my doctor and not really give me information without a ton of warnings about what it is telling me, and Perplexity.ai seems to have the best literature to back up what it is telling me.
Chat-GPT doesn't really fit into my use paradigm, but let me know if you think that is one I should consider using.
Best of health to you.
Quote from lil chick on August 9, 2026, 7:54 amI had a horrible night of itching, and had lots of time to devise a plan.
I'm going to run with the idea that each time I get itchy after sweating that I've re-exposed my *skin* to poison ivy oils from deep in my fats.
I know how to deal with poison ivy oils on the skin, I've posted about that before. I'm going to do that. ie SCRUB SCRUB SCRUB
I've had 100% good luck with this method, and haven't had a *new* case of poison ivy since my disastrous exposure. I have even found that it is never to late to do this method (even if you start thinking you're getting itchy, it isn't too late to get the oils off)
I have also decided that if poison ivy can store in your fats like carotenes, it is one of the most horrible, evil things out there! :')
After watch this video I had a thought that perhaps somehow that nasty toxin could still be in your clothing or bedding? I have never had to deal with poison ivy, so I am of little use in this area.
Hi Bruce, thanks for the replies! I'm just using whatever AI comes with Google. It's been wrong about some things for sure.
I did home care, like stayed very cool, including only cool showers, using an ice pack when I did feel hot, and avoided all friction for 24 hours.
Worked like a charm. Slept great.
I don't think I have poison ivy in my bedding. It's been 10 years since I've had it.
You know what this makes me think of? 3 things:
- The Ayurvedic notion "rising heat"
- Ourania's cool water bottle in the groin area idea
- "The scratch that itches" problem: Try an ICE PACK and avoiding friction ... instead of scratching or scrubbing
I don't love the idea of dressing like a wizard for the rest of my life, LOL, but it sure explains why I ditched the bras a while back, against societal norms.
My idea of scrubbing was the opposite of good. I'm going to go back and put a warning in that post!
Hi @lil-chick
Thanks so much for reposting the link above:
https://ggenereux.blog/discussion/topic/mcas-and-histamine-intolerance-theory/
in which @megan describes how she overcame endometriosis and MCAS/histamine intolerance through a very low vitamin A diet.
When I went into my online Histamine file to save this link, I came upon two quotes of yours from a discussion you'd had with @max back in 2019 I think which had really made an impression on me at the time and of which I was very glad to be reminded! These were:
To me, it seems that problems with histamine liberators might be the same logjam as VA: not enough alcohol dehydrogenase enzyme. So dropping VA is almost the same thing as dropping histamine liberators. It's, as my naturopath used to say: another way to get to Boston. If you don't eat too much VA you will handle histamine better. If you don't drink alcohol and avoid aldehydes you will handle VA and histamine better. If you don't eat too many histamine liberators, you will handle VA better. See what I'm saying? And this:
Oh, I see how this [histamine issues] is related to vitamin A toxicity now. Alcohol, Vit A, and histamine are all on the same detox pathway!
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8143338/
Just wanted to let you know how much I appreciate your contributions on this important topic.
wow! thanks Libby, maybe that article can help me figure out what I've done that has caused so much itching lately.
I guess the big thing is the fasting and the losing weight, and even if old poison-ivy might not be coming out of my fats, old vitamin A might be.
I have cut out fruit and yesterday I was wondering if I could be low in vitamin C. Some people take vitamin C as a sort of natural anti-histamine.
Sometimes I read my old comments and I don't even remember writing them hahah. I'm such an air head, LOL.
Thank you for the kind words!