I had an extremely severe reaction to poison ivy about five years ago now. Not recognizing what it looked like or even knowing what it was, I pulled an entire vine off a tree with my bare hands in shorts and a crop top. Later I had a swollen, thickened angry red patch as big as the palm of my hand that looked like a severe burn right in the middle of my chest. I spent almost a week up all night with the pain and itching of it and by the end of it was in tears. Agony.

I'd just moved so didn't have a doctor and went online looking for what it could be and how to treat it. The only thing I found that helped you could buy over the counter to treat poison ivy was Zanfel. It's expensive. I paid over $30 for it in Walmart but talk about instant relief. You only use about a inch and a half of the cream so don't let the small tube put you off either and you must measure the exact amount against the ruler on the package for it to work. Apparently it's the only product that binds with the toxin, urioshiol, and washes it away. I would recommend it to everyone! I found out later that for as severe a reaction as I had I should really have had some kind of injection to clear it but a couple of washes with that stopped it in its tracks.