Before I came to the United States, born and raised in Germany, my body never had been in contact with either poison oak, poison ivy, or sumac.

When I had my first encounter with poison oak in this country, my body and immune system did not know what to do with it at all!

 The reaction was super strong with open lesions that wouldn’t close for over 2 months, and after it finally healed, I had scars to prove it.

Obviously,  I decided that poison oak was not beneficial to my well-being, and I came up with a homemade remedy that is similar to “flower essences” by using not flowers, but local fresh poison oak leaves, and I started to use that tincture at four drops two times a day, for several months every spring.

 Just a few weeks ago though,  I had a very intense encounter with poison oak, more than ever before. The first 48 hours it was not so bad, except for a spot on the cheek where a tiny twig had brushed my cheek.

 But after 72 hours it completely went systemic, all over, red and itchy. 

  I immediately took up the tincture again, this time for a dropper full per day, I added several times a day homeopathic rhus toxicodendron pellets, not made by me, and I applied an alcohol-based self-made Manzanita bark solution to the skin a few times a day.

 I am happy to report that, although there was some intense itching, no lesions appeared, the redness went away within days and a week later, except for unusually dry skin,  you couldn’t even tell I had it.

 I’m sharing this information in case you, or somebody you know, could benefit from it, and get inspired also to fortify the immune system in case they ever have another encounter with any of those plants.

 The plants are very powerful. It is the urushiol in them, that, when it comes in contact with the skin, creates an intense reaction for some people.

And then of course, there are the fortunate folks who can completely handle it, but I had not been able to in the past. However, I feel very encouraged that my immune system is finally finding ways to neutralize this quite rapidly. I am also continuing my treatment in a modified way, to get the immune system even stronger.