POISON IVY TINCTURE

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A TINY BOTTLE OF HOPE FOR THOSE OF US WHO SEEM TO GET A POISON IVY RASH IF WE EVEN LOOK AT THE WOODS! A single round of treatment costs $20 (plus shipping), after that it's only $1 0 each for additional round in the same bottle. I have bottles with 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 rounds listed here, but if you want more than that just let me know--the bottle can hold at least 15 rounds! (See the FAQ's below for more info re: the bottles, etc.) NOTE: Herbalists have to be very careful about how we describe our products, so instead of telling you what this tincture will do for you, I'm going to share how I learned about it and how it works for me. I'm not claiming it will work the same way for you, but I WILL say that I know a very long list of people who've found it to work the same way for them. ABOUT THE TINCTURE: I spent my life avoiding Poison Ivy, and when we moved out here that became harder than ever. For the first 3-4 years I couldn't walk on 2/3 of our property from late March thru late October, and it drove me crazy! Not long after beginning herbalism school, however, my teacher taught us that that temporary immunity to the plant can be obtained two ways: 1.) You can eat a baby leaf (or a few berries) from a plant in spring. This method reportedly gives you coverage for up to a whole year, but it comes with some risk. For one thing, it can be dangerous if you try it at the wrong time of the year. And another risk is that even when done properly, a small percentage of people do experience a mild reaction in their mouth, throat, and/or "exit hole". 😬 (Even though it's not a common issue, the thought of a booty rash was more than enough to make me rule out that method.😆) 2.) You can tincture the first-to-emerge baby leaves and use that, instead. The drawback of this method is that it only prevents reactivity for an average of 4-6 months, and some may experience an even shorter window of coverage (every body is different). But the plus side of it is that in his 30+ year career, he never came across anyone who had an unpleasant reaction to the tincture (when taken correctly)! So THAT'S the one I picked!! Of course, knowing it's absolutely safe to ingest the tincture and being brave enough to actually try it are two different things. So after making my first batch, it sat unused in my cabinet for at least six months. Then one day an ill-fated decision to harvest some Sassafras roots left me with a face full of Poison Ivy and more than enough courage to finally try the dang tincture!😁 I wasn't willing to sell the tincture to others until I knew for a fact that it worked on me. So I summoned up the courage to run increasingly "dangerous" tests on myself, slowly working up to wearing shorts and standing in a thigh-high patch of ivy for half an hour while I harvested other plants--and NOT showering immediately afterwards. Pretty sure touching the leaves will never not make me nervous, but with the tincture in my system I can now say it doesn't give me a rash!! (Five years later, it still absolutely amazes me that it really works!) FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS: Below, you’ll find the answers to questions I’ve often gotten in the past. Please feel free to reach out to me with further questions! The best way to reach me is on FB Messenger, either thru my personal page (Sandy MacNabb Perry) or our farm's page (@Will's Eden), but you can reach out thru any of the ways listed on our "Contact Us" page. "WHAT'S ACTUALLY IN THE TINCTURE?" This tincture is made with two ingredients: Pure grain alcohol and baby Poison Ivy leaves harvested in the first few weeks of the plant's spring growth. (The leaves are obviously strained out after the extraction process.) "WHAT'S THE DOSE, AND HOW DO I TAKE IT SAFELY?" (NOTE: Be sure to watch the attached video for a demonstration on how to properly use the dosing pipette I include with every bottle. On a mobile device, scroll to the second picture to get to the video. The method demonstrated both ensures that you get the right dose and helps you minimize the amount of tincture you leave behind (lose) in the pipette.) The dose is just one single drop added to at least 2oz of water, but it has to be repeated once a day for 14 full days. You can hardly even taste it in there, so don't worry about that part. Do NOT skip adding it to the water, because that serves the dual purpose of diluting the tincture (so you don't experience any mouth irritation), and causing the tincture to "flood your system" rather than being absorbed locally (in the mouth). Do NOT stop short of 14 days, even if it already seems to be working. If you miss a day, don't double up doses just add a day on at the end to make up for it. Honestly, the hardest part of the whole thing is remembering to do it every day! Five years later, and I'm not sure I've EVER managed to do a course without forgetting at least one day, and that's with setting a phone reminder! (Each 14 day treatment is called a "round" and generally lasts 2-6 months--see more on how long it lasts, below). "HOW DOES IT WORK?" We don't technically know.😁 At least, not in an official "investigated by scientists" kind of way. But what seems to be happening is that when you consume enough urushiol for your body to recognize what it is, but not enough for you to get a reaction from consuming it, the urushiol basically gets filed under "not harmful" in your immune system for a period of time. When you then touch the plant during that period of time, your immune system looks in the file and sees that it's not dangerous to you, so it simply doesn't react! That's as good an explanation as we can give since no one has studied this effect, and I seriously doubt anybody ever will. (Scientific studies are extremely expensive so they're only possible if someone with deep pockets funds them. Poison Ivy is rarely life threatening and doesn't cause permanent disability, so the government isn't going to fund a study; and Big Pharma can't make billions in profits from it so they aren't going to fund one.) "WILL IT WORK FOR POISON OAK AND POISON SUMAC?" It sure does! Since all three plants cause a reaction due to the urushiol they secrete, the tincture works for all three. (I've only ever encountered Poison Ivy, myself. But my teacher and his customers have tested it against the other plants countless times.) "WILL IT PROTECT ME FROM EVERY POSSIBLE TYPE OF EXPOSURE?" Probably not. This tincture is only known to protect people from the sort of inadvertent exposures one might encounter while out in nature--things like brushing leaves as you walk by, standing with leaves touching you, momentarily placing your hand on a vine, etc. It might also protect you from more aggressive encounters such as pulling out vines or roots with your bare hands, or vigorously rubbing leaves into your skin (to show off how "immune" you are😜). But it also might not protect you from those encounters. (I've probably pulled out Poison Ivy roots with my bare hands without even knowing it, but I can't in good conscience suggest anyone else should feel safe doing it.) And don't even try to test whether or not it will protect you from inhaling the smoke of burned poison ivy, just assume it won't and keep that plant out of your burn piles! "HOW CAN THIS POSSIBLY BE SAFE?" Well, I mean…define safe.....😁 Kidding, kidding. As I mentioned, it's generally safe to consume a tiny leaf (at the right time of year). But this tincture form is even safer because the alcohol in it dissolves the oil that usually causes reactions. That being said, I can't promise it will be safe for you, specifically. All I can do is say that in his decades of work, my teacher never saw a bad reaction to this tincture, and in my own years of making it I've never seen one, either. "COULD I HAVE A 'REVERSE REACTION' AND END UP MORE REACTIVE INSTEAD OF LESS REACTIVE?" When you get right down to it, anything’s possible. The fact that neither I nor my teacher has ever heard of that happening doesn't rule it out entirely. But let's not forget that you’re definitely at risk of becoming more sensitive to Poison Ivy if you continue getting exposed to it without using the tincture. Each exposure within a 6-8 month window will produce a more severe reaction than the one before. If you have as few as three serious exposures within that time frame, you could be looking at a hospitalization. But contrary to what most people assume, that change in your reactivity isn't permanent---once you become hyperreactive you don't actually stay that way for the rest of your life. Instead, you can reset your reaction level back down to "moderate" by going 6-8 months without getting exposed to it. Likewise, if the tincture somehow increased your reactivity, there’s no reason to believe you'd continue to be hyperreactive even after the tincture worked its way out of your system. When I considered this for myself, I decided that the chance to have a few months of NO sensitivity was well worth the tiny risk of somehow ending up even more sensitive for a few months. But that’s not something I can decide for anyone else. "CAN I GIVE THIS TO A CHILD?" The best I can say is it should be safe for kids who are at least above 5-6. When I ran this by my teacher, he said he’s never had anyone ask this before, believe it or not, so he can’t answer from experience. HOWEVER, he also said that he'd feel confident giving it to a child who's at least 5-6, but just to avoid any unforeseen issues he'd suggest the parent get some empty gel caps and put the daily drop of tincture into a capsule and have the child swallow it along with a full glass of water. He explained that (setting aside the fact that the diluted tincture shouldn't be able to cause a reaction at all) the only places a reaction could theoretically happen are in the mouth and throat. (The stomach and intestines are impervious, and unlike with the leaves a tincture gets absorbed instead of digested, so there can't be any "exit reaction".) Therefore, using the capsule to prevent any contact with the mouth and throat would eliminate even the theoretical possibility of a problem. He couldn't promise that the gel cap system wouldn't somehow alter the efficacy of the tincture, since he's never known anyone to try it that way, but he was reasonably confident that it wouldn't. (Let me just reiterate, here, that while he might have lots of clients who give this tincture to their kids the usual way, none of them have told him they do that, so he has no record of safe use among kids.) "WHAT IF I HAVE A BAD POISON IVY RASH RIGHT NOW? DO I NEED TO WAIT UNTIL IT'S GONE?" I can't promise that your body will behave the same way as mine or my other customers, all I can say is that for us, going ahead and taking the tincture during an outbreak actually helped the rash heal faster instead of causing any problems. "HOW LONG WILL I STAY SAFE FROM POISON IVY AFTER EACH ROUND?" I'm afraid it's different for everyone, but in general people report staying non-reactive for 3-6 months. Personally, I get 5 months of coverage. In the last week of month five, I might start getting a few small bumps from it--but I've never been able to tell if those were a reaction or small bug bites. By about five months plus two weeks, though, I'll get a rash that's clearly Poison Ivy---but it's still usually milder than what I get without any tincture. I keep a calendar reminder to repeat the treatment every 5 months, and as long as I actually do that I don't have an issue. (NOTE: I honestly don't know if everyone's length of coverage will stay the same year after year, like mine. I just know it works that way for me!) As far as how long YOU will stay non-reactive, I can't tell you that ahead of time because it really is different for each person. What I can do is tell you how to figure it out once you've taken the tincture. There are two ways to determine your reliable coverage period: Wait and See: If you're likely to come in contact with the plant at least every other week, the "wait and see" approach could work for you. (It's what I did.) All you do is wait until you get that first mild rash (for me, it was a cluster of bumps that were slightly raised but not fluid-filled) and then make a note that your full coverage ended a week or two prior to that date. Deliberate Testing: If your Poison Ivy exposure is more sporadic than that, you'll need to deliberately expose yourself to it in order to keep tabs on your level of coverage. It should be fine to wait until 2-3 months have passed before you start testing it, because it's highly likely that you'd still be non-reactive at that point. But you don't have to wait that long, if you don't want to! At whatever point you decide to start testing, do so by letting a leaf brush against your inner arm or leg once a week. (Choose a location that's easy to keep an eye on, as you watch for a reaction.) Resist the urge to wash that area for at least several hours after you do it! Eventually, you'll have some itchy bumps show up a few days after the test. By testing every week you can catch the moment your protection starts to fade before the protection's completely gone, so the reaction will be nothing like what you're used to. Make a note of how many months/weeks it's been, and subtract two weeks from that to know when you should start the next round of tincture from now on. You may later find that you have to reduce the time by another week or so in order to completely avoid reactions, but by the third round of treatment I'd expect you to be able to predict your coverage with confidence. NOTE: You can also simply repeat the treatment every 2-3 months if you'd rather not go thru the testing process, but that will likely end up costing you more money than you really need to spend! "HOW MANY ROUNDS SHOULD I GET?" In general, I'd suggest starting with two rounds until you figure out how long it lasts for you. (That way you'll have the next round ready to start as soon as you realize it's wearing off!) "WILL IT EXPIRE IF I DON'T USE IT ALL THIS YEAR?" Nope! As long as it's stored with the lid tightly closed so there's no evaporation, and not exposed to temperatures higher than room temp, it should last pretty much forever. But I do also recommend storing it away from direct light between each round. (Light can cause it to lose potency over time. The tint on these bottles should be more than enough to block damaging levels of light, but I still like to keep it in a cabinet or in a shadowed corner of the room just in case.) "THERE'S BARELY ANYTHNG IN THE BOTTLE I GOT! COULD SOME HAVE LEAKED OUT DURING SHIPPING?" It's highly unlikely that any spilled or evaporated. In fact, the excellent seal is why I had to switch to these bottles even though they're WAY larger than they need to be. It's the bottle size that's actually throwing you off. For each 14 day round of treatment I add 0.034oz, which is already more than twice the amount required (just to make doubly sure you end up having enough). The bottle holds up to about 0.51oz, which is enough for 15 rounds, so when you only purchase a few rounds it ends up looking like there's nothing in there. "I FINISHED A ROUND OF TREATMENT A COUPLE WEEKS AGO, BUT I JUST GOT A RASH! DOES THIS MEAN THE TINCTURE DIDN'T WORK?" It's always possible that you simply don't benefit from the tincture, or (more likely) that you only experience a reduction in your reaction level, rather than having no reaction at all. However, before we leap to that conclusion it's important to consider the fact that contrary to popular lore, Poison Ivy, Oak, and Sumac aren't the only plants that give people an itchy, weepy rash! There's at least one other enemy in them thar hills, and she goes by the name of Virginia Creeper. Never heard of anyone being allergic to Virginia Creeper? That's not surprising for three big reasons: 1.) Many people only react to it in the fall, when the leaves have begun to change (presumably because the sap is more concentrated in them at that time). If you've spent all spring and summer having no reaction to the plant at all, you'd never imagine it could be the source of your nasty fall rash! 2.) Whether you only react to it in the fall or you react to it all year, you're also far less likely to react unless it touches skin that is "broken". This means you probably won't get a rash from simply touching it, but you might get one if you ever try to pull it out without long gloves, or if you brush up against it after your skin was roughed up from doing yardwork. But since Poison Ivy also likes to hide within other tangled vines, you probably assume that any rashes that crop up after that kind of yard work were from Poison Ivy you failed to spot! 3.) Doctor's always default to one of the "poison three" when they see a weepy rash, because it's the most common and most of them don't even know Virginia Creeper allergies are a thing. The two rashes respond to the same treatments, so they've never had reason to question that assumption! I suspect that Virginia Creeper isn't the only plant that gets away with attacking us and letting Poison Ivy take the blame for it. Plants are sneaky like that.😒 The only way to be sure that the tincture isn't working will be to test it by letting a leaf touch you. Just a momentary brush with a leaf should be enough, and if you don't react to that after three days you can let a leaf touch you for a bit longer just to be sure. (DO NOT TEST IT BY RUBBING A LEAF INTO YOUR SKIN! That kind of aggressive contact will probably result in a bad rash even if the tincture IS protecting you from normal contact!) Speaking from experience, it really is worth the risk to do that test. A couple of years back I got the nastiest rash I'd ever had after working in an area that had both Poison Ivy and Virginia Creeper. I had no knowledge of being allergic to Virginia Creeper, and it was way too soon for the tincture to have simply run out. I was terrified that the tincture had stopped working for me, because being able to "play in the woods" without fear had genuinely changed my life! I was nervous, but I went outside and brushed an Ivy leaf against my arm then waited with bated breath to find out what my fate would be. Four days later I was able to officially able to declare that Poison Ivy was NOT to blame for that rash! The relief was indescribable!! Show more