I had never experienced poison oak before. I had heard about it and seen it occasionally but this time it stung me!
A five days after our backpacking trek while at home I spotted a red zit like nuisance on my left ankle. Not thinking, I scratched it and opened up the sore. The zit like volcano on my ankle was slightly hard to the touch. After opening it a clear liquid leaked out.
I remember two days later seeing a patch of itchy rashes pop up a couple inches above the zit on my high ankle. At this point I still didn't put two and two together.
Within a week from first discovering the "zit", I had itchy rashes on one arm, chest and one both hips.
My first guess was hives. I'd never been allergic to anything or had hives before.
I talked to a friend who is a nurse and showed her the rash. Her response was poison oak or ivy!!! She asked if the rash was moving toward my groin?!!! Huh yeah it is!!! She explained that it was a sign of poison oak!
The situation was looking grim!! That night i quickly bought the following: Calamine lotion, gold bond medicated lotion, and Zanfel
Gold bond helped the itching go away for up to 4 hours but then had to reapply. It did nothing to stop or dimish the rash!
The Calamine lotion was the cheapest of all three! The kind I bought was generic. It worked well stopping the itching lastly longer than gold bond! I applied three times daily. Three times per 16 hours which equals about just over 5 hours per treatment. It was hard to apply as it was in liquid form then dried as i applied.
Then their was the Zanfel!!! It worked like a charm. Amazing stuff! Definately worth the price of $40$!! Yeah I know $40$ dollars. Albertsons was going out of business so the total came to 28. Still spendy but at that point the rash was spreading and heading towards my groin!! Throwing down 28 bones, $, took no time at all!
Zanfel comes in a small plastic squeeze tube at 1 ounce. Directions :
1- wet the affected area
2- squeeze 1 and 1/2 inches, no less , of Zanfel onto one palm
3- wet both hands and rub the product into a paste. This activates the ingredients.
4- rub both hands on the affected area, working Zanfel in until itching stops.
5- rinse area thoroughly
I rubbed Zanfel into my rashes for several minutes. Zanfel is gritty, like bath scrubs, and while rubbing you can feel it literally rubbing into the rash!
The itching stopped instantly after washing! I had to reapply a couple areas which were very bad. I noticed that the 1 and 1/2 inches of Zanfel works best when rubbing into an area the size of your hand. With a larger area than a hand it's not as effective!
Poison oak does not quickly effect you. It took 5 days for the first spot to pop up. A friend and experienced hiker told me about this and how poisen oak will effect people differently. He had friends who ran into poisen oak but never developed itching or a rash.
I'm now well prepared next time I come across this enemy. No more surprises here!! Next time, knocking on wood, I will just use calamine lotion at first. Only if the rash is small and caught in time. Zanfel would definitely be step two! When poison oak is moderate to severe I suggest Zanfel!!
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