[pct-l] Poison Oak - - - Why not immunize yourself?

[Jereen Anderson]

From: MendoRider/Ed Anderson
 
Last Sunday Dianne and Julian loggedin with some good advise.Today Tortise did. For what it's worth, I will contribute my method of immunization. 
 
Background: Growing up in So. California I often came into contact with P.Oak. Once, when I was about 12 I had it so bad that my face became so swollen that I could no longer see. I was to learn to identify it and how to wash off the oil with soap and water. This works well if you do it withen an hour or two after contact - assuming that you know that you had contacted it! So,I did'nt have it bad again for a long time. Trouble is, I niavely thought that you get it from touching the leaves. Not quite so. You can also get it in the dead of winter from the bare branches. While serving in the U.S. Army, stationed at Fort Bragg, Ca. and living off-post in Carmel Village I learned another lesson the hard way. Jereen and I both picked up bad cases. We had'nt paid enough attention to those bare branches. 
 
Now, what follows is a method that I have come up with to immunize myself: I had read that you can't get P.O. internally except that you can get it in your lungs if you inhale smoke from burning P.O..Having it in your lungs can be very serious, even fatal. But, except for your lungs, you can't get it internally. So, here's what I did back in the mid-1970's: You need tweezers,a mirror,and a couple of glasses of water - - - and poison oak leaves. Start with a very small leaf. Using the tweezers, carefully pluck it from the branch and looking in the mirror, carefully place it in the middle of your tongue. Immediately swallow it with two glasses of water. Whatever you do don't chew it or allow it to mix with your saliva. You could get P.O. blisters on your lips. I had a little of this the first time. Now wait three days and see if you have any reaction. If not,( I did'nt ) then do it with a larger leaf and wait three days again. If still no reaction continue
 this until you have swallowed five leaves. By then you will, most likely be immune to P.O..It worked for me. I used to renew this every spring while we lived in Mendocino - Lots of P.O. in that area. Now I seem to be immune. One very important bit of advice if trying my method is that you wash your rectum with soap and water after a bowel movement. It would be possible to get P.O.there - thats external. I once told a dermatologist about this method. He informed me yhat it would not work.
 
To Tortise: People do vary in their sensitivity to P.O.. And our body chemistry can vary over time. Some lucky folks seem to be born immune. I have a friend in Comptche, where we had a ranch, who could pull it up with his bare hands and not get it. I would'nt try that.