Anyone have any insight on poison ivy smoke? I suspect I was exposed for a few minutes yesterday afternoon, local volunteer fire dept was called out to an uncontrolled grass fire.
No real symptoms/indication yet. Bit of a frog-in-my-throat this morning.
No first hand knowledge here, but a good friend's wife got the worst case of poison ivy I ever saw from the smoke of burning land clearing debris. As I remember, her problem was all on the outside.
If you inhailed it, I could see a problem.
It can kill a person. It will swell your throat shut if you have a bad reaction or are exposed to a heavy dose. People I know burned some at night on a bonfire unwittingly. They did not get a big dose. They all are all much more sensitive to poison ivy since then.
It's bad juju.
If you feel like your throat is getting worse - go see the doc for some steroids.
In reply to Giant Purple Snorklewacker:
I thought for sure you were going to tell the hootus poison ivy story again.
I was aware there were potentially serious respiratory effects of breathing poison ivy smoke, I'm just not sure at what point I should go see a doctor.
If I was exposed, hopefully it was all external. Guess I'll know soon enough. I'll post some pictures if/when this gets interesting. 
If youre still alive and breathing youre well past the time of getting a bad reaction. Relax and wait out the frog in the throat. Usually if anything happens its within an hour, usually a lot less. Id be careful the next time tho0ugh, usually if you are allergic it gets worse each exposure so the next fire with ivy may do something worse.You may need an epi pen.
Are you allergic to poison ivy? If you have no history of it, you can still develop the allergy any time.
"Poison ivy" is a type 2 hypersensitivity reaction, generally. 3 days post exposure is when it hits. Breathing is kinda important, so if you have ANY difficulty breathing, you have someone take you to the ER or dial 911 immediately, if you can't get there any other way. If you stop breathing, you'll be dead in about 10 minutes. Beyond saving before that.
it killed a friend of my Dad's back in the day.
the oil is carried in many mediums and does not lose it's effect.
Two things that the world would be better off without:
Mosquitos Poison Ivy
I'm still alive, and the scratchy throat isn't as bad today. Wife (also on the fire dept) said she had a bit of a sore throat as well, though she was working an entirely different sector of the fire without poison ivy.
@Mark, I did have some minor chest pain within an hour, though nothing serious enough to cause alarm (as a fit, healthy 23 year old).
If I accidentally handle some working in the yard, I might come up with a couple pea-sized irritated spots. Can't remember ever having anything worse than that. Usually it seems like I don't react for 36-48 hours after exposure. I suppose that means I'm not allergic.
Thanks for all the responses. I'll post any developments as they come up.
No, John, that means you are allergic. Just probably not SUPER allergic. There are a lot of different levels of "allergic," from "I sneeze a little" to "my heart stops and they have to get those paddle things out."
Could the scratchy throat just be from smoke inhalation?
In reply to dculberson:
Yep. That's what I'm hoping for.
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