let us talk about travelling and spider bites (or, fuck it, poison ivy or scabbies or whatever)

[Tailz]

poison ivy is tricky. i know it sounds sketchy, but mineral spirits work really well, it draws out the poison. the rash will fully come out and go away in a few days. my two cents

 

[streetrat]

you can waterproof boots with bannana peels? thats pretty strange. way cool though.

and again...
GOOOONIES!

 

[Tailz]

ahhh fuck yeah, i didnt even notice that!

 

[EaznaZ]

This has been so helpful to me! I want to know what people in this community are commonly being afflicted with (luckily I haven't experienced ALL of it myself) because I'm compiling information for a zine called 'A Wanderer's Ailments and Afflictions: a focus on natural treatments for the homeless, travellers, hobos, whatever you call yourself in 'modern' countries' or at least that's what it's called right now. I just started today and I've got many pages of info written down. I'm a health enthusiast, and studying in school for natural health too.

So far, topics are
External - 1) Lice, 2) Psoriasis, 3) Showering 4) Scabies 5)Staph/MRSA infection 6) Feet 7) Oral Health 8) Poisonus Plants and Insect Bites 9) Metal Allergies 10) Sand Fleas
Internal - 11) Candida Albicans 12) Mental Health 13) Vitamins 14) Bladder Infection 15) Constipation and Diarrhoea 16) Indigestion

I'm trying to do just a very brief overview of those health-related things common to this group, that the mainstream doesn't know about and many people find out by trial and error. I'm writing ID, Prevention, Treatment and some extra info where it is needed.

I'm also planning on one called 'a traveller's kitchen' -making makeshift dehydrators, stoves, what to eat, importance of vitamins, etc. but I'm putting more of a focus on the natural health zine right now.

So, any topics you think should be covered, any experience you've had with failed or successful natural treatments are very appreciated and welcomed! Some things may not be added to the zine, because I could go on forever into a big book, but I want to make it travel-size, maybe a book will come in a few months. For now, free health zine, yay! I'll probably post a link or something to it in here when it's all done.

 

[Ravie]

aawww! you put metal allergies! I feel special. but it really is very common and a huge pain in the ass. I cant wear belts!

 

[Geoff]

Clear nail polish will work until it inevitably wears off. Have you thought of stitching some kind of tough spacer (leather, real or fake) on so that the metal doesn't touch your skin? Like a stiff flap, maybe some padding on the back, on your belt that goes under your buckle, for example. This won't work for your earrings, but aside from gauging it out so that you can use something other than metal, I'm not sure what you could do for that.

just find some cactus thorns. they'll work good and look cool too.

 

[dVEC]

Doc said Scabies live in your clothes, and only go on your skin to shit and lay eggs. So does that mean If I get naked for two weeks It'll cure it?

Anyone want to hangout during that two weeks? Or let me hangout at your place?

No but really.. recently I got this crazy itchying.. it was right after spending time on sand. I had sand in my pants, shirt, everything i owned had sand in or on it. I hadnt taken a shower in weeks.. and all of a sudden I started to get little bumps on my shoulders, neck, and ears.. they itch like crazy.

That thing about the bugs living in your clothes is NOT true of scabies, which actually do live in your skin, but for body lice. Body lice can be "cured" just by running all your clothes/pack/etc. through a dryer for 2 hours, or by boiling all that stuff - then taking a shower to get any stuck eggs off your skin.

And yeah, the other stuff sounds like sand fleas, or maybe chiggers. Hate the bastards.

Ravie: Have you tried using wood or stone?

 

[Ravie]

wood or stone for a belt buckle? no.

 

[tallhorseman]

Okay, I cant be the only one with this problem... I'm allergic to any metal except sterling silver. my belt buckle is wrapped in electric tape and my earrings eat away at my ears. Anyone have any good ideas to alter cheap metal so i can wear it? i cant afford silver. i heard clear nail polish works?

You could coat larger objects with Rhino Liner, that stuff they use in truck beds. For ear rings there's a product that they sell in electronic shops called Heat Shrink. It's made to insulate wires. you slide it on a wire and then heat it with a lighter and it tightens up and bonds. They might make it small enough for your ear rings...not sure.

 

[trotsky]

is there any way to re-immunize oneself to PI? I used to be able to roll around in poison ivy but now I get it something awful. Or should I just suck it up and deal with it?

 

[JungleBoots]

i have a hyper sensitivity to poison ivy because one time i was working for an appartment complex cutting an overgrown fence and got poison ivy all over my knees, face arms and thighs. my face swelled up (on my high school graduation day party lol) it looked like a severe alergic reaction, (hives, swelling in the lips and eye lids, and trouble breathing) so i went to the ER with my pops. the doc at the ER basically said "take benedryl its just an allergic reaction" to something. he didnt even look at the rash that was pretty obviously poison ivy. the benedryl did nothing but lower the swelling and help my breathing. i basically sat on the rash for several weeks as it spread and worsened. I finally went to an Urgent care facility and this doc had to have been 80 years old with a hunch back. he took one look at the rash on my legs and arms and said "poison ivy, and from the look of it you have probably developed an allergy to it" (it had developed into blisters all over by now) he gave me a shit ton of steroids reccomended berts bee's poison ivy soap, cortazone 10, oatmeal baths and calamine lotion. it went a way in a few days.

however the steroids ended up causing a staph infection in the skin of my chest.

that was not a fun summer.... but that job payed really well. im sad i left it.

 

[trotsky]

usually now if you get a job clearing brush or whatever, they'll give you a PI vaccine that's good for a month or two when you start.

 

[JungleBoots]

usually now if you get a job clearing brush or whatever, they'll give you a PI vaccine that's good for a month or two when you start.

if i can afford it, i know some people that are so allergic to poison ivy that they cant even stay down wind of it without having horrible skin reactions and respratory problems.