Poison Oak and Poison Ivy

I've been allergic to poison ivy and poison oak for some years.  The rash that people get is an allergic reaction to an oily substance called urushiol. It is exuded from the leaves of poison ivy, poison oak and poison sumac.  There is no shortage of information, photos, etc online on how to recognize the leaves.  Also, tons of information on handling the rash.  Some people are so allergic that once they have been exposed a couple of times they get it systemically.  For example, they would get a small bit on their arm and it would show up other places on the body.  Occasionally, some will get a flare up later, not having been exposed again.

From Wikipedia:

"Urushiol / ʊ ˈ r uː ʃ i. ɒ l / is an oily organic compound with allergic properties found in plants of the family Anacardiaceae, especially Toxicodendron spp. (e.g., poison oak, Lacquer Tree, poison ivy, poison sumac) and also in parts of the mango tree."

Years ago, I lived in Oregon and after having a couple of bouts of poison oak, found a vendor at a market with poison oak honey.  I started taking it regularly and for the next couple of years had no problems.  It seems to act in a homeopathic manner helping the body build up an immunity to the allergy.  I've spoken to several people that had used poison oak honey with dramatic results.  It may not work for everybody, but it can't hurt.  I recently started taking some from Old Blue Raw Honey out of Oregon and the first few days, I started to see the skin change where I had previously had severe poison ivy rashes.  The rash seemed to be starting again but then very shortly disappeared.

You can get some here:

Old Blue Raw Honey