Q. I recently spent an entire day weeding our overgrown yard. Unwittingly, I pulled a lot of poison ivy. Over the next few days my arms and shins were covered with itchy rash.
I treated this with Benadryl at night and Ivy-Dry in the morning. The spray usually wore off around 11 am, making for a rough afternoon at work.
I did a search for poison ivy remedies and found some people use banana peels for temporary relief. I always pack a banana as part of my lunch, so I had nothing to lose.
I was surprised to find it was effective. Right after rubbing the peel on the affected area, the skin turned red and the poison ivy itch subsided in a few minutes. The relief lasted about three hours. It worked as well as some of the over-the-counter remedies I was paying $9 for.
A. We’ve never heard of using banana peels for poison ivy, though readers have suggested using them for warts and hemorrhoids.
