IT WORKED, I'M IMMUNE TO POISON OAK!!!

[limpingcrab]

Haha! That's great, I just saw the article today too, yay for HST! The author emailed me a few weeks ago in reference to this thread and ask a few questions. It seems like he had a much more aggressive eating regimen, I made sure to never let it touch my mouth or throat but he just made smoothies and salads with it.

Is there anyone else on here who's taken the plunge yet!? I'm so glad I did, best decision ever.

[Harlen]

limpingcrab wrote:

It seems like he had a much more aggressive eating regimen, I made sure to never let it touch my mouth or throat but he just made smoothies and salads with it.

Is there anyone else on here who's taken the plunge yet!? I'm so glad I did, best decision ever.

As I wrote above, I have been eating PO leaves, and sometimes flowers, for many years now. I was advised to do so by other ecologists who must cover Poison Oaky ground either searching for rare plant populations, or removing invasives. They concurred with much that you have said Dan, about reducing the effect of its toxin. I practice a random system of eating a leave now and again each season. I just pluck the leaves between the pads of my finger and thumb, place it in my mouth and chew them up and swallow. Never had the slightest reaction at either end, though I am careful not to let any part of the plant touch my outer lips, as that is a sensitive area. I also rub my fingers in the dirt or on absorbant leaves, such as Mugwort to remove the oil.

I have gone from getting covered with a miserable, bubbling rash, to barely feeling an itch after wading in it. Being retired, and largely out of the Poison Oak fields, I usually end up eating it now just to impress my friends.

[mikarpenter]

Hey Harlen!
Glad to have found your posts. Thanks for sharing your experiences with PO. I react strongly to the stuff and am looking into restoration ecology as a career path in Santa Cruz, so it's helpful to hear your history with the stuff. I promised myself that I wouldn't take on "the experiment" without talking to at least three people in the area who have personal experience with ingesting it. Ideally, looking for Caucasian people, as that's what I am and I've heard that some Asian folks have stronger inherent immunity to it (though I have no idea whether there's any validity to that). It sounds like you know a number of people in the field who have had your same experience. Would you be willing to email me to put me in touch with a few of those colleagues? Thanks!
-Mac

[Harlen]

Some folks will be averse to giving you advice on the poison oak eating cure out of the fear that you might have adverse results-- people apparently react differently to it. I'd be happy to talk to you about it, and meet you in Nisene Marks S.P. for a poison oak lunch. See PM.

Just read through this entire post. You should also query the original poster of this thread-- "limpingcrab." He is knowledgeable, and also works in the ecology field. See his first post above, complete with a graphic photo. If you read all the way through the comments you'll find several people providing words of caution. You may want to reach out to some of them too, or do some of your own research on it. Good luck, Ian.

[mikarpenter]

That would be great, Harlen! Thanks for being willing to help. I haven't seen anything in my personal messages yet, but I am pretty new to this forum, so perhaps I'm not looking in the right spot.

[Harlen]

Hi Mikaarpenter,

Resent PM, which somehow vanished into the ether. Hope to see you soon for a Poison Oak lunch.

[Schleppy]

The WSJ journalist was featured on a podcast a while back. Since removed from their site (uh oh) but still up on the apps.

Then I learn that this humble thread was the impetus for his experiment. Only one sensible thing to do....

...I ate my first leaf yesterday. Fingers crossed.