Q. I heard a radio show caller say that an old-timer had told him to pick two small, new, reddish poison ivy leaves each spring and roll them inside a dough ball and swallow them to be immune from poison ivy for a whole season. This is an intriguing and terrifying suggestion. What is your opinion?
A. We’ve heard this folk remedy from others, but we too are terrified by the idea. One reader related the following:
“My father had me eat some poison ivy leaves when I was a child. I was always getting into it and breaking out in a bad rash. He had heard that eating it would make me immune, but instead blisters broke out inside my mouth. It was so bad I needed special shots from a doctor. NEVER take this rumored remedy for poison ivy!”
In an extreme case, eating poison ivy could make the throat swell shut. This could be life threatening.
