As Judianne already pointed out, steroids are awesome.  She got a steroid gel for her poison oak, and my poison ivy was getting so bad I decided I had to see a doctor.  A few minutes in the office at the clinic and the PA sent me on my way with a ghetto-looking envelope full of Prednisone.  He opted for the pills rather than the gel, since some of my poison ivy is on my face and near my eye, so a topical lotion probably wouldn't be a good idea.

I popped the first round - six pills - when I got home last night, and this morning I was amazed at how good I felt.  The itching has become tolerable (that's probably because of the antihistimines), but the rash has started going down already. My face looks much better and my eye is no longer swollen (yesterday I looked like Thom Yorke).

It's funny to me how real doctors give out steroids like they're working for the MLB. I know at least three other people who are on steroids right now, and the way they just kind of handed me a baggie of pills at the clinic made me feel like I was at a crackhouse. The guy waiting just before me got the same.  Whatever, if it makes me feel better, I'm all for distributing steroids like candy.

    -Tucker