Moving to Portland, OR

[uncle pennybags]

Indeed.

btw I meant Stinging Nettle, and I have felt the pain of wading through a field of them in shorts a couple times

Some of us are lucky and Stinging nettles do nothing. Probably due to being medicated for tons of allergies.

Couple of my friends on the other hand, woooo! Painful rashes for days. :gross:

 

[Horsman]

Some of us are lucky and Stinging nettles do nothing. Probably due to being medicated for tons of allergies.

Couple of my friends on the other hand, woooo! Painful rashes for days. :gross:

I want that super power. Ive gotten hit by nettles too many times.

 

[Horsman]

Is this true, Bruce? I get pretty nasty poison ivy rashes out east (and growing up out east), but I only get a couple bumps a couple times per season from poison oak, and I know I tromp through it on some of our courses out here.

My buddy Rob skips some courses out here entirely in the summer, owing to his terrible poison oak allergy.

I dont think Ive ever gotten hit with poison ivy or oak. After 15 years of playing, I figured I would have run across it by now so maybe I dont react to it.

 

[Monocacy]

Is this true, Bruce? I get pretty nasty poison ivy rashes out east (and growing up out east), but I only get a couple bumps a couple times per season from poison oak, and I know I tromp through it on some of our courses out here.

Apparently "urushiol" is not a single chemical, so it is possible that you react more strongly to urushiol found in poison ivy vs. poison oak. Perhaps you had more exposure to poison ivy when you were growing up, and consequently react more strongly to it.

Another possibility is that you might be better at recognizing poison oak. Poison ivy can be highly variable, growing as anything from a low shrub to a tree-enveloping hairy vine.

Fun experiment: rub up against poison oak as often as possible and see whether that equalizes the prevalence and severity of rashes.

All parts of both plants [poison ivy and poison oak] contain urushiol, which causes characteristic dermatitis associated with exposure. . . .

Toxicodendron dermatitis is the most common cause of allergic contact dermatitis in North America and is caused by skin exposure to urushiol, producing a type IV hypersensitivity reaction.[1] The chemical structure of urushiol is variable and primarily comprised of catechol with a long hydrocarbon chain.[2][3] Evidence suggests longer saturated hydrocarbon side chains, the addition of aliphatic side chains and phenolic groups are associated with increasing clinical severity.[4][5] It is estimated that 50 to 75% of adults are allergic to urushiol.[6] ​

Toxicodendron toxicity (clicky)

 

[uncle pennybags]

I want that super power. Ive gotten hit by nettles too many times.

No. No you don't.

Having trouble breathing anytime trees, grasses, or crops (I live in Iowa) are having sex is not worth the Nettle invulnerability power.

 

[BuiltTooLong]

Is this true, Bruce? I get pretty nasty poison ivy rashes out east (and growing up out east), but I only get a couple bumps a couple times per season from poison oak, and I know I tromp through it on some of our courses out here.

My buddy Rob skips some courses out here entirely in the summer, owing to his terrible poison oak allergy.

As with anything medical, one size fits all, isn't the proper approach. Anecdotally I've known people that react to one, but do not so much with the other.

Also, when I was kid, I spent hours and hours every week rummaging through various forests and never once got poison ivy. Flash forward to adulthood and I can't even look at it.

I have a friend who is the complete opposite. He remembers getting a bad poison ivy rash when he was a child, and now he's completely unaffected by it.

 

[Horsman]

Signed up for a tournament that has qualifying spots for the Beaver State Fling, so this will be interesting.