Last week I was fishing alonng the Rush in Wisconsin. It was sunny, hot and the fish were not taking the buffet of flies I was offering. I was lucky enough to finally hook into a 17" brown, but my partner failed to net the fish properly and I watched as he swam by my feet. It was a tough day. :)
Anyway.......during the course of our fishing excursion I had to vist natures rest room so I hiked back off the stream and into the woods. I did my "duty" and returned. After returning home I noticed my hand was bright red like it hhad gotten a severe sunburn. I put some aloe on it and went on with my evening. The next morning I awoke in pain with quarter size blisters all over my hand and my hand and forearm were swelled. I have never seen anything like it. I went to the urgent care clinic thinking I had a severe sunburn. They gave me a topical antibiotic cream and some oral antibiotics. New blisters appeared the next day and I did have some pain.
Next....my blisters burst and and my skin turned a grey color and evenntually fell off in a 4"x4" sheet. Sickest thing I have ever seen. I thought it was a poison oak or sumac, but then realized it was Wild Parsnip.
Wild Parsnip grows all over Wisconsin and SE Minnesota (where we fly fish). I have seen the warning signs before and ignored them thinking it was like poison ivy. Wild Parsnip is a photo sensative poison which means after you get the sap on your skin then go out in the sunlight it starts the poison process. Please be aware of these plants! Let my stupidity be a warninng sign for others.
Ewwww! Hope everything is going ok now, sound like it. Doesn't sound like a fun thing to have. What do the plants look like? do have link to some pictures to get some idea of what to avoid, other then not going into the woods.
I hate going in the woods because of the ticks, now it sounds ok listening to what you went thru.....
Doing fine now, but have a looooong way to go before I fully heal. Pretty nasty stuff. Its a 2-3ft. plant / weed with clumps of small yellow flowers. Do an internet search on "Wild Parsnip" on Yahoo. Stay away! Stay far away!
