Walking Wounded Itching From The Bougainvillea Battle

[orang37]

Sawasdee Khrup, TV CM Friends,

Today we went another round with the Bougainvillea that will not stop climbing up on the roof, climbing up telephone poles ...

I truly love and respect this beautiful old tree-plant-being, and I am continually amazed at how rapidly it will grow back when trimmed.

But, the cost of trimming it is incredible outbreaks of skin-irritation. It also happens to be home to about a billion red ants who do not like to be disturbed, and will bite, and bite.

And yes, I go into trim-mode accoutered in garments that cover as much of my skin as possible, having sprayed myself with DEET as an act of ritual magic against the red ants (who do not seem to notice it one bit).

Yes, I am familiar with the various toxins produced by bougainvillea, have read up on the chemical secretions.

To my knowledge I have no allergies of any type except being around people who are drunk and/or illiterate. I do not blister from this itching reaction, just get bright red streaks that remind me of a woman I knew who had urticaria.

And yes, I do bathe, strongly soap up, and put on lotion, etc, after battle with the B-Tree. And then I itch for days.

So, the question is: have you come across, by chance, a Thai home remedy for this kind of itching ? Something grandma, out in the village, knows about ?

I remember as a kid in the southern part of the US taking baths with oatmeal when I had poison ivy or poison oak: and lotions: calomine ?

thanks, ~o:37;

[realthaideal]

Sorry to hear of that there's an itchy orangutan in town. That human bag of meat-and-bones is prone to itching is it ? Despite my best efforts to cover up and apply preventatives, I inevitably end up with itching somewhere, whenever I take on the garden here too, K Orang. I find what works best is a three pronged approach. I use hydrocortisone cream which will take effect within about an half hour's time at least, coupled with two other creams. I find that a dab of ye-olde tiger balm and a pinch of Counterpain take away the heat and itching almost within 5 minutes or less. Or at least they reduce it to where it's not driving me crazy. That allows me patience to wait for the hydrocortisone to kick in. I just break them all out and cross dab n mix and spread on to affected areas liberally till things start to calm down. The strength of the Counterpain is so intense that I believe it overwhelms nerve endings so that they just stop sending signals, the way some people will take a shower as hot as they can stand it when suffering a bout of poison oak. After you cross the threshold of intense agony n itching, it almost miraculously stops. Almost instantly, for the short term.

Have a cream-and-balm day, good sir !

[KhunDave]

I'll name that tune in one: Poison Ivy - The Coasters.......now that really takes me back

[Fishenough]

When I first rented a house here in Chiang Mai I was blissfully unaware of the Bougainvillea's infamy. I attacked the overgrown monster with no fear born of ignorance and paid the price. Though I was the victor, it was a case of 'well you should have seen the other guy/tree'.

Since I attacked with little more than shorts, a short sleeve shirt and thoughts of the cold beer waiting after the task, hence I received great areas of nice, red itchiness. Cater takers in the house next store adviced scrubbing with a rag soaked in alcohol, which a little web browsing latter revealed that the toxin is not soluble with soap and water. Following that, took one of those locally available high dose antihistamine sold as a tranquilizer. After that all itchiness was gone.

[LJW]

I used to live on Soi Bougainvillea in Chiang Mai. I loved all the plants but I never messed with them, and never had the itches.. Good memories, thank you

[jaapfries]

What a well written piece: you should perhaps hire someone to do the B-Battle on your behalf and then you should/could devote your time to writing ? ?

This would almost certainly prevent the skin-irritations.

I have had this B-Battle experience many times myself and hence I can fully relate to your story.

Seriously; as one well-intended poster suggested: use "hydro-cortisone creme": well I reckon that you should abstain from anything containing "cortisone"; this is a bit like 'throwing away the baby with the bath-water': extremely dangerous stuff (just google it and shudder !!).

Perhaps you ought to try the advice of my old Canadian Grandma: take a hot bath, in which you have dissolved a small packet of Baking-Soda. This instantly relieves most skin irritations. After that; smear the famous (and abundantly available) Aloe-Vera slimy-juice all over your body and, voila ! - you will feel like a re-born king ! ! !

Good luck, friend ! ! (and I don't have to tell you to smell the roses; since you're into Bougainvillea ! ! ha, ha, ha!)

:jap:

[orang37]

Sawasdee Khrup, Khun Jaapfries,

I thank you for your kind words regarding my post-prickling lucubrations.

best, ~o:37;

p.s. rubbing a paste of baking soda did cross me mind.

[realthaideal]

Jaapfries..... some ppl just live dangerously. Super dangerously ! I must use it all of 2x per year. I've had that same 30g tube of cortisone suicide cream for about 4 yrs now. Time to go buy a fresh one, I suppose. Thanks for reminding me.

I also have consumed alcohol before - you should read what that does to you.

I also consume meat and ride a motosai ! (worth googling as well)

And I'm happily itch-free and alive !

Come on, dude.... it has its place. And anything in excess is dangerous.

[orang37]

... snip ... And I'm happily itch-free and alive !

Yes, Khun RealThaiDeal, we can confirm you are alive, but we have noticed you often scratching your head when our human component was speaking

best, ~o:37;

[realthaideal]

You caught me, Orang. I'm often itching and laughing (separate occasions)on the inside.

[Lizard2010]

We use aloe vera a lot it cools and helps.

It is a very hardy plant, is good for burns and cuts.

Not sure if freely available in Chiang Mai.