Allergy Tips
Skin Rash, itchy skin, dermatitis and eczema - added 2004-03-24
Onion allergies, Lily Rash - added 2004-03-24
Celery Allergy - added 2004-03-24
Hibiscus as a source of allergies? - added 2004-03-24
Skin Rash, itchy skin, dermatitis, and eczema:
"Feeling Your Oats?"
Recently I have been treating people with severe, persistent atopic dermatitis with a simple soupy paste made from cooking oats and warm water. Now, in no way did I come up with this treatment; it has been around for many years, but I, like most involved with allergies, until recently had never actually tried it.
I mix 1/4 of a cup of Quaker Oats in a cup with several ounces of warm water, mix it well with a spoon, and then coat (using the tips of my fingers) the red, itchy skin of the dermatitis sufferer with this soupy oat-water. What is so amazing to me is that it almost always works almost instantly to stop the itch, and as you do this you can literally see the redness subsiding, and you can feel the skin smoothing out under your fingertips. In many cases this simple oatmeal mix (applied once or twice a day) quickly clears up skin that has not been helped by any other type of over-the-counter or prescription lotion or cream.
Many types of creams and lotions recommended for eczema have a base of either lanolin or some type of oil. Individuals with sensitive skin may often react badly to oily lotions, and lanolin (which is made from sheep) can irritate the skin of anyone who is at all sensitive to wool products.
This oatmeal soup appears to be so effective (and so low in cost and remarkably fast and easy to concoct) that more skin rash sufferers should be encouraged to at least give it a try. Even if someone simply has itchy or dry skin, and not a full-blown rash, the oatmeal mix will often bring quick relief.
Onion allergies, Lily Rash
Onion allergies, Lily Rash
I’m often asked about onion allergies and actually I do see quite a few cases of onion allergy -- it isn't at all rare. I'd like to caution those with an allergy from eating onions to watch out for all the onion relatives when gardening. These would include all the alliums, plants such as gardener's garlic, and all of the Lily family members. Anyone with allergy to onion is at increased risk to also be allergic to the sap of any kind of lily, daffodils, narcissus, iris, tulip, tiger lily, day lily, lily of the valley, agapanthus, Alstromeria, and so on.
The sap can cause what's called lily rash, and it can be a persistent and terrible rash. Direct contact with sap is not always needed to get the rash, as sometimes it can happen from mere casual contact with lily leaves, or from bulbs.
Perhaps of all the dermatitis type conditions I come across triggered by contact with Lily Family members (Liliaceae) the most serious is the itch or itchy rash caused by contact with sap from Agave americana, the Century Plant. This particular itch is very long lasting, will come and go and then suddenly return again, often many years later. One last thought here: I'm also seeing more and more skin rash from aloe vera products. Aloe is also a lily relative (onion relative), so keep that in mind, too.
Celery Allergy
Allergic reactions from eating celery are fairly common, especially in those people who already are allergic to a number of different pollens, or who are allergic to shrimp and shellfish. What is less well known is that celery is an umbel, a member of the large group of plants, Umbellifera, and that cross-reactive allergic responses are common in this group.
Umbels produce thousands of tiny white or greenish colored flowers that are grouped together in flat-topped clusters, or umbels. Many Umbellifera Family members are biennial plants and do not flower until their second year of growth. Carrots are also umbels and people who have experienced allergic reactions from eating celery would be wise to watch their own physical reactions carefully after eating carrots. Most typical from eating celery is an itchy throat. Typical allergic reaction to carrots is red, blotch, itchy skin. Keep in mind that an itch is often your first clue that you are allergic to something. If you touch or eat something and it seems to have made you itch, that's your clue. Pay attention to the signals from your own body.
Pollen allergies from certain umbels are not uncommon, especially to the very tall, very common weed (and occasionally cultivated as a garden ornamental) Queen Ann’s Lace. A growing concern is with the noxious non-native weed, Giant Hogweed (Apiaceae) which is rapidly extending its range in the US and in Europe. Hogweed, which is also an umbel, looks much like a giant version of Queen Ann’s Lace and contact with it often triggers some very serious allergic reactions, especially severe dermatitis. For a good photo of Giant Hogweed, take a look at this.
Allergy to some of the other Umbellifera family members such as parsley, dill, and coriander (cilantro) are less commonly encountered. However, anyone who knows that they are already allergic to either celery or carrots, might well be smart not to eat too much of any of these at any one time. Also, after eating parsley, dill or cilantro, do pay attention to any signals that your body might then send you. While allergic response to celery is often immediate, reaction to its relatives may be delayed by as much as several hours.
Hibiscus as a source of allergies?
Hibiscus out here in the sunny West are common landscape plants...the red ones are usually less winter hardy than the other colors for some odd reason.... I’ve seen this many a time too. In San Luis Obispo where I live, and especially in Los Angeles and San Diego, they are preyed on by the silverleaf whitefly (Bemisia argentifolii); almost every single hibiscus in some areas.... and it is triggering some bad allergy problems too. This whitefly has also invaded large parts of Florida. Because so many whiteflies get on the hibiscus plant, millions of them, they secrete loads of "honeydew" (a sticky excretory waste that is mostly plant sugars) and then sooty mold grows all over this. The end result is a sick shrub that is daily producing an incredible amount of mold spores and insect dander, both of which are highly allergenic. (As the whiteflies die or simply undergo metamorphosis, lots of insect dander is produced.)
By the way, hibiscus (sometimes with the same whitefly problems) are often used as houseplants, and an infested plant like this inside your house is a surefire way to get sick.
I usually advise people to hose down their buggy landscape hibiscus hard, very hard, to knock off as many of the pests as possible, and then to prune the entire plants back hard, to about two feet or less in height. Words of warning though for those with allergies, wear a facemask when you hose down one of these! Insect dander and mold spores will be thick in the air as you do this.
They should then start spraying what's left of the shrub with fungicide and insecticide. This species of whitefly has developed considerable resistance to most chemical insecticides. Instead, use a soap, vegetable oil and water spray with several tablespoons of baking soda added per gallon for a safe insecticide/fungicide. (For each gallon of spray use up to 5 tablespoonfuls of dish soap and 3 spoonfuls of any kind of vegetable oil.) If this doesn't do the trick after repeated sprayings (and often it doesn't) then the advice from here is to shovel prune the offending hibiscus.
A friend of mine, a nice guy but not a very good gardener, asked me recently what I meant by shovel pruning roses. We were in my back yard, working in a bed of roses. I picked out a rose bush that had always been quick to get rust and mildew and slow to flower, put the shovel to it, dug it up and tossed it in the trash can. "That," I told him, "is what the rosarians call shovel pruning."
"Oh," he said, and seemed impressed, "now I get it."
