I've written about our horrible periwinkle vines here in the past and I've had yet another encounter with their evil. My husband and I have around 25% of our yard covered in a type of periwinkle vine that is poisonous. If you get near it you get a poison ivy type of itchy rash and if you get it's juices on you then you'll break out in an even worse rash.
Those F&^king Periwinkles
I've found that I am seriously allergic to this poisonous plant. My husband can touch it and get a rash in the area that touched the plant, but if I touch it I get a rash all over my body that spreads and spreads and won't stop until I go to the doctor and get steroids. I ended up in the emergency room the other night because I accidentally pulled up some dormant periwinkles without knowing I was touching it. Within 24 hours I had a rash all over my body including my face. My eyelids both swelled causing my vision to blur. It was when I started feeling like someone was sitting on my chest that I decided to go to the ER instead of waiting until morning to go to my doctor. It was horrible. I've never had such a bad reaction to the periwinkles before.
Everything Is Dormant So I Didn't See Them
It was so bad that the doctor and nurse who saw me both went "wow!" My face was so puffed up and red. They gave me a steroid shot and some steroid pills to take for a week. Boy, those steroids are some fun drugs!
I've been jacked up since I had the shot. I didn't sleep at all that first night and had extreme energy and feelings of euphoria. I was multitasking on 10 different projects. The next day I took a two hour nap then woke up ready to move! I cleaned the kitchen, wiped down the walls, cleaned all the doorknobs in the house, and so many other tasks I'd never normally do.
I finally crashed around 5 AM last night and today I feel terrible. The rash all over my body is still there and slow to clear. My eyelids are red and deflated looking and they hurt. I didn't take my steroid pills because I needed to let my body calm down. I hated being so energetic that I was bouncing off the walls. My feet are killing me where I ran around cleaning and doing so much work. My husband told me to take it easy for a few days.
So yeah...I hate periwinkles. I really don't know what to do about it. It's hard to kill off a plant that covers a 25% of 2 acres of land. I've poisoned off some of it near our house but there is so much of it. It's a very invasive plant.