Walnut tree allergy

[William Roscoe]

About a month ago a friend gave me a large walnut tree for free, just for cutting it down and hauling it off. When I got there I saw why. It was about 10 ft from his trailer. He said he had insurance so I cut it down, uneventfully. I hauled it home and layed it down in front of my saw to cut later when I had the time. The next day my forearms and hands broke out in a rash that looked like poison ivey, ect. It took a couple weeks for it to go away. Yesterday I cut it on the mill and today the same thing is happening again. I've cut walnut before without problems. I don't know the different types of walnut but this one looked more greenish in color when it was freshly cut. Anybody have this reaction to walnut in the past??

 

[Willemjm]

One's immune system is pretty complex. I use to be highly allergic to Walnut, so bad it landed me in hospital. Today, not a thing, I have completely outgrown the allergy.

 

[CrealBilly]

Yep at one point I sawed so many black walnut logs that I would break out in hives and could not breath very well and become spacy. One time while running the sawmill off site hives got so bad I had to quickly strip down into my bare nakedness and jump in a nearby creek. Ivy Dry Super View attachment 5483 and BenadrylView attachment 5484 were close friend for a while during that time... But here recently I did a small amount of Walnut wood working in the shop and built my grandson a rocker. I'm happy to announce I had no adverse reaction other than slight itch that was taken care of by a shower. The only difference I can tell is sawing logs on the sawmill involved dust from the bark and there was no bark on the boards I worked with in the shop. So perhaps MY reactions were tied to Black Walnut bark more so than Black Walnut wood :dontknow:.

Anyways this thread is making me itch just thinking about it.

 

[William Roscoe]

Last nite my itching continued to get worse and my throat started to swell and I was having trbl breathing so I took a benedryl and it improved. I was hoping it was related to the bark so maybe after it dries I can still make something with it. I'm hoping I'll out grow this because walnut is so pretty and you can get tired of just oak and maple.

 

[Jeff]

Last nite my itching continued to get worse and my throat started to swell and I was having trbl breathing so I took a benedryl and it improved. I was hoping it was related to the bark so maybe after it dries I can still make something with it. I'm hoping I'll out grow this because walnut is so pretty and you can get tired of just oak and maple.

Jeff's idea about the bark is probably correct because most of the toxin (juglone) is produced in the roots, but it's found to different degrees in all parts of the tree. The bark and immediate inner layer is the nutrient transport system of the tree so that fits with higher concentrations of the toxin coming from the roots.

Sensitization is a cumulative process within the immune system. All is well for a time but suddenly it shows up unexpectedly and subsequent exposures can be progressively more severe. Your recent episode is called anaphylaxis and your symptoms are typical of anaphylactic shock. This is serious and can be life threatening.

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/anaphylaxis/DS00009/

Be careful, this is nothing to fool with and home remedies don't cut it. You should consult with your doctor and get his advice about treatment options. I keep these around the house because of yellow jacket stings.

http://www.epipen.com/about-epipen/when-to-use-your-epipen

 

[Jim Wallace]

Jeff is exactly right. The hives and other skin reactions are very annoying, but the respiratory reaction is quite dangerous. Get advice from your doctor before further exposure!

 

[William Roscoe]

Thanks for the heads up. I did run it by my PCP this AM and he said essentially the same thing. I'm OK as long as I have an epipen on hand which I already do because of bee allergies for the kids.

 

[scsmith42]

I too have alergic reactions to black walnut. As a result, I always wear long sleeve shirts and a very fine mesh dust respirator when milling or otherwise working with it.

Same things goes for milling spalted logs.