LOL. Well, that is certainly interesting. It has been quite a while since I sat in a shrub naked (or like forever), but I hope that you had a lot of fun.

More than likely, those red, itchy bumps are caused by contact dermatitis. Contact dermatitis is an allergic reaction that causes the skin to become irritated. It could have been caused by the bush itself or other plants in the area. Some plants have a rough leaf surface that consists of tiny fibrous "hairs." These small fibers can become embedded in the skin and cause irritation.

Technically, poison ivy and poison oak are also forms of contact dermatitis, but the allergic reaction in most people is from the oils in the plants. People can have allergic reactions to nearly any kind of plant. Virginia Creeper is a plant that looks very much like poison ivy but has five leaves instead of three. Virginia Creeper is commonly mistaken for poison ivy not just because of the way it looks but because some people have gotten contact dermatitis after coming into contact with it due to the prickly hairs on the underside of the leaves.

The itchy bumps should begin to subside shortly, but you can also use a poison ivy wash like ones made by Tecnu. These washes help to clean the plant oils from the surface of the skin and can eliminate a lot of the itching. Tecnu poison ivy wash is usually only effective right after exposure, but the poison ivy gel can provide additional relief later on. A hydrocortisone cream will also help reduce itching and dry up the skin rash. You can get this at Wal-Mart or Target for a couple of bucks. Mot importantly, keep it clean. If it is itching too terribly, you can also use an ice pack.

An over-the-counter allergy medicine like Benadryl will also help clear it up. If it does not go away in a couple of days or it gets dramatically worse, I would make an appointment with a doctor.

OK, I can't say that I've ever done that before...........I'm sure you raised a few eyebrows!!

Although, I have had a similar experience......not going to go into any details..............

The reaction is actually caused by a sensitization from the shrubs. To get rid of the itching you need to put some cortisone cream on them. Also, take some benadryl. If this does not help within a couple days, you need to go see a doctor. They would most likely give you prednisone, which is a steroid commonly used for things like this. I ended up having to get the prednisone.

You're going to think I'm an absolute kook for suggesting this, I'm sure (but touche', LOL!). But I wouldn't suggest it if I hadn't seen it work, and if I hadn't originally gotten the advice from a teaching hospital attached to a medical school:

Milk. Raw, if possible.

A year ago, a tornado went over our neighborhood and was treetop level just a couple of houses away from us, almost touching down but not quite. It threw a lot of branches around, including a bunch of poison ivy that got dumped on our yard in tiny pieces.

My littlest, then 4, liked all the "pretty leaves" and made a bouquet of them. It wasn't until the next day, when her face was swollen and her eye had swollen shut, that my husband noticed a rash on his own arm and realized what those leaves were.

Her face was scary--at first I wondered if her big sister had slapped her, which I couldn't imagine, but that's what it looked like. So I got on Google to see if I needed to take her to the ER.

What I found was an article by the teaching hospital that suggested cold compresses of milk. I tried it, and within 10 minutes, she could open her eye a tiny slit, and the swelling in her face looked a bit less. Within 1/2 hour, she could open her eye to the point I could see the white of it, and the swelling on her face was much less. Within 45 minutes, her eye didn't look very swollen at all, and almost all the red and swelling was gone from her skin.

My husband continued using over-the-counter products for nearly 2 weeks, while his rash worsened. He finally gave in to my "kookiness" and used a milk compress, just milk on a washcloth, one time for 20 minutes, and the rash pretty much vanished.

We used raw milk, because that's what we have. It's got active corticosteroids that are denatured by heat, so if you use storebought milk it might not work as quickly for you as it did for me. It also has active enzymes.

I've since passed along to this information to several friends who needed it, and they reported back that it worked for them, too; both the ones with access to real milk and the ones using pasteurized milk.

Have you tried aloe vera. It has natural skin soothers, which alleviate hives and irritation. Urine is also full of natural vitamins and minerals. Society has taught us that urine is a dirty by product of the body, but it could help with the rash you have experienced.