I Would Prefer General Once a Year Immunizing.

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So, Saturday night, my dog got into the dirty clothes basket, knocking it over so the clothes got on the floor. In order to keep the dog out, I decided to wash them. I put them in the washer and my dog kept trying to come into the garage with me. I was exhausted because it was past bedtime and I kept trying to get my dog to stay in the house since it would only take less than a minute to start the load of clothing, While putting my dog in the house, I stepped on a rake that had fallen over so the tongs were all pointing upward, toward the ceiling of the garage. Even though I was wearing these slipper boots were half way decent soles, the tong went right through the boot and into my foot and it was coated with a layer of nasty dirt from the yard since it's an aerator rake. It felt like a knife stabbing my foot and I was really freaked out after I moved and the tong came back out. Then I felt this searing pain like part of my foot had been sliced in two and I expected this mad gush of blood but to my surprise, it didn't bleed much. For this was truly a penetrating, puncture-type wound and true to form, it didn't bleed hardly at all but it hurt like hell! So I sat in the floor of my living room wondering what to do. I decided since it wasn't bleeding much it couldn't be that bad. So, I soaked it in hot water and hydrogen peroxide, dried it off, put Neosporin on it and bandaids. It didn't hurt too bad so I went to bed but in the middle of the night, I awoke to a lot of pain. It was really hurting then. By morning, it was a little better. Placing any weight on my heel was out of the question since the pain was intense and shot up my foot. So, that Sunday I sat around wondering if I should go get a Tetanus shot. I didn't want to mess with the expense of the ER so I thought on Monday, I would call the county health department and see if they could rustle one up for me.

Sunday night I emailed a picture of the wound to someone I knew, asking if it looked infected, and he told me I should go get a Tetanus shot. I was feeling really weird, shaky and weak, and it was still impossible to put any weight on the heel without intense pain. So, I thought, where could I get one, and somehow I intuited a local twenty-four hour seven day a week pharmacy that give flu shots. It said online they also gave Tetanus but I had to call to be sure since you can't always go by what it says online. Sure enough, they not only administered them, I could go right over and get one for only something like, sixty five dollars, compared to thousands and thousands of dollars a hospital stay would accrue.

So, I went over and all the pharmacy had was the Tetanus with the Pertussis, not just the Tetanus alone, but I felt so strange I said, fine whatever, just give me that shot already. I hadn't had Pertussis vaccination since childhood anyway. The pharmacist explained if I was ever around any newborns in a hospital, the staff wouldn't let me in without proof a a Pertussis booster since the illness is showing up lately in newborns. At first I thought he was going to tell me since he didn't just the Tetanus, he couldn't give me the shot and I was prepared to beg on my hands and knees because by then I was really paranoid about catching it. It was great news to my ears that I could have both vaccines, there wasn't any problem with it.

Low and behold while I sat waiting in a chair, something like ten ladies showed up and the cue for the pharmacy grew within minutes. I couldn't believe this mad rush at eleven p m right when I was about to get my beloved Tetanus immunization! People kept getting in line! I thought I would be waiting quite a while but the tech handled them all while the pharmacist came out and took me in this small shot room and gave me the immunization.

The next day, I felt so much better, I couldn't believe it! I didn't realize I had been sick until then. I could actually put some weight on my heel without the feeling my foot was being split in two and it only got better from there. I am convinced if I hadn't gotten that Tetanus shot, things would still be pretty bad and going even further downhill, and it would be too late for the vaccine to work by now anyway. I feel so much better now, I wish I could have a wellness vaccine once a year. If such a vaccine existed, I would be first in line.
I really feel bad for anyone who doesn't believe in the benefit of vaccines. Why suffer for no reason? Getting the Tetanus shot saved me a lot of suffering and expense.

I discussed it with someone who is on the side of anti vaxxers and think they should have a choice about whether they let their kids be immunized and I realized, if I took my dog to the vet with the same explanation as the anti vaxxers, that it was perfectly natural for him to catch illnesses such as parvo or distemper, since he has an immune system and fighting the germs would only strengthen it the way nature intended, and I was refusing any vaccinations because of my disbelief in their benefits, and then he caught something because of my rationale and suffered a lot or died, the vet could take the evidence to the D.A. and he might charge me with a felony because I didn't do what I could to prevent my dog from suffering. I told him I thought the parents of any child who gets sick and has to be hospitalized due not being immunized should be charged with felonies just as I would if I stubbornly refused to vaccinate my pet. The person I discussed this with abandoned the conversation but after what I experienced with this Tetanus thing, I would never want anyone to go through a painful illness because they could not obtain vaccination.

I'm glad it worked out for you. I'm not sure how getting a vaccination would cure an already present infection, though.

I think the Tetanus bacteria was in my foot and my immune system hadn't neutralized it because my shot wasn't current. After I got the Dtap, my immune system knew what to do to stop it from infecting my entire body so it did a better job of eradicating it. I have done a lot of gardening in the yard, so there is a chance I have been exposed through that as well. If I didn't actually come down with Tetanus symptoms, I would have had the bacterial infection in my foot that would have lingered. Next day, my foot felt ten times better though. Although I don't know for sure it was the vaccine that did it, I suspect it was since my foot was doing so poorly and then after the vaccine, it improved to the point I could walk on it fairly easily. Infections do not generally clear up that fast on their own.
From now on, I am going to make sure to keep this vaccine current since I am amazed by how much better I feel. I even have more energy now, and feel more clear headed. These little bacteria are all over the place so the body can use a boost on fighting them from time to time, that goes for Pertussis as well.

It's standard procedure for doctors/nurses to give tetanus shots for that sort of injury.

It's the same thing as giving rabies shots in order to prevent rabies caused by an ACTUAL EXPOSURE to rabies, not merely to vaccinate against rabies.

In this case, there might have been an ACTUAL EXPOSURE to tetanus (though tetanus in Western countries is extremely rare). Thus, Ana was given a tetanus shot in order to prevent tetanus.

It's also similar to being given gamma globulin when one gets exposed to something like measles.

I've gotten tetanus shots becuse of puncture wounds.Tetnaus is most likely to occur in a deep wound where there is no oxygen or the presence of manure.Since I garden and sometimes handle manure I think it's a good idea.
The health department here does them free or cheap for low income.I don't think you had Tetnaus,when symptoms show its too late usually.They used to call it Lockjaw,a very painful way to die.
It's important to keep a dogs rabies shots up to date,not only to prevent the spread but once symptoms show there is no cure.As for parvo,if you have ever seen a puppy die of it,you'd vaccinate.Most older dogs don't get it becuse of mature immune systems.It can be spread just by walking where parvo is present in the soil.In certain circumstances it can live in the soil for up to a year.You don't just vaccinate your pet to protect it,but to also protect other people's.

Maybe this is a differnce of implementation but tetnus shot lasts about 10 years and is pretty effective.

http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/ask-the-expe ... tanus-jab/

If somebody gets any kind of puncture wound, or any kind of severe wound, a booster tetanus shot is always given as a matter of procedure.

Well, that depends on whether there has been a tetanus booster in the past 10 years or you can't remember.

But I doubt it would turn around this foot infection in a few hours (overnight). After all, they tell you the flu shot won't be fully effective for 2 weeks. An immunization works by generating antibodies to an antigen; this doesn't happen in a moment.

Anyway, I'm about to dine so I'd rather not think about manure in penetrating wounds just now.

That's true. They do ask the question. But I find that they are really quick about giving the tetanus shot.

I understand that it is standard procedure to recommend a Tetanus booster in these types of situations. I am not a highly educated person but the way I understand it is that a booster vaccine is an injection of neutralized bacteria designed to trigger your body's immune system to develop antibodies over the course of several weeks. This would seem to be of little use to a body that is already fighting real, un-neutralized bacteria. Certainly not over the course of a few hours.

Now, a tetanus immune globulin (TIG) injection would contain antibodies that would be immediately useful to the immune system. However, I believe that treatment would be undertaken in a hospital along with a prescription of antibiotics. The CDC does recommend a Tetanus booster as a preventative against future infection.

I am not entirely against vaccines. I believe that they have their place. I also believe that they are entirely over prescribed in this culture. If you're likely to be getting dirty stab wounds a Tetanus shot is probably warranted, though I believe the actual rate of reported infections in the U.S. is under 30 per year.

The evidence for the booster shot curing the infection in this case is purely circumstantial. Likewise, using this case as a reason to denigrate people who feel it is their natural right to choose whether or not to inject themselves, their children, or their dogs with large quantities of toxins seems rather unsubstantiated.

I am a rough and tumble guy. I have had many deep wounds that stopped hurting like hell overnight.

I'm glad it worked out for you. I'm still not sure how getting a vaccine would cure an already present infection, though.

And, yes. I have had a Tetanus booster in the last 10 years.

I didn't get it checked at a clinic. When I was younger, I stepped on nails all the time and since I had a series of tdaps which are tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis, I didn't necessarily receive any boosters afterward. I was notorious for always hurting my feet and had to go get stitches more than once for cuts. Once I cut the top of my foot open on an salvage auto in a neighbor's backyard and had to get something like eight stitches. Another time I cut the bottom of my foot open while walking in a creek and my mother told me to never go into them barefoot. I was with a neighbor at a time and when I think I swam in that creek now I wonder what got into me because I won't go anywhere near it and find it repulsive. I feel contaminated for ever getting in it. Another time I had a sewing needle lodged in my foot for something like a month. No one believed it was there. Finally my mother took pity on me and took me to the ER to have it x rayed. She said she wanted to finally prove to me it wasn't real and then the doctor showed her the x ray and sure enough, there was a needle in the heel of my foot. They had to call in a surgeon to remove it and I was in the hospital a few days and on crutches a couple of weeks until the incision healed and stitches removed. This is the third heel injury I've had and I was even wearing shoes and everything. I haven't gone barefoot in years. Learned my lesson there. Thought I would be safe but guess not.
When it was nail puncture wounds, my mother soaked my foot in a warm saline solution and they got better on their own. I also stepped on stickers and I always hated having them removed.

What I did in this case was wait twenty-four hours before going to a pharmacy where they give various immunizations, mostly for flu. The pharmacist never saw my foot. I paid out of my own pocket for a dtap.

I was thinking maybe since I have been immunized for tetanus before, more than once, I have a little immunity, it's just my system is sluggish and needed a tune up. I felt much better after getting the vaccine. I can't explain why.
I had this horrible pain where the rake tong went into my foot and it was like, really bad. I expect some pain but nothing that intense. Plus it looked kinda strange. I received the vaccine about ten thirty at night, went home, went to bed, got up the next morning and could walk on my heel again and it looked better. That's why I wonder if the Tetanus was trying to take hold in that location...