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What makes a tetanus shot hurt so??

By September 11, 2009 - 2:54pm
 
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I was an idiot yesterday and caught my ring finger in the car door, bled like a waterfall, fainted on Haight Ashbury in San Francisco. Luckily my man and sis were there to help. The ambulance guys wrapped my finger and then we went to emergency.
Luckily nothing is broken and they glued the top of my finger back on. The clenaing out hurt like hell but they advised a tetanus shot and that hurt almost worse..at least today my whole arm is killing me and I can barely lift it. Why is this?

Why is a tetanus shot necessary? If they cleaned the wound out so well, why did I need it?
My finger it seems will end up being fine...I still haven't been able to bear to look at it as the glue has to set and I am squeamish anyhow. Everone else who saw it was impressed!!!! LOL

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Hi there rlyons,

Sorry to hear about your finger! Sounds painful just thinking about it :-(

The tetanus vaccine is normally given as an adult if there was something rusty or dirty going into your body, especially if it is a deep puncture wound. It is a VERY painful injection and can cause some of the symptoms you've mentioned. If your symptoms don't go away within a week of the injection date, I would recommend seeing your doctor.

You are right about Tetanus, it is actually not that common to get the vaccine anymore if you have had a thorough cleaning of the wound. Good Luck! I hope you feel better soon.

September 14, 2009 - 5:42am

Three days later and it hurts...but a little less. I still can't sleep on my right side though and it still hurts to lift the arm. The injection site is very red, almost like a sun burn. Any thoughts?
I'm kind of regretting having had the shot, as it seems that tetanus is not very common in this country, least of all in someone relatively young and healthy with no exposure to farm animals, etc.
I can't paint or exercise much right now either and am very tired and slightly nauseous. It seems that the (preventative) cure was way worse than the injury!

September 13, 2009 - 10:20pm
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