tetanus jab, side effects?

[sansouci]

having to type with 1 hand as had tetanus jab last night due to cat bite. feeling rough & can't use arm v. well -- painful. is this normal?

[kid]

I had a tetanus but they did it in my bum!
Didn't have any pain from the injection. Is it possible that you tensed your arm as they did the injection? It might have caused bruising.

[gingernut]

yes, I've had a sore arm with a tetanus jab too, it took several days to wear off. Did they give you a patient information leaflet, or do you know what the vaccine was called? Is it swollen? What do you mean by `feeling rough'?

[sansouci]

bad pain, can't lift arm or use it. am on penicillan (sp?) also. spent 5 hours waiting in A&E ^yesterday. not anxious to go back but am worried.

[sansouci]

cat bit left hand. haven't had tetanus booster for at least 25 years so was given the works. something called gamaglobulin (?) i think too, in the bum. in bed all day. dh going mad but... feel too unwell to help him.

[gingernut]

Well, I'm not sure this is what you would have been given, but this page gives a list of possible side effects: here and it also states that there are no interactions with other medicines, so the other medicine should be OK. I remember the pain in my arm being pretty bad and I do recall having to move the affected arm with my other arm IYSWIM.

Maybe give NHS Direct a ring?

[sansouci]

thank u gingernut. u r a star. will call gp in am.

[gingernut]

Sorry, do you mean you had the tetanus jab in your arm and it's this arm that's sore? Or was it in your bum and the arm the cat bit that's sore? The antibiotic (the penicillin) is to prevent infection from the bite BTW.

[gingernut]

That OK BTW, hope you're feeling better soon.

NHS Direct is on 0845 4647 if want some advice before the morning, and their website is here .

If you look at this page it says that if the wound is contaminated a dose of tetanus antibodies is given as well as the vaccine. This is probably what you got in your bum (the vaccine is a safe form of the tetanus toxin which stimulates your body to produce antibodies, but antibody production takes a while so you also get a dose of the antibodies to get to work immediately).

Sorry for the ramble!

[sansouci]

thank u!! now i know what is wrong, or rather that nothing is wrong, feel bettr. hope side effects wear off soon as am alone with crawling ds tomorrow. doubt i can lift him.

[gingernut]

sansouci, how's your arm?

[sansouci]

Hello Gingernut & anyone else who's interested... as it happened, I was given the WRONG INJECTION at the hospital!!! The tetanus was ok but instead of gammaglobulin, I was given rhesus negative serum or whatever it is that they give to pg mums whose baby's a different blood group. I'm O+ so the effects were not good. This was why I was feeling so ill. The aftershocks are still going on with me firing my gp, etc. Feeling sad today, especially. Family & I have had a very difficult time as a result of this mistake, which in fact all began when I accidentally locked ds in the car & couldn't get him out. Long story. sigh.

[gingernut]

thanks for the update sansouci. Are you feeling OK physically now? at the hospital. Poor you .

[sansouci]

yes, gingernut. at least i think so. i'm fairly certain i'm not anaemic but am quite worn out by all the fuss.

[Jimjams]

good grief sansouci.... hope you're feeling better soon...