Swollen arm after dtp jab ...normal? Quick please panicing!

[charliecat]

DD2 (4) had the dtp jab yesterday and her arm is swollen up really badly...is this a normal reaction...

I believe it is normal, but why not ring NHS direct?

Charliecat - don't know if this is any help but dd had a reaction to one of the early jabs which took the form of a big lump - is this what your dd has or is the swelling more general?

good thinking!

is it her whole arm or just a lump where the needle went in?

just for your info, I had to have a late tetanus injection (when I broke my nose) and I must say, it bloody well hurt my arm and made it all stiff.

Charliecat, dd had a really bad reaction/infection after hers. See this thread . She ended up on antibiotics and is now fully recovered, but it wasn't like any reaction I'd expect and I was very concerned at the time. It was a funny greenish colour (as well as being red hot, hard and swollen) and kept getting wider. I drew a circle round it at night so I could be sure I wasn't imagining things, but it was 10x8cms by the time the antibiotics started working. I'd keep a close eye on it and note any changes and if it's no better or worsening over the next day or so I'd take her to have it looked at. In the first instance though I'd call NHS direct who can advise you if it's normal or not. Dd's was far from normal! I did take a photo at the time and can CAT you if you think it'll help you decide if it's normal.

right NHS direct is just music playing, havent managed to get an answer as yet. its the same size as me grabbing her by the arm with my whole hand IYKWIM its not green(yet Aero!) and its like there the hole where the needle went in..then explotion of irritation.

That's how DS2 was on his leg after his 2nd (3month) Dtp jab, it took a few days to clear up, but he was fine.

It took a couple of days before I started to be really worried about it cc - that's when I noticed it greenish - before that it was red, very hot, hard and swollen. She had it Monday pm and the (what I though was pretty normal) reaction set in fairly quickly. It was the colour and the blistering which was there Tues afternoon and worse on Weds morning which really concerned me and after school on the Weds it was huge (was a bit annoyed at the time that school hadn't called me despite giving her cold tissues to put on it during the day as it was hurting her!), which is when I called the GP who saw her straightaway.

Actually. now zebra has mentioned it, ds2 had similar on his leg after his baby jabs (2nd set), but they also settled quickly and cleared up after a few days. Dd's was most unusual and had to be reported. It was more of an infection than a reaction (IMO), as dd has never reacted to anything in her life.

dd has has a few mysterious allergic reactions that we dont know what set them off, shes even woken up looking like frank bruno with her swollen face and hands which is quite scary!
Shes playing a treasure hunt now so ok in herself.
I hate how these things always seem worse when the doctors are closed

charliecat- would be worth getting it seen by an emergency doc this weekend if you're worried (our out of hours doctors service is very good) - it could be an infection from the injection, or sometimes reactions like this can occur in response to the tetanus part - I think the tetanus reaction is more common in boosters.

Will do if it gets any bigger

Message withdrawn

Yes Lockets - I'm totally convinced it was to do with the needle more than the vax. But the GP wasn't about to admit to that (but mentioned infection and prescribed the anti-biotics anyway), saying she'd never seen a 'reaction' like that before. They didn't use the word infection in the report, but I made sure ALL the details were included. Also, when i went to have Ds1's flu jab done and we saw the same nurse, she made sure his arm was washed in the treatment room sink before administering it! If that's not a roundabout admission of possible infection, I don't know what is. Main thing is though that even if they admitted nothing, they treated it as necessary and followed up the treatment properly and all is well now.
Cc, infection is possible, though unusual, so I'd just be keeping a close eye on it, but hopefully it will clear up by itself in a day or two. Have CAT'd you anyway.

it may have benn more to do with tecnique than the needle or vaccine as all of that is sterile so risk of infection is almost negligible. was dd very wriggly when she had her jab?

No Laylasmum, she wasn't. Sorry, meant not necessarily the needle itself, but possible speck of dirt on her arm, pushed in by needle, or the fact that we'd used anaesthetic gel which the nurse wiped off with a piece of cotton wool only - not swabbed. We've used the gel before umpteen times with no previous problems, so can't imagine it was that.

laylasmum- they don't always swab before injection though so you can get an infection from your own skin....

if needle doesn't touch table then shouldn't really be prob but its not good practice.

if the skin is generally clean anyway then your own natural skin flora should cause any harm.its not general practice to swab skin now as the skin needs to be left untouched to air dry for at least 3 mins before any injection is given for it to have any benefit which most people don't do

obviously meant to write shouldn't cause any harm !!!

no swab before jab here One side of her arm looks like the hulk Shes also coming down with the cold as her immune system is crap and it cant fight too much at once ...