How concerned should I be about my reaction to a tetanus shot?

April 20, 2018 5:28 PM

I had a workplace incident (kitchen stuff), and as a precaution, the doctor gave me a tetanus shot last Tuesday morning. It's now Saturday morning, and the area around the injection is still swollen and warm to the touch, and damn, it hurts worse than the finger I mangled. A couple of days, sure, but this just seems to be getting worse.

This being Japan, and me being back at work, I won't have a chance to get to a doctor until after they close, and on weekends, the only thing open are emergency hospitals that are pretty much only for serious emergencies (sick children, dying people, that sort of stuff). Is this reaction something to be worried about enough to go to that level of hospital? Is there danger of this getting worse, or am I just not used to the normal effects of a tetanus shot?

posted by Ghidorah to Health & Fitness (23 answers total)

In the US, I would call my doctor's office or the nurse line associated with my health insurance and ask a professional for real medical advice about how serious I should be taking this before hieing my ass off to the hospital. Do you have access to anything along those lines?
posted by Anticipation Of A New Lover's Arrival, The at 5:44 PM on April 20, 2018 [1 favorite]

Some people react worse than others, but both the one I had as a teenager and the one I had a couple years ago did this for about a week each time. My dad swore up and down that using the arm more would help it work itself through faster. I'm not really convinced that was true, but, well, there are worse things to try.
posted by Sequence at 5:48 PM on April 20, 2018

Response by poster: Sadly, no, I don't really have access to a doctor I can call. I know Ask isn't a medical service, but at this point, it's the best I can do other than webmd and assorted Google links. And, honestly, I'm at work, we're incredibly short staffed, and me leaving and going to the hospital would be a pretty solid disaster in the kitchen.
posted by Ghidorah at 5:49 PM on April 20, 2018

Have you tried taking an anti-inflammatory like ibuprofen? Sometimes that helps with things like sore throats. Might make it hurt less.
posted by amtho at 5:50 PM on April 20, 2018

I had a DPT vaccine last Monday after stepping on a nail on Saturday. This was done at Wal-Mart, so I could either contact the pharmacist who administered the shot or my doctor's office (which might have the updated medical history by now). Are these options available to you?
What about a children's health hotline, administered by the area health department? While adult reactions and children's reactions may vary, they could give you advice.
Weekend accidents are not helpful, in part because of the lack of immediate medical care. Same thing for follow-up care.
posted by TrishaU at 5:52 PM on April 20, 2018

If you really can't talk to a doctor or nurse, maybe try a applying a cold pack, and taking acetaminophen. That was the advice I got when I was in quite a lot of pain from a recent immunization, including the advice to move the arm [this was not a tetanus shot though].
If you are worried about an allergic reaction, you could also take an antihistamine like Benadryl.
posted by gudrun at 5:58 PM on April 20, 2018

Response by poster: Unfortunately I'm dealing with a language barrier and not even sure if a hotline exists, or if I'd be able to understand the person I was talking to. My Japanese is okay, but not exactly good at medical conversations. I'll give the ibuprofen a shot. Thanks.
posted by Ghidorah at 6:02 PM on April 20, 2018

Response by poster: Thanks, Gotanda. I had a bad enough reaction to a flu shot that I've been told I can't have another unless I'm in a hospital with an icu, so that gave me a bit of a worry about this. I've had a slight headache, but no breathing problems, itchiness or fever.
posted by Ghidorah at 6:26 PM on April 20, 2018 [1 favorite]

My doctor wanted me to have a tetanus shot a couple weeks ago after a deep scrape injury. I asked her if they hurt less nowadays since the last one I had 20 years ago. It laid me low for about 10 days and had residual pain for several weeks. She said it's still a very painful injection and many people have a lot of pain from a tetanus injection site for a week or longer. I declined the shot. It was the worst injection pain I ever experienced. So pain after a few days is entirely normal for many people.
posted by a humble nudibranch at 6:29 PM on April 20, 2018

Yeah, this sounds normal. They do immunizations deep in the muscle tissue so it acts like a time-release, as opposed to in the bloodstream where it processes out relatively quickly. Yeah, it's painful and it's hot because that's your body gobbling up it's medicine. A cold pack will help.
posted by sexyrobot at 8:01 PM on April 20, 2018 [1 favorite]

After my last tetanus shot, my tricep was about twice its normal size for a week, and sore for a few more days. Your reaction sounds normal, albeit painful and frustrating. Nthing moving your arm more, and cold packs when you're home.
posted by Owlcat at 8:31 PM on April 20, 2018 [1 favorite]

Ice packs when you can, ibuprofen if you can, and you might take an antihistamine daily for the next week. Between the three you can probably mitigate the worst of the reaction.
posted by Lyn Never at 9:16 PM on April 20, 2018

Your description sounds pretty similar to the after-effects of the tetanus shots I’ve had. Basically felt like someone whacked me in the deltoid with a baseball bat for about a week. It was tender and warm and smarted like mad. On the plus side, you won’t have to get another one for 10 years.
posted by Autumnheart at 9:30 PM on April 20, 2018

This is normal for my experience of tetanus shots. My arm tends to be in pain for 5-7 days and feel kind of weak for 2-3 weeks past that. I also feel like every tetanus shot I've had as an adult had worse side effects than the previous ones. I wouldn't worry in your situation.
posted by augustimagination at 10:06 PM on April 20, 2018

Sounds about like the reaction I had to the one I got in December. I found it did help to move my arm around - like, flap it like a wing, raising the elbow up and down. Something like ibuprofen will help, too.
posted by rtha at 10:16 PM on April 20, 2018

You can call the AMDA Medical Information Center. They can advise you on medical matters in English and refer you to a facility that can help you in English.
I took the liberty of looking at your profile, and the prefecture you live in has a website for searching for doctors who speak English, but the whole website is in Japanese (angry slow clap for whoever designed this site!!!).
I'll memail the page to you and if you like I can search for someone close to where you are.
posted by sacchan at 11:14 PM on April 20, 2018 [2 favorites]

I had a similar situation recently, in that I am in a foreign country and my language skills are not amazing. I found this free 24 hours nurses hotline in Houston that doesn't require insurance- I didn't tell them I wasn't from the area and they didn't ask. They just wanted to know a name and date of birth, which I am sure you could make up if you wanted They were able to give me some good information and relieve some of my worries.

Website, and phone number: [phone] or toll-free at 1-855-577-7979
posted by Bibliogeek at 4:26 AM on April 21, 2018 [1 favorite]

I had a tetanus shot a few weeks ago and had a very similar reaction—sore at first, but the worst was about 3 days later when an area about the size of a US quarter was raised, red, and warm to the touch. Doc advised this was somewhat normal and that I could use warm compresses on it to relieve discomfort (along with ibuprofen). She said if it was still bad after a few more days to come in so they could check that there wasn’t an abscess. I found that the worst was day 4 and then it started lessening, slowly but steadily. It was definitely noticeable for about 2 weeks. I still get a twinge occasionally.
TLDR; sounds normal, unfortunately.
posted by msbubbaclees at 5:51 AM on April 21, 2018

Vaccines work by getting your immune system to respond, and your immune system's response also includes heat, inflammation and soreness. IANAD, but I think this is normal.
posted by theora55 at 9:39 AM on April 21, 2018

Chiming in to add another data point that this is a normal level of reaction to tetanus shot for some people, including me. After my first one as an adult, I had ridiculous muscle pain and weakness, and strong flu-like symptoms. I called my doctor freaking out and he was like, "Oh, I figured you already knew how your body reacted to these so I didn't warn you, yeah that's normal." All subsequent tetanus shots I've had since have resulted in similar, if possibly less severe (or maybe it just felt that way because I knew what to expect?) reactions.

So if it were me I'd take some ibuprofen, drink some water, and try to do some very gentle movement of the affected area because that always seems to help. I'd hie myself to the ER if I developed a severe fever, a rash, dizziness, or trouble breathing.
posted by rhiannonstone at 4:34 PM on April 21, 2018

Tetanus shots are infamous for how painful they are, for some people. If it doesn’t get better in another couple of days consider getting checked out for, as pointed out above, an abscess but unfortunately the soreness sounds well within the bounds of normal for this kind of immunization.

Minimizing the inflammation is your best bet to feel more comfortable and yes, moving your arm around increases blood flow to the area and does make it go away faster, even as it is painful and annoying in the immediate.
posted by lydhre at 6:14 AM on April 22, 2018 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Thanks everyone. It's starting to feel less terrible today. Yesterday was pretty unpleasant, but the advil helped. I've got a follow up visit on Tuesday, and will check with the doctor then. Thanks again.
posted by Ghidorah at 6:54 AM on April 22, 2018 [3 favorites]

Just to add a data point:

I read this and then a few days later, got a check-up, and they gave me a tetanus. Next day, sore and tender. Day after, swollen and very sore. Sore and swollen, day three and four (aka I got it Wednesday, and Thursday, Friday and Saturday still swollen and sore). Day four (Sunday): still a bump, but not sore.

I remember getting a pneumonia shot several years ago, and that one really hurt for a week or more, I couldn't lift my arm without it hurting. This one hurt much less.
posted by Marie Mon Dieu at 4:18 PM on April 29, 2018