Emergency Tetanus shot - in unvaccinated child

[mamamich]

Hi all,

I am new here. My 7 year old is unvaccinated and
last night he stepped on a *rusty nail*. I took
him to the hospital, as I assumed we would have
to vaccinate with tentatus.

The hospital was amazingly supportive and didn't
freak out that he is unvaccinated, and if anything
they kept mentioning how healthy he is.

Our Pediatrician is excellent and I wanted to wait
to see what he thought so I asked the emergency
doc if he'd be OK with us waiting.The doc at the
hospital said it would be fine to wait until today
to talk to our regular doc.

So... our doc said not to worry about it. His position
is that tetanus is so rare that he wouldn't
recommend doing the shot (gotta love that, eh?)


Anyway, just wondering if anyone else out
there has chosen not to do tetanus shots
even after an injury. It would be nice to
hear some stories - and also help me in
my decision to go without the shot.
I trust my doc... but it's still worrying!

Also... someone mentioned in an old thread
that there wasn't thimerosal in many vaccinations
now. Well, you can't get Tetanus shot without
thimerosal yet. It's isn't manufactured without
it except with DTP.

So... I had/have the choice of exposure to
definite toxins or risking the extreemly rare
possible incidence of tetanus, the
disease. Like my doc reminded me, a lot
of adults are unvaccinated for this and
cut themselves on all kinds of things doing
DIY etc... My husband certainly falls
into this catagory. His last tetanus shot
was many years ago...

thanks,
~michele~

[mattemma04]

You could do some herbal,gse,or sodium ascorbate soaks.Or try homeopathy.My kiddos 5 and 2 are also unvaccinated and have had their share of wounds(some even unnoticed till later). It IS hard not to worry at times like these.It was great to read the support you got from the medical side.Shoot, I have heard of doctors pushing the tetanus vaccine for a bee sting!
I hope your son heals well. Hugs!
Sara

[momto l&a]

As I understand it by the time you get a shot for tetanus for some injury its to late to do any good anyway.

Wishing your son a speedy recovery!

[mamamich]

having vaccination after injury

Hi,

Thanks for the responses. From what I have read, and there is conflicting info, the shot can help if you have it within 72 hours of injury. But on one site, it seemed that maybe that wasn't true.

I don't know... My son seems fine today. The wound did bleed when it happened, which I read on some old threads was a good thing... I cleaned it with soap and water and put some breastmilk on it -- the normal procedure in our house.


The stinky thing is that it can take up to a month for tetanus to develop. Anyone know any info on that? I guess I should go and get some homeopathics... thanks for the info on that.

love,michele

[mamamich]

By the way, Sara, can you explain what the soaks are exactly?
thanks,

michele

[Mirzam]

My DD cut her knee very badly on a barbed wire fence while at a farm camp a few years ago. The farmer's wife knew how we felt about vaccinations so she bled the cut and cleaned and dressed it. She also gave DD raw beet juice to drink, which DD didn't really care for, to keep the blood thinned. DD was fine. It was a very deep cut and she does have a scar but no tetanus!

[thepeach80]

From what I've read, if you've cut yourself and you got tetanus in there and you're going to get it, no vax is going to help. The vax has to be in your system for so long before it helps so basically the only reason they give tetanus shots in the ER is b/c they know most adults are not up to date. I know I'm not.

[mamamich]

thanks again

Thanks again for the info and thoughts. I am trying to let this go, but being an *awake parent* is so darn hard sometimes!!!!

Love,michele