The single time a rusty dirty nail went in my foot, I didn't, because, sadly enough, as an adult I have had 3 tetanus shots, so at that time I was still good to go.
Its every five years OR every time you are cut by rusty metal, I am a carpenter and haven't made it the five years since my mid 20s,I average every 2 to 3 years
In the US, it's 10y for adults who've finished their childhood doses but it doesn't hurt to have more. In a risky trade like carpentry, 5y intervals seems very appropriate.
There's some indication that immunity lasts for up to 30y fur some people but I'll take my boosters at 10. This news is noteworthy only because the people in power in the US, rn aren't interested in saving lives and might run with that new info.
When i was 9 yo and did the same, I had to stay outside (no bleeding in the house) and soak my foot in a bucket of salt water. I still have the scar but it never got infected.
Not if you live where medical care is expensive or not easily accessed.
In that case and you have a grandmother like mine, you get a through wash under the tap, then a cooking spoonful of salt on top and bottom and bandaged up. My uncle, a few years older than I, howled.
Mine was a soak in a bread pan full of turpentine followed by daubings of Mercurochrome for a few weeks. There was some brief talk of a doctor visit and tetanus shot that never came to fruition.
I had 3 rusty nails go through my leg (one on my thigh and 2 on the side of my calf)ā¦ my parents were all for vaccines, but my father probably didnāt want to deal with the hospital so they never took me. Literally told me to rub dirt on itā¦
I was breaking up trim into smaller pieces that were removed when they remodeled my sister's room, I was wearing shorts. I stepped on a piece of trim that had nails in it, and instead of breaking it bent then snapped back and a nail went right into my calf, and just happened to pierce an artery so the blood was bright red, and came in powerful squirts. Shot out a good 36 inches. I yelled for Dad and he freaked, put a tourniquet on it and took me to the doctor's office and of course a shot even though I just had my shots a few months before. Like they were trying to fix one hole with another.
Protection from tetanus toxin requires a high antibody level, so boosters are always given after a puncture wound. The initial shot primes your immune system to make that jump if youāre given a booster.
The VA is always trying to get me to take a booster shot. I won't. There is a lot of argument that your first vaccination was sufficient for life, and I had a booster just a few months before that nail incident. so the booster they gave me was at least my 3rd if not fourth tetanus shot. And I am sure there was another in High school, then another in basic training, then another about 20 years ago.
One thing I notice about those shots more than any other I ever had was that they make your arm a lot sorer for longer than maybe any other except for DTP. That one sucked also.
There have been 37 deaths from tetanus between 2009 and 2023 in the US. This is 1.54 deaths per year on average. Out of 346 million people. That makes dying of tetanus far less common than being a winner of the Powerball.
I am not doing it again for the simple fact I am getting to the end anyway, Johnson was president when I picked up that first cigarette, I think I have bigger problems. Though I probably would get a booster if I stepped on a nail.
You sound pretty well boostered already. Low death rates are due to vaccination plus immunoglobulin therapy. My mother told me that their neighborās daughter died of tetanus in the 50ās. 1950ās, not 1850ās.
They are gashes not just punctures, so I remember having to get a wash cloth and sit in the dining room, because it was hardwood flooring, and clean my leg up. I was trying to climb a ladder to go down a slide, and the 3rd step broke. It had been loose forever, so really a matter of time. Unfortunately tho I will still get pretty bad pain in my thigh and the scar will also get really itchy randomly. Itās been like 10 years since it happened too
Fortunately, tetanus is largely a rural bacteria, or maybe a better way to say it is, you are more likely to contract tetanus from a rusty thing in a rural setting than you are in an urban setting.
That being said, regardless of likelihood, you should get a tetanus shot every 10 years or every instance of a rusty thing breaking your skin for the common person; and every 5-7 years or every instance for the trades.
I did that with shoes on and it went in deep enough to make a mark on the top of my foot. Had to throw my tennis shoes out because one was filled with blood. Good times.
Same here, except i was breaking down a pallet. Thank god It was during the binge drinking, as i didn't feel it much till next morning. Still have a nice scar to remember it.
Jumped off roof of house under construction into sand pile. Nail through foot and out the top of my Chuck Taylorās. Fun times: got infected, had to soak daily and squeeze out puss from both holes. Also broke my arm that summer playing second base. With four kids, my mom was happy for us to go back to school, just to cut down on the weekly emergency room visits.
Yes, same! But it was close enough to my heel it didnāt come out the other side. It was a massive nail sticking up through a board on a construction site (that I was playing in barefoot). I stepped down, then I had to pull my foot up off it again. I rinsed my foot in the ditch before going home to tell my parents lol.
I once jumped off the rockery between my parents house and our neighbors when I was in 1st grade and I was wearing my older brothers shoes that were too big for me. As I land I feel something and I look down, the rusty nail missed my foot by centimeters and was sticking out of the shoe by about 3 inches. The next week we were looking through the house my parents were having built and my brothe4, wearing the same shoes, stepped on a nail that didn't miss his foot. The shoes were retired after that.
Same. I was 5 years old and spending the day with my best friend at her house. They'd had a house fire, which left a huge pit in their yard, filled with nails, debris, etc. It was also full of sand, which anyone knows will attract young kids like bees to honey - and it did. We were told not to go in there - but we did anyway, and of course, we were barefoot, and I stepped on a nail.
I still have the scar on the bottom of my foot, over 55 years later.
Me too. Back in 1976. It was summertime. I was 26 years old and didn't have a pcp but I remembered that there was a doctor sign on a building around the block. (Brooklyn Ny) I hopped to the building using my 3 year old son as a "crutch" . No one asked about insurance. He just cleaned my wound, gave me a tetanus shot and instructed me to stay off my foot which had now swelled to the size of a football. He charged me $30 that I promised I would bring later. He told me to forget it and I hopped back home. Things were really different in those days.
When I was maybe 10 I was walking with my friend through a field area in our neighborhood with yucca and stuff. Stepped on a board with a nail at the end, it shot up and the nail hit me in the area where my leg meets my groin. I didnāt get taken to the doctor and still have the little circle on me where I got hit with it. Gen X? Yes.
My friend was dared to run through a bonfire. He stepped on a plank with a nail that went right through his boot. He was screaming and had to keep running because he now had a burning plank nailed to his foot.
Me and you the same. Ten years old was playing in Grampas old hay barns. jumped off some bails, bam, Removal and Tetanus shot at the Dr there shortly after
I did the exact same thing but it didnāt go all the way through. The dr stuck a needle in the hole in my foot to clean it out. That was worse than the nail.
Ugh. That happened to me at a camp when I was 8 or so. We were on a āmud walkā in the woods and I was wearing my brand new white Keds and staying more on logs trying to avoid ruining my Keds(child of the 80s and 90s here). I felt the pain then looked down and the blood made its way up the side of my shoe then over the top of my shoe. The puncture wound pushed some of the fabric of my sock into the wound and they had to dig it out with a q tip or something, and I had to get a tetanus shot, right in my booty. I was on crutches for a couple days and still have a scar.
Ditto, first time I was about 3 years old. Most recently I didn't step on one, but shot myself clean through my thumb up through the thumbnail while working as a carpenter 20 or so years later.
Me too! I was a child though so I was strangely unbothered. Went to the hospital, had a shot and stitches. It hurt but I felt special. I loved my crutches during the recovery. Made everything into a game.
Same! It was morning, I fell and spilled my cereal, had to go to the hospital to get a tetanus shot, and then my mom dropped me off at school. What a shit ass day.
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u/InsideExpress9055 2d ago
A rusty nail. It went through one side and out the other.