Another tetanus thread...HA popping up again :(

[NathanLee]

Hi Members,

Its interesting how only a few weeks ago I was frantically posting on this website about my upcoming wisdom teeth extraction and my fear of general anaesthetic.

In brief, I have suffered health anxiety and generalised anxiety since I was a child but its really only reared its ugly head in the past 7-10 years. I'm 30 now turning 31 soon. I had a really bad bout of health anxiety in 2011 -2012 which basically ruined my relationship at the time and rendered me useless at work (and as a practising lawyer that was basically job suicide).

So after battling through my fear of general anaesthetic and getting the procedure to have my wisdom teeth extracted (4 May 2018) I felt on top of the world. I felt a huge weight had lifted from my shoulders and I was so proud that I overcame the fear.

And then this event happens...

This past Friday I went to take our 5 month old puppy off our bed (we have a rule he isnt allowed on our bed). I was actually being quite playful with him before doing so and (as I usually did) went to go and give him a quick kiss on the top of this snout. He must have taken this as a threat or something and basically lashed out at me biting my lower lip.

The bite caused a wound which bled, although not very deep and did not go through the lip or anything.

I immediately cleaned the wound thoroughly and put Betadine (antiseptic) all over it. I can say that I must have done a good job at wound care because you can hardly see the wound today and there is no sign of infection at all.

Instantly however, as any severely (health) anxious individual does I began to think what diseases he might have given me and I remembered I hadn't renewed my tetanus shot in a while (probably going on 10 or slightly more years).

Then of course came Dr. Google who I'm all too familiar with. Google of course says any bite wounds could contain tetanus, were high risk and that you should go within 24 hours to get a shot.

I telephoned my cousin (GP) who recommended much the same as the above however she advised that I didn't need to "rush" to get the shot but that the "next day" was sufficient.

Deep down I know I should be up to date with my shots, and that my cousin (as a GP) is being cautious however I chose to fight the very intrusive thoughts of "do I have tetanus???" "what if it entered and I wont know till a few days from now???" and decided that I wouldn't rush the shot at all because I was doing it for the wrong reasons and that is due to crippling health anxiety.

I'm still getting intrusive thoughts, and thats why I'm posting today. The latest intrusive thought is "why is my jaw so stiff? Is this early onset of lock jaw??" Yet...I just had my wisdom teeth extracted 1 week 2 days ago. I'm also feeling (perhaps thinking) like my swallowing is difficult and I keep on actively swallowing to see if it gets any easier.

I intend to get the booster in the near future (I'm slightly needle phobic but can deal if absolutely required) but is it necessary to really worry myself sick over this incident or is my health anxiety warranted in this instance??

Your comments and thoughts are much appreciated.
Nathan

[NathanLee]

Any one out there?

I would really appreciate anyone's comments:unsure:

[Bigboyuk]

Hi Nathan I don't know which I am more concerned about the bite on your lip or your dogs behaviour! When was your last tetanus given (if you had one in the past) They can safely protect you for around 10 years. (Yes sadly Google is a HA'ers downfall) the fact is logically you will be fine you cleaned the bite and applied antiseptic cream/lotion and you state that you can hardly see the bite mark, so to me (and Iam not a dr) this is telling me the antibodies are fighting the infection off so IMHO you don't need another tetanus jab :)

Sorry about the next bit (iam passionate about training dogs) Iam painting the pic in my head as to what happened. And had something similar to my dog when she was 3 years old (she now 10 ) I came back in from work and normally as soon as she hears the key in the door she is off my chair and greeting me she decided that this time she would try and claim my chair. so walked over to her and pointed stiernly at her using my voice and facial expression to get her down from the chair she didn't move so went to push her gently off and she went for me (It was a air snap) but I remembered what a dog forum had previously said to me never tolerate Resource Guarding So I screwed my face up and at the top of my voice said OFFFFFFFF and it worked if I hadn't had done that who knows what would have happened next time. Not seeing what happened in your case I cant 100% say it was Resource Guarding, One thing I will say you didnt even need to pick the dog up correct body stance and posture stiff finger pointing to the floor would have worked :) And I certainly wouldn't not have given my dog a cuddle/kiss till it had executed my command. Sorry for the sermon lol but Resource Guarding (what ever is being guarded is never to be tolerated) I have seen 8 week old pups on tv showing early signs of food guarding etc again it has to be nipped in the bud :) Next time the dog is on the bed just call your dogs name and say off/down or what ever word you have used in the past. and if some one else in your house hold is allowing the dog on the bed then they need to be told too as the dog is getting mixed signals oh one of my owners allow me on the bed the other doesn't go figure ATB

[Pkstracy]

Been bitten and scratched lots of times, haven't had a tetanus shot since I was like 6 years old, and never had anything happen, however, in April of this year I got a deep puncture wound from my cat, ended up with cellulitis and then was given a tetanus shot, but yeah I have scars on my hand from a cat bite and scratches that were deep and ripped the skin and bled like crazy, you'll be fine, however might want to go as soon as you can just to get it updated, so you won't have the anxiety again.

[NathanLee]

Hi Nathan I don't know which I am more concerned about the bite on your lip or your dogs behaviour! When was your last tetanus given (if you had one in the past) They can safely protect you for around 10 years. (Yes sadly Google is a HA'ers downfall) the fact is logically you will be fine you cleaned the bite and applied antiseptic cream/lotion and you state that you can hardly see the bite mark, so to me (and Iam not a dr) this is telling me the antibodies are fighting the infection off so IMHO you don't need another tetanus jab :)

Sorry about the next bit (iam passionate about training dogs) Iam painting the pic in my head as to what happened. And had something similar to my dog when she was 3 years old (she now 10 ) I came back in from work and normally as soon as she hears the key in the door she is off my chair and greeting me she decided that this time she would try and claim my chair. so walked over to her and pointed stiernly at her using my voice and facial expression to get her down from the chair she didn't move so went to push her gently off and she went for me (It was a air snap) but I remembered what a dog forum had previously said to me never tolerate Resource Guarding So I screwed my face up and at the top of my voice said OFFFFFFFF and it worked if I hadn't had done that who knows what would have happened next time. Not seeing what happened in your case I cant 100% say it was Resource Guarding, One thing I will say you didnt even need to pick the dog up correct body stance and posture stiff finger pointing to the floor would have worked :) And I certainly wouldn't not have given my dog a cuddle/kiss till it had executed my command. Sorry for the sermon lol but Resource Guarding (what ever is being guarded is never to be tolerated) I have seen 8 week old pups on tv showing early signs of food guarding etc again it has to be nipped in the bud :) Next time the dog is on the bed just call your dogs name and say off/down or what ever word you have used in the past. and if some one else in your house hold is allowing the dog on the bed then they need to be told too as the dog is getting mixed signals oh one of my owners allow me on the bed the other doesn't go figure ATB

Hi Bigboyuk,

Thanks for your comments.

I endevour to get a booster shot soon as I understand it was probably over 10 years ago I received my last booster. Its not that I was purposefully "playing with death" or plain refusing to get the booster. Its simply that I didn't want to rush to the doctors and let "health anxiety" be the only motive for doing so.

If that was the case, I would also run to the doctors now to get an MRI, cat scan, flu jab and any other medical test you could imagine.

As for the dog...he is a kelpie puppy so training has been difficult to say the least but my partner and I are making progress we think :roflmao:

For me, this incidence has taught me that unfortunately a dog is a dog and will snap at you in certain circumstances i.e. eating, resting etc.

I still love him but this incident had me super angry at him for a few days. Even now I'm a little apprehensive but I dont want to be. Before this incident I was completely confident to give him a little kiss. Now I put my hand out for a pat and thats the extent of my affection.

---------- Post added at 08:51 ---------- Previous post was at 08:46 ----------


Been bitten and scratched lots of times, haven't had a tetanus shot since I was like 6 years old, and never had anything happen, however, in April of this year I got a deep puncture wound from my cat, ended up with cellulitis and then was given a tetanus shot, but yeah I have scars on my hand from a cat bite and scratches that were deep and ripped the skin and bled like crazy, you'll be fine, however might want to go as soon as you can just to get it updated, so you won't have the anxiety again.

Hi Pkstracy,

Thanks for your comments :)

As I was saying to Bigboyuk, its not that I'm plain refusing to get the tetanus jab or deciding purposefully to "roll the dice" as you will.

My health anxiety has ruled so many medical related decisions in the past and I'm just so sick and tired of making decisions based on a fear.

I know the fear of tetanus is warranted but I'm "confident" (hope to God I'm not wrong) that this particular bite did not require me to absolutely rush to the doctor.

Was I foolish for not going to the doctors asap? A part of me says my decision might cost me my life but then again I thought I would have already felt the effects of tetanus by now (happened last Friday).

I'm really unsure. My health anxiety and depression is really consuming me lately.

[Fishmanpa]

If there hadn't been several tetanus threads recently, would this even been on your HA radar?

Positive thoughts

[NathanLee]

If there hadn't been several tetanus threads recently, would this even been on your HA radar?

Positive thoughts

Thanks Fishmanpa :)

Truthfully, I haven't even seen the recent tetanus threads so I can't say that it triggered my fears in this instance HOWEVER I can say that it wouldn't surprise me if it had :roflmao:

I was saying to my partner that you know something is not wrong with my thinking when the first thought that came to my mind when the dog bit me was "what diseases has he given me??".

The non-HA person would have thought "oh the little bugger!", cleaned it and then considered rationally whether the cut required a booster shot.

Nope...not me...

It was instant tetanus. Feeling for lockjaw since Friday and thinking the onset has begun, despite me having my wisdom teeth extracted 4 May.

[Phill2]

Kelpies are very intelligent and easy to train.
Once you get past training you'll have a great dog.
BTW My German Shepherd (almost 2 yrs old) bit me and drew blood last week while playing and all is good.
I can't count how many times she's scratched me while growing up.
I always try to squeeze a bit extra blood out to "rinse" the wound dunno if it helps though.

[MyNameIsTerry]

Like Phill I've been nipped during play when teething. It will have been a long time since I've had a tetanus shot regardless of many scratches when working outside.

I do wonder if it's just HAers that head for these shots? :shrug:

[Phill2]

Like Phill I've been nipped during play when teething. It will have been a long time since I've had a tetanus shot regardless of many scratches when working outside.

I do wonder if it's just HAers that head for these shots? :shrug:

I can't remember when my last shot was but I think it's about 20 yrs overdue.:shrug:

[MyNameIsTerry]

I can't remember when my last shot was but I think it's about 20 yrs overdue.:shrug:

Same here, Phill, I can't remember having one since leaving school.

[NathanLee]

Same here, Phill, I can't remember having one since leaving school.

Hi Terry,

I also think my last booster was in my high school days.

Again, I'm not purposefully avoiding it but I can say that for every cut I've received since the high school days (I'm 30 now) I've always washed the cut thoroughly, applied antiseptic and bandaged it...and I'm still here.

I'm not anti vaccer but I also don't want my health anxiety to dictate how often or how urgent I need to run to the doctors. I realised in the past it would only make my HA worse and I'm certain doctors didnt appreciate it.

[Phill2]

That's all I do too Nathan.
Makes sense to me.