# Why do tetanus shots hurt? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 3, 2003, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-tetanus-shots-hurt/192783 "2003-08-03T22:52:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2003, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-tetanus-shots-hurt/192783/21 "2003-08-06T06:34:35Z")
You think tetanus hurts? Try anthrax. Yowsa. And yellow fever…I almost knocked out the guy who gave me the damn shot. Oh, and smallpox, you know how they’re just supposed to poke you? Well, they poked me, all right. About a quarter inch deep. If you want pain when you get your immunizations, join the military. ---
**Author:** ![MonkeyMensch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@MonkeyMensch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MonkeyMensch)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2003, 7:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-tetanus-shots-hurt/192783/22 "2003-08-06T07:50:10Z")
The things you learn here. I always figured the pain was universal to all IM shit. Kind of the Insta-Bruise of the ER world. Go figure. Qadgop you’re always a pleasure to read… ---
**Author:** ![Mame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/858c86/32.png) [@Mame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mame)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2003, 11:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-tetanus-shots-hurt/192783/23 "2003-08-06T11:23:51Z")
This is going back years now, but the last one flamed like a golf-ball sized lump of magma under my skin, and my skin felt like it was being score by razorblades dipped in acid. I do remember being feverish/disoriented/nauseous for a while. But, the next time I went to donate blood and they asked if I’d had any injections, I listed the booster. Lo and behold I had mounted an all-out response to the immunisation and was asked to give plasma monthly, instead of blood tri-monthly. The blood is fractionated and the plasma (with the anti-toxin effect) is kept, the red cells were returned to my system. The plasma was used for people who are allergic to horse serum. (Yes, I did a horse out of a job!) So my guess (on a sample size of 1) is that there may be a link between how strong the immune response is and the amount of discomfort. Mind you, that could just be 'cos I’d hate to think it hurt like that for no purpose! ---
**Author:** ![Kegg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Kegg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kegg)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2003, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-tetanus-shots-hurt/192783/24 "2003-08-06T11:38:08Z")
It hurts because they stick a damn needle in your arm * * * Spelling and grammer subject to change with out notice ---
**Author:** ![Yeah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/dbc845/32.png) [@Yeah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yeah)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2003, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-tetanus-shots-hurt/192783/25 "2003-08-06T12:39:35Z")
"You think tetanus hurts? Try anthrax. Yowsa. And yellow fever…I almost knocked out the guy who gave me the damn shot. Oh, and smallpox, you know how they’re just supposed to poke you? Well, they poked me, all right. About a quarter inch deep. “If you want pain when you get your immunizations, join the military.” If we’re into anecdotes here, I need to say that having been in the military and having lived overseas a lot, I’ve had almost every immunization available except anthrax, hepatitis A, and Lyme disease and the ONLY one I remember being really unpleasant is typhoid (the injectable one, not the oral one). Yellow fever never bothers me nor does smallpox or Td. And I don’t remember immune globulin (“GG”) being all that bad but I only had it once. I think the take home lesson is that any immunization CAN cause pain in anybody but people who tell you that a speciific shot is going to cause YOU a lot of pain are just as full of it as people who tell you that a specific shot is going to be pain free. ---
**Author:** ![Dragon\_Phoenix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bcef8e/32.png) [@Dragon\_Phoenix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dragon_Phoenix)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2003, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-tetanus-shots-hurt/192783/26 "2003-08-06T13:11:21Z")
I second the typhoid shot. All others (including hepatitis and tetanus) were fine, but after the typhoid one, my arm hurt like hell for a few days. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-tetanus-shots-hurt/192783.md?page=1)