i got wound in my foot

[badboy3]

sir,
i injured in my foot .but i havn't use tetnus injection.but i used betadine.but still my injury is not well. am i infected from tetnus??


This discussion is related to Could it be tetnus?.

[ggreg]

Good grief.  Obviously if you are still painful after a bunch of glass getting in your foot MONTHS ago, forget about trying to fix it yourself anymore.  Instead, be a wise person and get thee to your family doc.  If you do not have a family doc, go to the county health clinic as a walk-in, and you can be seen the same day.  If you don't have a county clinic, go to the emergency room.  You could have a bad infection going on, which is what would cause it to still be painful, and the docs there will want to get the rest of the glass out and give you antibiotics and topical medicines to keep on it for a while, and probably bandage the foot, too, to keep it clean, but you'll need to change the bandage daily for a while.

Don't let my other story bother you... since you have lots of glass in there (I just had a few big pieces), they'll numb you up and then get the glass out of there and wash it off with a strong anti-infective wash, plus you really will need some antibiotics and, if you haven't had a tetanus shot, they'll give you that, too.  You GOTS to see a doc!!!  And don't wait for no appointment three weeks away with a doc... insist on a "squeeze-in" emergency appointment.

[posada]

I have a lot of broken glass that has been stuck on the bottom of my feeet for months. The pain is terrible.  I keep trying to remove it little by little with tweezers, but there is so much there and the pain is unbearable.  What do I do?

[ggreg]

Well, signs of tetanus are:  The muscles near the wound start seizing up uncomfortably and steadily and then progress to other parts of the body.  As long as your muscles are relaxed as usual, you're okay.  Other symptoms on top of that are feeling really restless and also trouble breathing.  Usually takes about two weeks for the disease to take over, so just keep an eye on your foot, and if the muscles start to wrench around uncomfortably in that limb, go to the ER.  Likewise, if you have any trouble breathing whatsoever, go to the ER.

While the sooner the tetanus shot is given the better, it still helps at a later time, nonetheless.  Just keep the wound clean, hydrogen peroxide in a brown bottle from the drugstore is great for this, pour it on there and let it fizz up, then rinse it, and then cover it with a bandage and sock, except remove the bandage at night when you sleep.  Feet take a long time to heal, partly because we walk around on them all day, and a bad injury is going to look worse before it looks better.  Might take a couple weeks before you stop feeling pain there and before it closes up and looks a little better, but redness will be at the site for a month.  Also, wounds sometimes re-open, which is why you need to keep it clean.

I think along about Tuesday or Wednesday, you should go back to the same doc and have him examine your foot, and he'll ask you how you're feeling and so forth.  Ask him to clean the wound for you and put a new bandage.  Also tell him you're quite nervous about getting tetanus and see what he says.  I wonder what your wound looks like, must be quite a mess for you to be focusing on it this way.

I had a foot wound that was dreadful.  I jumped on broken glass one time, made a big jagged wound on the bottom of my foot, they had to take the bits of glass out with tweezers (no pain medicine), cleaned it and poured a bottle of something on it and had to sew it up.  My foot looked like Frankenstein, and i couldn't use it at all for about a week.  It was my right foot so I couldn't drive, either.  But I was up-to-date on my tetatnus shot (every ten years), and eventually it got well .

[badboy3]

Sir/Madam,

i want to know how i will know that i don't have tetanus infection. and after getting injured till when we can take shoot of tetanus injection,i mean till when it would be beneficial.Actually i heard we should take tetanus shoot within 24 hrs,otherwise it would not be beneficial for us.actually i have taken injection after 5 days.and still my wound is not good and it give me pain also.

[Carol in PA]

Hello,
If you have a wound on your foot that is not healing well, you can do warm soaks to increase the blood circulation and speed healing.

Fill a large pot with very warm water.
Sit in a chair with your foot in the pot, on the floor.
Put a towel next to the pot, so you can step on it when you take your foot out.

Soak your foot in warm water for 15 or 20 minutes every two hours, or as often as you can.
This relaxes the blood vessels in your foot, and the wound will heal faster.

Hope this helps.
Carol

[badboy3]

i pleased to see your reply. i concerned to doctor,he gave me one tetanus injection and medicine like combiflam,ampicllin capsules

[ggreg]

Might be tetanus, but probably just as likely your foot is now infected from the injury.  So, go to the ER or get a squeeze-in emergency apointment with your regular doc (like today, since holidays are coming), and let them clean up your injury, give you a tetanus shot, and whatever other treatment you need, like antibiotics.  Infection in a foot can cause gangrene, which travels up the leg, and can have extremely serious consequences.  Tetanus is also a serious matter, and if you wait around, they might not can pull you back from some unbelievably dreadful suffering.  I tell you these things so you won't just let it go for now.  So, go to the ER or your doc TODAY, please!