TB Jabs

Mal · 17-05-2004, 19:20

Does anyone know why, with the TB jab that you got at school, did it go all 'orrible for a time and then leave a crater for? (I don't know if it did it to everyone)

I just saw the mark on someone and it just made me wonder. As you do...

Also, was it that jab that you had the potato masher with needles test?

paulyoung666 · 17-05-2004, 19:24

iirc it was because they injected you with a weak form of tb so your immune system built up against it

Xaccers · 18-05-2004, 00:05

I didn't touch mine and I have to hunt for the scar

A friend kept prodding his, then it turned into a kind of fleshy orange pus spewing volcano, he's got a big scar.
'course none are as big as dad's small pox scar

Russ · 18-05-2004, 00:07

I was the only one in my year to never have a TB jab....actually I never had MMR or immunisations of any kind, my parents figured the risks of brain damage and autism were too great.

**Maggy** · 18-05-2004, 00:13

It's the 'I'll thump you hard on yer BCG jab because I'm a big stupid male jerk' routine.
I too have a scar from about '67 because of this.However my school have now made it a excludable offence because it's got beyond a joke and some students have ended up with badly infected jabs because of it.

Incog.

Xaccers · 18-05-2004, 00:42

Quote:

Originally Posted by Russ D

I was the only one in my year to never have a TB jab....actually I never had MMR or immunisations of any kind, my parents figured the risks of brain damage and autism were too great.

So they exposed you to the higher risks of braindamge, blindness, swollen testicles, and death from these diseases instead?
Do your parents not like you or something?

Pretty sure MMR wasn't around when you were the right age for it too Russ...

carlingman · 18-05-2004, 01:02

Quote:

Originally Posted by Xaccers

So they exposed you to the higher risks of braindamge, blindness, swollen testicles, and death from these diseases instead?
Do your parents not like you or something?

Pretty sure MMR wasn't around when you were the right age for it too Russ...

Meow -

Although unless Russ is older than he lets on I think you will find he was old enough as MMR Jabs have been around since the early 1970s in other countries.

However the normal procedure for licensing was used for MMR and the vaccine was thoroughly tested before being introduced into the UK in 1988.

So maybe not in this country then.

greencreeper · 18-05-2004, 01:42

I don't remember the jabs at all. I don't have a scar so chances are I didn't have it. Not sure

I'm currently suffering from the Hep A jab - arm aches

Wouldn't mind but I was told it's one jab and then the nurse who did it said two - the second in six months

Why's it so hard to get accurate info these days?

Xaccers · 18-05-2004, 01:46

I remember the first time I went to egypt, needed thyphoid and hepetitus.
Thyphoid was a nice little needle in my arm.
Then she got out this humongous needle for the hep, I nearlly ran away, she used it to pierce the bottle containing the vacine and fill the syringe, then she removed the needle from the syringle, I thought "phew, the big one was just to get throught the vaccine cap" but no, she then put on one marginally smaller than the first and told me to bend over!
I was limping for a good half hour!

punky · 18-05-2004, 01:49

They gave you a skin (heef?) test, where they stamp your arm with what is like a small ink stamper, but actually plunges 6 needles into your arm. This is to see if you are one of the few people with a natural immunity to it.

If you aren't, you get the BCG injection. It is fairly vicious and makes it hard to move your arm for a week. Also hurts like buggery if anyone punches it. So naturally, you have to spend a week ducking guys trying to punch it. The scar for me isn't bad. It is the same diameter as the width of a pencil. The skin tone matches pretty well. You have to look hard to see it..

greencreeper · 18-05-2004, 01:53

Quote:

Originally Posted by Xaccers

Thyphoid was a nice little needle in my arm.

Yeah I had a quick glance with one eye shut - small needle. The whole thing was small actually. She sort of pinched my arm and stuffed it in. Told me to wait 5 mins because it was better to collapse in the hospital rather than the car park. She had a point I'll admit

Dave Stones · 18-05-2004, 08:47

Quote:

Originally Posted by punky

It is fairly vicious and makes it hard to move your arm for a week. Also hurts like buggery if anyone punches it. So naturally, you have to spend a week ducking guys trying to punch it. The scar for me isn't bad. It is the same diameter as the width of a pencil. The skin tone matches pretty well. You have to look hard to see it..

mine didnt hurt at all

and i hardly have a scar at all....

my school took to expelling people who punched as well, so no one did it. (full expulsion was the threat, not just being suspended....guess the threat worked

)

18-05-2004, 11:39

I was quite lucky, as i didn't have to have it as i am naturally immune to it. Felt quite relieved really as it looked bloody painfull

SMHarman · 18-05-2004, 12:08

Quote:

Originally Posted by greencreeper

I don't remember the jabs at all. I don't have a scar so chances are I didn't have it. Not sure

I'm currently suffering from the Hep A jab - arm aches

Wouldn't mind but I was told it's one jab and then the nurse who did it said two - the second in six months

Why's it so hard to get accurate info these days?

It is one jab. The one jab protects you for 12 months. If you have a second in 6 months time, the cummulative pair of jabs protect you for 10 years.

I had the three main ones plus the oral one done at once as I was going off to Asia on about 2 weeks notice. They made me sit in the drs for about 45 mins after that lot.

Key trick the nurse taught me was to have your arm resting on something when they inject. That way the muscles are not supporting the arm and are relaxed, this means the injection is less painful and causes less bruising.

Quote:

Originally Posted by punky

They gave you a skin (heef?) test, where they stamp your arm with what is like a small ink stamper, but actually plunges 6 needles into your arm. This is to see if you are one of the few people with a natural immunity to it.

Do they still do this. I remember this being a conveyer belt type operation and all of us getting stabbed with the same set of needles. I guess in this post HIV world we live in that is not how it works these days (or perhaps my memory of this particular stabbing is a little hazy now).

Bex · 18-05-2004, 12:46

i hated the BCG......some many people fainted because of it....either luckily (or not, im not sure) i was at the front of the queue (they did it alphabetically) so i was one of the first, and didn't have to see all the fainting, otherwise im sure i would have bottled it....... i hate needles.

and im pleased to say i dont have much of a scar at all...... my mum has a huge one on her arm from hers