Navdeep
If you got Tetanus, you wish you die. Dying of tetanus may be the most painful way to die on the planet.
Here is a painting done in 1809 of a person dying of tetanus. Painting done by his doctor. The position is called opistothonus.
Why does he look like this? Your muscles ‘fire’ to contract, i.e., shorten. Normally, your muscles release a chemical that allows them to relax. The tetanus toxin blocks that release, so your muscles fire, contract, and NEVER LET GO.
Portrait of Pain: Art Meets Medicine
As the back muscles are stronger, the patient arch the back.
Even if you’re in excellent shape, it won’t help—your leg muscles can contract so violently during tetanus that they can actually break your thigh bones, the strongest bones in your body.
Imagine a ‘Charley Horse’ in every muscle of your body, 24 hours a day, for days on end. Almost nothing relieves the pain. Eventually, your diaphragm contracts and never releases—causing you to stop breathing.
Getting to this blissful stage often takes 3 days. 3 days of the worst pain imaginable.
(By the way, we know the chemical that’s released and can administer it—but once it’s in your system, you stop breathing, which creates an entirely new set of problems.)
Personally, I think the vaccine is the way to go, but hey, for you anti-vaxxers out there, it’s your call. Just don’t do this to your kids, please.
By the way, the bacteria that causes tetanus, Clostridium tetani, lives in soil and shows up almost everywhere, especially around farms. Rust doesn’t cause tetanus, but a rusty nail usually means it has been in contact with soil and might carry Clostridium tetani.
Clostridium tetani is an anaerobic bacterium, which means it can’t survive in the presence of oxygen. So while a scratch might expose you to it, tetanus is unlikely because the open air contains enough oxygen to stop the bacteria from growing.
Doctors can ‘treat’ tetanus today, but 2/3 of patients still die. Those who survive typically spend 6–10 WEEKS in the hospital, mostly on a ventilator and often in an induced coma, followed by 4–6 months in rehab. Personally, I think getting the vaccine is easier.
BTW, there is a variation of this disease called infantile tetanus. New born can get it from, for example, non-sterile scissors used to cut their umbilical cord. I will spare you the pictures.
In 2018, a kid on a farm in Oregon fell and got a cut on his head. A cut, not a puncture. But farms are thriving in C. tetani.
His mom washed it out, then sewed it up herself (note that she is not a medical professional).
About a week later, kid started getting sick, and rapidly went downhill. They took the kid to the ER, where they diagnosed tetanus.
Lots of anti-toxin administered, but it was so late, the kid developed full-blown tetanus. Kids recover faster, so he only spent 59 days in the hospital, about 45 of them in an induced coma. Then rehab for a month.
But here is the kicker. As the doctors prepared to discharge the kid from the rehab facility, they tried to vaccinate him, but his mother REFUSED any and all vaccines.
If I was the kid, I would have stuck my fist in her mouth, rolled up my sleeve, and told the doctor, “Give me everything you’ve got!”
The bill was over $800,000, not sure who is paying, but I doubt it’s the mom.
And you wonder why medical care is expensive: A $25 shot versus over $800,000 hospital bill.
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