Im not really nervous about the shot, when I was younger I had needle phobia and all that, but I grew out of it, but for a reference point, Is the needle about the same size they use when you donate blood? I've given blood twice, first time 1 pint second time 2 pints, and that was a pretty big needle..

You never actually see the needle for the peanut butter shot, you just bend over and receive. Its not that bad, trust me.

Morning future Sailors- signed in as my daughter- she's currently at BC- she's had the peanut butter shot- ans she said it wasn't that bad- - thought you all needed to know- once less thing to worry about with BC!!! Happy Easter all-

The peanut butter shot isn't anywhere near as bad as everyone says it is.

I've heard that with the peanut butter shot, if you rub/massage the area where the shot was given, it cuts down on the amount of time that you will be sore.

Ive heard the so called PB shot is just a joke. When I was at the MEPs hotel before my physical my roommate told me it was just a joke that I had nothing to worry about. I really don't care if I get one or not but my im wondering why would they give everyone a penicillin shot if they are not sick.. sounds like a waste of penicillin to me

I was going to try to be sarcastic about that, but I couldn't sell it right. Whoever told you the shot is a joke is probably playing one on you.

Ah, but trust me. You WILL be sick by then. Everyone's sick for the first few weeks because you're getting exposed to the germs that 80+ other people brought with them when they got on the plane and whatever might have got left behind by the last people to sit in that processing room or live in that compartment. It's like daycare times 20. You can almost count getting pink eye at some point.

And that's assuming nothing else breaks out while you're there. I was one of the first to get sick when VGE broke out in January . . .

The PB shot sucks. I ended up getting three of them during my marvelous 4 month stay at RTC.

I graduated BC about 4 months ago and to be honest the PB shot wasn't that bad at all, actually me the 5 other guys from my div that got it at the same time were giggling and laughing as we limped out of the room lol petty officers were yelling at us to stop laughing and to "walk normal". Mine just caught me by surprise, I felt the needle and was like, that wasn't so bad but then boom hahaha but all in all wasn't bad at all, and we only got 1 PB shot

I have a question about this shot, I go to RTC in like 5 months and when I filled all my stuff out I totally forgot my parents said I was allergic to penicillin...what do I do? Take it and risk a reaction or tell them?

Reaction or no, you need to disclose that. Do so ASAP, or go get tested for it. On the good side, most people who think they're allergic to penicillin really aren't, and if you go for an allergy test it will probably come up negative.

Im personally not too worried about the PB shot. After tattoos accross my sternum, shots dont really bother me that much anymore.

I remember the couple of days after getting that shot were the worst. Everytime I'd bend down or lean left or right, there'd be a huge pang of pain. Some of the guys actually found a decent amount of blood in their skivvies.

Yes you get the peanut butter shot

It is Penicillin

You do get it in the butt

Basically you bend over a table and expose part of your cheek and they give you the shot, from my memory it felt like any normal shot would, I don't recall it being a bigger needle or anything like that, you don't even see the needle. But it's more sore later, especially the next day. Rub the area after you get the shot, it'll help reduce the soreness later.

If you're allergic and you forgot to disclose it, just let them know. You'll fill out a form before you get any shots and either the form asks if you're allergic or somebody will be there asking about things like that. A few people in my division said they forgot something like that and there was no issues.

I know a lot of people who were scared of the shot and faked being allergic to Penicillin. They had to take special pills like the entire boot camp and it ripped up their stomach. They wish they took the shot instead lol

what time of the year did you go in?

If you go anytime between, I want to say Oct and March, you get two PB shots. I know in the middle of March, they start giving recruits only one PB shot during boot

they still give the peanut butter shot. dont worry about it though. you walk into a room with a few people you pull down your shorts and you stare into the eyes of the person in front of you and have an intimate moment while they put a needle in your butt. its not that bad at all

Just heard on tv the best way to take shoots in the rear; they stated that if you put all you weight on the opposite leg of injection, and wiggle the toes/ankle on the side of the injection, that it will help relax the muscle and prevent the little "ball" of thick liquid that can form in a tense muscle. Might be worth a shot.

they do still give the pb shot. if you are there during the winter you will get one in pdays and one before graduation. it does suck but its really not that bad. youll be with the other guys from you division when you get it and that makes it a little better. you can laugh at the faces they make and they will laugh at you and youll all limp around for a day or two after. but you all experience it together and that makes it alot better to honest because you are all going thru everything together.

As with everything else in boot camp, the staff will hold your hand through the entire process, and you WILL do it this way. You're going to stand on the injected leg with your other leg crossed behind it, which is largely to prevent your leg flailing into the corpsman when you're startled by the needle.

I wonder how many corpsman got horse kicked before they started having recruits cross their legs. :rofl:

THE WORST SHOT EVER!!! It hurts so bad!!

Thank goodness you only have to take it once!! :) :happyfeet:

As shots go, it's pretty bad. But it's not that bad. In fact, I was more irritated by a shot in the tongue when I went to dental to get a tooth fixed recently, and that was with anesthetic. Worse than the shot itself is the soreness that lingers for a day, or even a few days after. And worst of all is the anticipation beforehand, which caused my entire line to crack up in constant nervous giggles and off-color jokes that should have got us all roundly beaten.

When it happens, you'll be like "AAAAH! Wait, that's it?"

I'm no longer allergic to penicillin so this means I'm getting the shot. yay me! I developed the immunity to it after being off from it for 15 years, I'm currently 20 so lets see how my first dose goes.

Wonder if I'm still allergic to Pen. I told the docs at MEPS and it's in my records, do they test to find out? Will I even be told the results?

Odds are you're not going to get the shot. You'll be on pills instead for a few weeks at least if I remember right. And no, they're not going to test, they just take your word for it because it's not really that big a deal.

And yeah, you probably aren't allergic anymore. I self-reported as well, but got a test before I left, which made it quite obvious I wasn't allergic. Waste of time and money, ultimately.

RomeoHotel, you CAN go to your primary physician and ask. Usually, not always but usually, people that are allergic to the cillians mostly get hives so it's not horrible. But if you're really worried, talk to your own doc before you leave.


And as a note, it isn't actually penicillin. It's Immunoblobulin. Most people don't get straight penicillin, it is usually a family member, which immunogolbulin is. But penicillin and the like (amoxicillin, etc) are given when you already have an infection. The immunogloblin is an immune booster. The reason you can't take it if you are allergic to penicillins is it has some of the same elements in it.

If you say you got hives after taking penicillin, they're idiots if they try to force you to take the shot, for numerous reasons..

Its whatever though.. its a pretty hefty im shot straight to the glut... but if you can take the shot, just man up and do it. Don't try to cheat the system at RTC just to get out of a little pain, it creates a lot of extra work for the already stressed medical staff there.

As for this Gamma globulin stuff I don't know where that's coming from... that's for allergies and hepatitis.. the 1.2 million units of PCN you get administered at great lakes is for prophylaxis.

if youre feeling really brave you can ask for 2 shots, that's enough to cure syphilis! Oh the possibilities...

Im allergic to it :(
 

So Ive been taking Trimox, amoxicillin, Doxy my whole life and my physician said that just because Ive had that doesnt mean that Im not allergic to the full version of penicillin. So they were afraid to give me a Z-pac.

My question is this...Where do they give you a blood test to find out if you have allergies? Do they do it at MEPS?

Don't over think it, that's what going to make you freak out. We all did it (even the people who cry with shots or are just terrified). They DO still give it, our group of divisions got it twice. And you DO want it because there are so many germs floating around that place. It's not extremely painful, just relax, you'll only feel it when the liquid is actually going into your body, then it's just a little sore. You'll be with a group of people (males with males and females with females). If you want to be worried about shots, be worried about the set of 5 or 6 shots you're going to get (I had 3 on each arm). Those ones were a little more painful than the bicilin shot.

If you're allergic, they'll tell you you're allergic. They do serious blood work on you guys when you get there.

When do they test you? Its before they give any shots right? I dont like taking medications Ive never had before and I dont like getting shots because I am terrified of being allergic. Needles dont bother me though :)

The PB shot.. Not my favorite moment in bootcamp but what happened happened.. It is a rather large needle and it does make your ass cheeks tense up, but you'll be fine after the soreness goes away. Doing those sustained runs on it sucked though.