#went to urgent care and got prescribed medicine for it. doing its best to work but it still hurts in the morning

[elecmon]

2 days into the new year I've spent most of it injured in bed

Pain meds are working tho ayeeee

[songofsaraneth]

Ok now that I have time/space to breathe again, I wanted to do a writeup on the unusual reaction I had to the second Covid vaccine dose. I debated posting this, because I don't want to go against the "I was vaccinated and it's fine!" encouragement train. And I 1000% encourage EVERYONE to get vaccinated if possible. But I have not seen much documentation of the averse symptom I got, except in some case studies I specifically looked up so details below. Big TMI/gross warning however. 

Mostly I'm posting this because I had to do SO much self-advocating/arguing with the Dr at my urgent care clinic, and if you're not as read up on weird medical issues as I am, you might not be comfortable doing that. But IANAD, just describing my experience and what I read, which ended up being very long because it was awful and I have a lot to complain about I guess, sorry.

Basically: for me the vaccine triggered an inflammation response, which in itself is normal. The usual muscle aches/joint pain/slight fever. It also triggered an outbreak of ulcers in my soft tissues. Basically, a bunch of canker sores in my mouth/throat. I am already prone to getting these when I get sick or stressed out, so no biggie, annoying and painful but I could handle them. Canker sores are distinct from cold sores in that they form inside the mouth as crater spots, usually around the size of a pencil eraser (though can be bigger or smaller), and will develop a white film across the crater as they develop and start to heal.

An unfortunate fact I have learned: the mouth is not the only exposed “soft tissue” of the body. this group also includes genitals.

So 2 days after the vaccine I noticed a "burning sensation"/rawness downstairs, which turned into a sharp pain, especially when going to the bathroom. I obviously knew this was abnormal and because of what was happening in my mouth, had a pretty firm idea of what was happening, but was ready to brace myself through the healing process. However by day 5 I had 8 red, crater-like sores on the tissue of my vulva. Essentially they are open wounds, and urine is an acid, so you can imagine the hell that using the bathroom had become. Even just sitting hurt.

As someone healthcare-averse, even I knew this was untenable, and went to Urgent Care for the first time in my adult life. I told the NP what was going on, how they matched the canker sores (NOT cold sores) in my mouth in onset/form--and she immediately, without even looking, diagnosed me with herpes.

Lots of people have herpes or other STIs, and that's fine. I know I do not have any, and wanted to pursue treatment for what I was sure they were--Non-sexually acquired genital ulceration (NSGU). I had even found three case studies of COVID patients who had developed them. I had spent several harrowing hours on google images making sure that the sores I had did not match any STI I may have magically acquired during a year of social distancing. I even brought up multiple case studies, including a woman who had them as a Covid reaction in a neighboring state. Didn’t matter. She looked at them and went “Yikes! Herpes!” and prescribed me: 

1) an antiviral, which I said I did not think would do anything because the trigger for this was a vaccine not an illness. She said it was probably a herpes flare up already in my system. I reiterated that I have had similar sores in my mouth since childhood and that all my past doctors and dentists agreed it was not viral but something related to an immune response. She said the antivirals should clear them up in a few days.

2) a topical 5% lidocaine ointment, aka an oral grade numbing gel, which was essentially what I was after anyway.

I would have preferred a steroid course to the antiviral, but agreed to start taking them until she got the results of the bloodwork I needed to come in the next day for. I asked how many days after taking them I would expect to see a difference/if she would reevaluate treatment if they didn’t have an effect in a certain amount of time, and she said if they hadn’t cleared up by Monday then she’d look into other causes (spoiler, they did nothing in that 4 day span). to her credit, when she saw me pick up my bike helmet (because my car had been at the mechanic for a month by then), she was properly horrified that i was having to bike everywhere with this situation and printed off some coupons/called all the prescriptions into the grocery store pharmacy next door instead of the CVS my insurance likes a mile away.

So eventually I got home and took my pill & went to put on the ointment so I could use the bathroom for the first time in 8 hours. I’ll spare you the details but suffice to say I had an extremely, overwhelmingly painful 10 minutes of application. Like absolutely awful burning feeling. However once that faded, I was indeed actually numb, and so I figured it was worth it. Got my bloodwork done on Friday (biking there & home again). On Saturday, I thought that you know, maybe a prescription anesthetic shouldn’t be doing that or at least have some sort of warning? And read the details on the jar.

Good things about lidocaine: it is a powerful numbing agent and lasts pretty well for an hour or two.

Bad things about lidocaine: you cannot get oral grade lidocaine without added mint flavoring.

I happen to be EXTREMELY sensitive to mint. Like I still can’t handle breath mints or mouthwash, and used bubblegum flavored toothpaste until I was 14 and found a brand with half as much mint flavoring as is typical. Even if you’re not, mint has no business being anywhere near genital tissue. Even on an average person that could cause awful burning. to make a long saga shorter I had a very frustrating back-and-forth with urgent care involving many rerouted phone trees, visit in person, unhelpful receptionists, and attempts to find over-the-counter alternatives. All were fruitless so I just  suffered all weekend until the urgent care Nurse Practitioner called me back on Monday and was suitably apologetic/outraged about the mint thing, and looked up every OTC product that might work as a substitute, since she couldn’t find any prescription level without mint. On Tuesday she called back again having found this:

It’s 4%, so just below prescription strength, while not oral grade, it’s actually fine for soft tissues as long as not fully ingested/internally applied. And most importantly, ABSOLUTELY NO ADDED FLAVORINGS. there is also a spray version that comes in a bottle, which under no circumstances should you try because it uses alcohol as a propellant and I had a very bad 5 minutes after testing that one. But the cream one is fine and brings blessed numbness in around 5 minutes with only minimal contact pain--they are still open wounds after all. 

I use this for the next 7 days. By this point the sores have gotten worse and larger, and then started to heal and shrink again. Mouth canker sores go through a similar ~2 week process, so this is about what I expected.

Finally the results of my bloodwork came back, and I was negative for all STIs. The NP was dumbfounded and apologized, and agreed to look up more information/treatment options for cases like this in the future. I’m not surprised her reaction was to assume herpes as it IS very common, but I’m sure other women experience NSGU’s and receive improper treatment. If you look them up, they’re even mentioned as being predominantly a problem for “young or prepubescent women” which, reading between the lines--it’s not that these become less likely if you’re older or sexually active. Doctors just make assumptions and don’t always look past the easy answers.

So if you or someone you know ends up with these--from the Covid vaccine or as a complication of upper respiratory infections in general (as they ARE an immune response and can just Happen to you)--here is what works as treatment. If you can see a doctor you trust, still do that. But if they don’t listen or if for some reason you can’t seek treatment, here is the course of action I recommend: 

Pick up that over-the-counter Pain Relief+Lidocaine NON MINTY numbing cream ASAP. Sores go from “annoying” to “excruciating” in only 3 days, so it’s best to get in person or with rush shipping. Sit in front of a mirror and gently apply with a q-tip, and wait 5 minutes for the medicine to take effect.

Pat gently dry with toilet paper, don’t make wiping motions. If you don’t feel clean enough, pat more with a wet washcloth and rinse it out, or hope in the shoer for 5 min just to rinse.

There may be pus or reside from the ointment that doesn’t go away with just rinsing. Every 2 days I made a half-strength bath of epsom salts, NUMBED FULLY, and then took a 10 minute bath to fully cleanse the area. the salt will sting terribly if you wait any longer, so I recommend standing and rinsing after this time.

The vulva is more exposed to air than the mouth. this may cause the sores to crack/bleed as they dry out. to avoid this, after using the restroom and cleaning yourself, you can apply a thick coating of Aquaphor on top of the sores. It will need to be rinsed off before you apply more numbing cream however, so if that is too many steps I recommend just using the Aquaphor overnight.

You may think its ok to get up in the middle of the night to pee without the numbing cream bc you have to go really bad and just once will be fine but it is NOT you will REGRET IT.

Unfortunately if you have sores on both sides you may develop what is known as “kissing sores”, aka sores directly opposite each other that touch when the area is not spread open. this means that after an extended period of time (overnight), the sores will try to heal into each other and opening the area back up painfully rips the tissue apart. INStEAD of ripping them apart, take a washclosh, run it under warm water, and do a hot/warm compress on the area. this will loosen the sores back up and separate them painlessly.

This is not exclusive to people with a vulva, they can also happen on scrotal/anal tissue. However it does seem to much more frequently affect people with typical XX sex organs. 

If you develop these, PLEASE fill out an averse reaction form or your country’s equivalent. Also, I’m so sorry and if you need emotional support or have questions please feel free to get in touch.

Most likely, these will not happen to you--the vast majority of vaccinated people have not had this as a side effect. But it IS popping up more and more, and it is good to know about it in advance so you can be prepared to deal with and treat it without as much anxiety and all the hoops I had to jump through to get good care. Overall I’m still glad to be vaccinated, but if I had known this was a side effect, as someone already prone to canker sores I would have waited to vaccinate until my car was fixed a week later a the very least :|

[nicochii]

Please help Luisa Omielan

Luisa is a comedian. She’s a wonderful, sweet, funny person who’s going through so much right now and needs help. Her mother was diagnosed with stage 4 stomach cancer, but even that took quite awhile as doctors pushed her off. Along with these piece from Luisa, there is a link for a crowdfunding that is going towards helping Luisa and her mother! You can donate here! And here is her official facebook so you can see updates from her, as well as what has happened to her and her mother. This is copy and pasted from her facebook. “Dear Jeremy Hunt, I hope you don’t mind me sharing this online rather than in writing, but I don’t have time to go the Post Office. I am doing an experiment called ‘Life’ and I would love to get your input for my thesis.Say for example, your mother, or daughter or sister or wife - anyone you love dearly - had a history of stomach cancer in the family. Twelve months ago they developed a simple infection which was treated. But google "H-pylori" and the first thing the internet will tell you is that it's a precursor to stomach cancer.Would you have listened to the GP when your mother, (daughter / sister / wife), kept complaining of eating problems and losing weight but the GP said 'Don’t worry, it's nothing sinister' ?I guess you probably would the first time. Of course you have faith in your doctor, 'they know more than anyone', you think. 'Trust them not Google!' But what if her symptoms kept getting worse? And every time she went back, she kept being told ‘Well it's probably IBS / Indigestion / the gut is reactionary to emotions – you are probably stressed, just go for a swim’. Yes really. Wouldn’t you start to worry, after six times of being sent home with a diagnosis of ‘nothing sinister’ even though the holes in your loved one's belt running out are telling you otherwise?Would you encourage her to go see the GP one more time and just push for a colonoscopy, even though the GP insists its not necessary? Finally she agrees and signs the form for the referral. That’s all is needed, just a tiny little biro squiggle. It’s only a three month waiting list, April 17th, that’s not too bad, not long enough to warrant another appointment but not quick enough to be eased. She can distract herself by doing DIY colonic irrigations in the bathroom, try and get some relief from the constant pain in her tummy. You can buy them really easily on Amazon and they arrive the next day. Then, April 13th you get a phone call to say, its not a colonoscopy, it's just an appointment with a nurse to see if you warrant one. What? But you waited patiently. It's admin you see, Jeremy, it's really important. The NHS has loads of paperwork, it’s 'only there to protect you! 'So April 17th. Ah slight problem, the nurse wont grant a colonoscopy because it's not an urgent case. Your mother, (daughter, sister, wife), starts crying and saying ‘How sick do I have to be?’ the nurse simply replies, with ‘Well there are people who are bleeding and you are not, sooo.’ Would you try and save up cash to get her a private appointment? Scrap that, too late, she is sweating after just one teaspoon of soup. Best take her to A&E. I know I know, this is not an accident and its not an emergency, but the GP’s aren’t listening and sweating to soup is a very strange reaction.The department runs the tests, thank God they keep her overnight. Finally someone is listening.What a relief! Admitted and on the ward, a team of strangers rally around her bed like a swarm of ants as they pull the curtain round to give you the news. It’s inoperable stage 4 stomach and bowel cancer. Would you question them or would you hold on to hope because they have assured you that she only has to wait two more weeks for tests and three more after that for treatment. ‘Don’t worry the tumour wont grow, go home with the feeding tube and some Calpol, any problems, just call 111’. The main one left and the little ones all followed. Well that can’t be that bad then can she Jeremy, if she can wait several weeks and they have only prescribed Calpol? I mean that's what they give to babies. It's 2017, you tell yourself, people survive cancer all the time!She is much happier in her own bed, no noise or bright lights to keep her awake. Just sudden jolts of pain that make her writhe in her pyjamas. Don’t panic, remember what they told you. Call 111 and wait for the radiotherapy appointment.On-call GP comes out and leaves a prescription for liquid morphine. Great. But leaves you with no means of getting into your mother's (daughter's/ sister's /wife) feeding tube. Crap. What do you do? Time is of the essence. You can’t go to her GP, she misdiagnosed and has since sent the wrong prescription FOUR times and to change doctors now would take a week of admin. Instead you have a choice, seek out alternative medicines such as cannabis to help ease her pain or trust the system, just turn the music up so you don't hear her screaming.Okay moving on, its finally time for radiotherapy. Back at the same hospital you see a different doctor, he doesn’t have very good bedside manner and just talks at “Mrs (insert wrong name here) but your mum isn’t very responsive to him. Hardly surprising, he hasn’t got great chat skills. But maybe he has good drug ones?He orders a knock out dose of morphine so she can get in the ambulance and manage the 50 minute journey to treatment.Phew, finally you pull up into the car park! It's going to start getting easier now, because treatment is about to commence. Wait. Scrap that. Radiotherapy annihilates a person's immune system. My bad. Okay so it IS going to get worse, but then it's going to get better. That’s what all the professionals are telling you. SO it's important to listen! At the centre, the new doctors take one look at her and say she's unfit for treatment, send her straight back for palliative care. Who would you be more annoyed at Jeremy, the doctor who drugged her up and sent her here, or the doctors here who are sending her back? What would you do? I guess all you can do is hold her hand in the back of the ambulance as they bluelight her back to hell.Hospitals aren’t nice places and the wards are so understaffed, best if you run in first and clean her room with a wet wipe and get rid of the dirty sheets. Tuck her back into bed, the trip has exhausted her. But as soon as she wakes up, she wails in agony and it's heartbreaking to hear. If you were at home, you could just give her some weed to calm her down, but you can't here so you just press a button and wait. And wait. And wait. Hopefully she will forget this 45 minutes of wailing even if you don’t. Wouldn’t you just want to get her home? Would you resort to tweeting to try and get some help? Or would you just call your mates and ask them to push this one forward to the front of the queue, ask them to be gentle with her, and patient and kind, but speed things up so she has a chance, maybe not at a long life, but at a good quality of one? After all she’s spent a lifetime paying her taxes.Or would you trust the system and do what they all told you. Even though, they got it catastrophically wrong time and time again. Would you quit working to become her fulltime carer because there is not enough care on hand? Would you rub her tummy as the tumour in the bowel slowly eats its way across to the stomach and forms a fistula. A tunnel. Would you hold the sick boat (as she likes to call it) as you watch her bowel empty through her mouth? Would you comfort her while trying to close your eyes and beg for this image to not singe into the depths of your subconscious? You would do everything in your power to help her. Euthanasia is in your power, but you can’t do that. It’s illegal. Its inhumane! This is God's way, they say. The system is in place to protect you. You have to trust the system, I mean this is England, its 2017 for goodness sake! Have you ever heard of ‘Terminal Agitation', Jeremy? It often happens to people who are younger and aren’t meant to die yet. It's where the person's mind is healthy and well but is aware that their body is deteriorating, so as much as they try to fight it it, the battle becomes harder, they get agitated, confused, distressed, pushing loved ones away and trying to pull out tubes that keep them hydrated. When it comes to that point, its kinder to just sedate them. Just keep them very heavily sedated until their heart stops working.It’s difficult though, especially if they have a strong one. So I guess my question is, What would you do if you were in my situation Jeremy? I’m sure you have the money and the connections so its easier to access what you need. If you didn’t though, would you do everything in your power like I have? Would you do everything and anything that you could possibly think of to repay the love and kindness she has spent a short life time showing you? The only currency I have is social media, but maybe that’s not powerful enough to make a change. I would like to think if you were me, you could do more than post a status about it. In fact I guess that’s why I am trying to bring it to your attention, because if you were me, you would have the influence to never let it get this far in the first place.“

[psychidelia]

*** this post contains some material that may trigger and/or upset some readers. “reader” discretion is advised. ***

let’s just do a run down of my last week and a half ok… I went on vacation with my family and boyfriend to Hawaii, and the entire time, I was coughing hysterically and experiencing symptoms like green/yellow phlegm, shortness of breath, fatigue, fast heart rate (up to 154 bpm), feeling faint and lethargic, and wheezing. with a never ending list of medications we tried to aid what I was going through, none prevailed. and although my symptoms continued to only worsen, my lack of not having my medical insurance card was keeping me from going to the doctor’s. day by day, my sickness worsened to the point where I was up practically every night coughing, keeping everyone around me awake (sorry, baby). finally, two days before we were set to go home, my mom convinced me to go to the hospital. we found out that they would still accept me despite not having my card. the waiting was, of course, the longest portion of my visit, as the doctor that I saw did the bare minimum (checking my breathing using her stethoscope), prescribed me a few medications, and sent me on my way. it was nearing 11 o'clock at night, so hardly any pharmacies were open, and the one that was open was over a mile away. so, with what little energy I could muster, my bf and I walked to the pharmacy and were forced to purchase my medicine full price (grand total of $97 thanks to my inhaler). taking the meds they gave me helped, but didn’t get rid of what I had. the codeine allowed me to sleep, and the benzonatate sedated the coughing, but it had already gotten to a point where it wasn’t going away simply by stabilizing it. it got so bad that everywhere I went, I was needing to carry napkins or some sort of bag to spit in (it’s as gross as it sounds). today, our first official day home, proved to be no better, with black streaks appearing in my phlegm. scheduled for work, I had no choice but to call out and sift to find an urgent care willing to take me without my medical card. luckily, my partner in crime and absolute love of my life managed to find an urgent care that got ahold of my medical card through their own personal systems. visiting them was truly a blessing in disguise, as I was finally able to list my symptoms and actually feel as though I was being listened to. my doctor chose to prescribe me z-pack as well as more codeine to help me sleep. and acknowledging my shortness of breath as well as my evident slow, lethargic motions, my doctor gave me a note to excuse me from work today and tomorrow. I was still a little weary about my medication I had been prescribed, though, as I still didn’t have my medical insurance card. but alas, the woman at the front desk had reference of it on paper that legit saved my life and saved me what could’ve been hundreds of dollars of medication. I had never been so fucking happy to have medical insurance when I saw my total ring up as $0.00. now, a few hours after having taken my z-pack, I already feel 10x better, and tonight, I’m going to take my codeine so I can finally get a full night’s rest.

as pointless as this post may seem, actually having medical insurance really resonated with me this past week… I didn’t really think about how significant it was to have it until I was contemplating how I was going to pay thousands of dollars in medical bills myself. to top it all off, my mom was even able to find my medical insurance card in the midst of it all, which my boyfriend and I will be picking up tomorrow with great relief and appreciation. moral of the story (primarily to myself) is take care of your body, and listen to the symptoms it projects. your body is doing its absolute best to keep you healthy and alive, and it’s your job to reciprocate that treatment. the earlier you listen to your body, the less discomfort you’ll endure. your body only wants what’s best for you - showing nurture and gratuity is the least you can do in return.