Covid and genital ulcers

[verypainful]

I’ve nc for this as it’s embarrassing but I’ve been a poster for a while and a lurker for even longer (penis beaker, Mexican house thief etc).

I received the AZ vaccine this week and have been experiencing the most common side effects of painful arm, shivers and so on.
I have developed genital ulcers too but they’re not listed as a side effect but I don’t know what else can have caused them. I searched the web and found a document written by a dr in Spain: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7323140/. Mine looks like the defund picture.
I had them once before, just over a year ago when I was ill. Possibly CV but it was when everyone thought CV hadnt really reached this country and testing wasn’t available so just put it down to a flu-like illness.
My mil works at my dr so I don’t want to visit them really but I don’t know what to do. I have got about six of the sores/ulcers and they’re painful.
Had anyone else experienced this?

Second picture not defund picture

I would make an appointment at a GUM clinic. From the description you given it's just as possible that this is herpes -flaring up when your immune system is otherwise under stress.

Genital herpes is nothing to be ashamed of. We don't make a big deal about coldsores, which is simply oral herpes.

There are other possible causes too, but the GUM clinic is the best place to start. If there has been a big increase in genital ulceration secondary to the virus and vaccination, they will know about that too.

Thank you for replying

Do you know if I make an appointment if it’ll go on my main medical records? That’s something I really want to avoid.

I’ve been with my husband over 20 years and only had one bf before that. Goodness knows where I could have caught it from.
I totally trust my husband and we’ve barely been apart since we’ve been together.

If you’ve had it before then I’d say it’s almost certainly not a vaccine “side effect” as such.

I’d speak to the GP. They’ve seen it all!

GUM clinic is entirely separate from your usual health records. You will usually get a form to complete where you can opt in or out of having a copy of any records or consultations shared to your GP record.

A big reason for having GUM clinics run like this is to get people to attend, who otherwise wouldn't because of embarrassment or privacy concerns.

Stick your postcode in here:

www.nhs.uk/service-search/sexual-health/find-a-sexual-health-clinic

Does your dh get cold sores? They can get passed to the genital area through oral sex

I had the vaccine a couple of weeks ago, felt fluey for about 12 hours afterwards.

However, a week later I had a flare up of genital herpes. I am convinced it’s my immune system responding to the vaccine (in a good way) and has made me a bit low hence the outbreak of herpes.

I phoned the GP as it was very painful and a lovely practice nurse prescribed me Acicolvir.

Don’t suffer OP. It’s nothing to be ashamed of.

It sounds like herpes, which flare up when I’m fine system is down. It could be that’s you’ve had heroes for years and years but only had one flare up so I wouldn’t worry about where it’s come from. My best friend got herpes from the first person she had sex with. Don’t put up with the pain and please see someone.

Thank you so much to everyone who has taken the time to reply to me. I’ve found the nearest clinic online and will swallow my embarrassment and ring them tomorrow.
I can’t remember how long it lasted last time but it’s been several days so far this time and it’s painful to even sit so I do need to get sorted.

@verypainful Hope you get an appointment (and some relief) quickly! Chin up, heart forward...don't play the shame game. 30% of adults in the UK are known to have genital herpes, another 30% are probably living in silence with it.

I wanted to come back and say thank you to everybody for your advice. I had an appointment on Monday and a swab was taken. I haven’t had the results yet but I they gave me some aciclovir and it helped a lot.
Thank you for persuading me to go!

Glad to hear that you got something that helped x