melanoma - maybe thats it??

[Darren1]

Well after 8 weeks of research online into swollen glands, I am pretty much left with

1. a virus
2 lymphoma
3. hiv
4. melanoma

I am in a panic today about melanoma because it has suddenly dawned on me that a few months ago I developed a new freckle on the palm of my hand. I know it's not common to get spots on palm of hand - and melanoma can show up here. It doesn't look like a suspicious mole - it is a freckle. Like this one http://growyourmoneymojo.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/freckle-below-left-mercury.jpg


I am now worried it has spread to my lymph nodes in my neck/armpit causing all my problems. Would the freckle have changed before spreading? The freckle hasn't changed at all. What about the blood results?

[Speranza]

Hi Darren, I'm not aware of any cases of freckles spreading and causing melanoma. If you look at what you have posted, the first thing you have come up with is a virus. I'm not a scientist but I believe there is some principle about the most obvious answer being the most likely?

Why have you researched for 8 weeks and not asked a doctor, btw? Might that be an idea, are they aware of your health worries? Go and get some reassurance...

Gill x

[Darren1]

Hi Darren, I'm not aware of any cases of freckles spreading and causing melanoma. If you look at what you have posted, the first thing you have come up with is a virus. I#m not a scientist but I believe there is some principle about the most obvious answer being the most likely?

Why have you researched for 8 weeks and not asked a doctor, btw? Might that be an idea, are they aware of your health worries? Go and get some reassurance...

Gill x

I have been to the doctors 5 times to see two different GPs.

They have ran bloods and cant find anything - they keep telling me they think I am getting over something.

But everything I read online says persistent swollen glands without explanation can be serious.

They have reassured me loads but nothing sinks in - I have to go back in two weeks for more tests.

If my neck pain and glands were to ease or vanish then I would have some reassurance but nothing is giving in!

I am making my whole familys lives hell !

[mummyanxious]

I have a freckle on my palm... Does that mean I have cancer?

[nomorepanic]

No - freckles are not cancer

[Darren1]

No - freckles are not cancer

Do you know, in the last 8 weeks I have diagnosed myself with

leukemia
lymphoma
stomach cancer
pancreatic cancer
skin cancer

all because of these glands! Doctors appointment next week to see where we go from here. started taking kalms today at the recommendation of a friend.

[joelhall]

Doesn't look remotely like any melanoma I've ever seen, and I've seen a fair few.

From what you say I can't see that there is anything wrong with you at all.

[Marni]

Have you been tested to see if you have come on contact with glandular fever( mono) I did 5 years ago and before I found out what the problem was I thought I had lymphoma too and I'm still stuck with the worry.
I've been left with nodes in my neck, sides and on the back. In my groin too.
I was told the glandular fever could have caused them to stay enlarged. The only way you'll know for sure is too have a biopsy. I believe I should do this myself so I can just know and stop worrying!!!
Also I've never heard of a freckle being a melanoma. I have a mole on my left breast, it's raised and not exactly perfectly round. That's what they look into for melanomas, not a freckle.

Also about the lymph nodes. I know there is no proof about it. But I've had times and I mean months at a time when I get over the lymphoma fear and I can't feel and nodes, maybe the groin ones a little but I am a small girl. But the second I'm stressed and worrying they all flare up and that's especially for the one above my collar bone.

[PatrickChicago]

Hey Darren, the cause of swollen glands can be a million things - and the only thing you will run into online are the serious ones.
However, you said you had a blood test. If you had cancer or HIV, it would be pretty evident in your blood work that something was seriously wrong. If the doctors (who see this blood work) are not concerned - then they are trying to reassure you because they know you going to be okay.

I can tell you now, 8 weeks into it, if you are not bedridden, they have been right so far, and hence - there is no reason they will not be right tomorrow. So stop doing your own research man! You are looking for comfort on the internet- I understand - but you are forgetting that the internet is full of hypochondriacs with a public platform, and websites that assume the illogical worst, making damn well sure they terrify you.

You have doctors who have gone though medical schools -which takes more time, brains and learning than any hypochondriac with a keyboard or WebMD contributer ever does - and those doctors are telling you it is going to be okay.

Literally, the smartest guys in the room when it comes to your health are trying to reassure you it will be okay - but you keep going to the largest pool of dunces and melodramatics because you are looking for answers you feel you haven't gotten. But doing that would cause ANYONE to get spooked...

Look, imagine you had a headache for 2 days and typed in "terrible headache for two days" in google - then went through what you can find with a fine tooth comb. You'd be terrified that you had a million nightmarish things, from never ending migraines that won't go away to brain tumors and aneurysms. In reality - plenty of us have had bad headaches for two or more days...but only the panicky hypochondriacs wrote about it online, and now your unlucky butt found those old- outdated post and are panicking too. Despite the fact that the poster is by now long over whatever headache they had and likely onto whatever new, surely terrible thing they are sure they now have.

Reality is, talk to anyone who isn't a hypochondriac and you will find sometimes the body does weird things and they go away without you ever knowing what was up.

Here, I'll start for you... over 28 years, for no known reason :

-I've had swollen glands plenty of time that I rarely get checked out. I just assumed I had a virus, or whatever.
-I've had a weird tremor in my mouth before - it went away after a few days.
-I've had my bladder and urethra burn like it was on fire, saw a doctor and got a big old negative on STDs, or UTIs - Hell they even checked my prostate at 25 because they couldn't find what was wrong exactly (now THAT was no fun haha) and still nothing... then, about a week into this pain, it went away as fast as it came on... never a answer.
-Hell man, right now I'm dealing with a persistent salt water taste in my mouth for 7 days. But it is slowly getting better.

Reality is, your body is, at times, a imperfect machine - and will have occasionally problems with no good cause. If the doctors can rule out the serious causes - which it sounds very much like they have for you (the blood test alone would show have shown cancer or HIV had it been there) I am willing to bet my money that someday "I had swollen glands for a while" will go into your own list of "weird crap my body did for no good reason once".

I'm betting you're going to be okay.

[Darren1]

Hey Darren, the cause of swollen glands can be a million things - and the only thing you will run into online are the serious ones.
However, you said you had a blood test. If you had cancer or HIV, it would be pretty evident in your blood work that something was seriously wrong. If the doctors (who see this blood work) are not concerned - then they are trying to reassure you because they know you going to be okay.

I can tell you now, 8 weeks into it, if you are not bedridden, they have been right so far, and hence - there is no reason they will not be right tomorrow. So stop doing your own research man! You are looking for comfort on the internet- I understand - but you are forgetting that the internet is full of hypochondriacs with a public platform, and websites that assume the illogical worst, making damn well sure they terrify you.

You have doctors who have gone though medical schools -which takes more time, brains and learning than any hypochondriac with a keyboard or WebMD contributer ever does - and those doctors are telling you it is going to be okay.

Literally, the smartest guys in the room when it comes to your health are trying to reassure you it will be okay - but you keep going to the largest pool of dunces and melodramatics because you are looking for answers you feel you haven't gotten. But doing that would cause ANYONE to get spooked...

Look, imagine you had a headache for 2 days and typed in "terrible headache for two days" in google - then went through what you can find with a fine tooth comb. You'd be terrified that you had a million nightmarish things, from never ending migraines that won't go away to brain tumors and aneurysms. In reality - plenty of us have had bad headaches for two or more days...but only the panicky hypochondriacs wrote about it online, and now your unlucky butt found those old- outdated post and are panicking too. Despite the fact that the poster is by now long over whatever headache they had and likely onto whatever new, surely terrible thing they are sure they now have.

Reality is, talk to anyone who isn't a hypochondriac and you will find sometimes the body does weird things and they go away without you ever knowing what was up.

Here, I'll start for you... over 28 years, for no known reason :

-I've had swollen glands plenty of time that I rarely get checked out. I just assumed I had a virus, or whatever.
-I've had a weird tremor in my mouth before - it went away after a few days.
-I've had my bladder and urethra burn like it was on fire, saw a doctor and got a big old negative on STDs, or UTIs - Hell they even checked my prostate at 25 because they couldn't find what was wrong exactly (now THAT was no fun haha) and still nothing... then, about a week into this pain, it went away as fast as it came on... never a answer.
-Hell man, right now I'm dealing with a persistent salt water taste in my mouth for 7 days. But it is slowly getting better.

Reality is, your body is, at times, a imperfect machine - and will have occasionally problems with no good cause. If the doctors can rule out the serious causes - which it sounds very much like they have for you (the blood test alone would show have shown cancer or HIV had it been there) I am willing to bet my money that someday "I had swollen glands for a while" will go into your own list of "weird crap my body did for no good reason once".

I'm betting you're going to be okay.


Patrick

Thank you so much for taking the time to send me that reply! You really did put my mind at rest with what you were saying and gave me a reality check!

I will probably come back to read that again !!!

[Speranza]

Patrick, you ought to have a YouTube channel! ;)