Flibby
29-09-13, 14:24
Hello all.
As you can see this is my first post and i'm very glad to have found somewhere to come for (hopefully) some help from like-minded folk and no trolling through google for symptoms!
I'm a 26 year old male, and first noticed this issue on holiday around a month ago. For whatever reason, no specific pain or anything else, i felt around the back of my ears, just below the lobe, and noticed that when i pushed in, i could feel a hard bony area. It wasn't noticeable unless you pushed down, and then you could feel this 'lump', i'd say smaller than a pea.
Now this instantly led to me playing with it lots, and beginning to notice it and play with it throughout the rest of the holiday. I have had some issues previously which i know mean that i'm a hypochondriac, and i started worrying about the big-c etc.
When i got back from holiday, i managed somehow to completely forget about the lump for a few weeks. I had a cold 2 weeks or so after returning, and thought that maybe the lymph system had been trying to fight off the infection, and when it hadn't, i got the cold. Low and behold i did check it last week, and there didn't seem to be anything there at all...yay!
Roll on to this morning, when for some reason i again checked, and prodded, and now there does seem to be a less distinguishable, but still there, small 'hardness' on one side and not the other.
I've tried to tell myself that if this was something to worry about, it wouldn't be smaller, and that i shouldn't worry 'what if i just missed it a few weeks ago' etc but since prodding, it does feel more noticeable - has anyone had any experience of this?
Sorry to drone on but i have one other thing to get off my chest. 18 months ago i had just stopped smoking and had a 'panicy' episode which was horrendous. It's hard to describe, but i got home, and ever since i had a heart monitor app (i know..) on my old phone, i used to check my heart-rate a lot, and my heart was going very quickly. I started to panic about this, thinking i was going to have a heart attack, felt like a couldn't sit still, and ended up taking a shower, running around on the spot (weird, i know) and god knows what to try and 'escape'. I was lying on the sofa later that night and could still feel my heart racing. I had to go outside to try and get some air, but just felt so 'strange'.
My girlfriend and I ended up going to A&E, and the doctors did a blood test, ECG, and everything was fine, i just had a fast heart rate (around 120) and they said it could just be anxiety. Since then i had one episode of real heart palpitations, big thuds in my chest. Went back to A&E and got checked again, and once again nothing showed up on blood tests of ECG. And the strangest thing was, as soon as i was walking to the car, these thuds stopped!
Touch wood, no more fast heart and no more palpitations, but the only thing i sometimes have is that feeling of being very 'spaced out' and 'weird' and needing to 'get out' of wherever i am, feeling dizzy and like i might pass out (but never have). Is this similar to a panic attack that anyone can conceive of, or a anxiety attack or similar? I have a strange symptom with them which feels like indigestion, and a need to go to the toilet. I have found that Ranitidine anti intigestion really helps, and someone has said that the stomach acid/gasses can actually trigger the heart to beat faster but i don't know how true this is..
Anyway i'm starting to ramble, but i would be grateful to hear from anyone with any tips to get out of the 'checking' habit or to explain whether the feelings i sometimes have may be anxiety attacks, or if that's unlikely.
Nick :)
As you can see this is my first post and i'm very glad to have found somewhere to come for (hopefully) some help from like-minded folk and no trolling through google for symptoms!
I'm a 26 year old male, and first noticed this issue on holiday around a month ago. For whatever reason, no specific pain or anything else, i felt around the back of my ears, just below the lobe, and noticed that when i pushed in, i could feel a hard bony area. It wasn't noticeable unless you pushed down, and then you could feel this 'lump', i'd say smaller than a pea.
Now this instantly led to me playing with it lots, and beginning to notice it and play with it throughout the rest of the holiday. I have had some issues previously which i know mean that i'm a hypochondriac, and i started worrying about the big-c etc.
When i got back from holiday, i managed somehow to completely forget about the lump for a few weeks. I had a cold 2 weeks or so after returning, and thought that maybe the lymph system had been trying to fight off the infection, and when it hadn't, i got the cold. Low and behold i did check it last week, and there didn't seem to be anything there at all...yay!
Roll on to this morning, when for some reason i again checked, and prodded, and now there does seem to be a less distinguishable, but still there, small 'hardness' on one side and not the other.
I've tried to tell myself that if this was something to worry about, it wouldn't be smaller, and that i shouldn't worry 'what if i just missed it a few weeks ago' etc but since prodding, it does feel more noticeable - has anyone had any experience of this?
Sorry to drone on but i have one other thing to get off my chest. 18 months ago i had just stopped smoking and had a 'panicy' episode which was horrendous. It's hard to describe, but i got home, and ever since i had a heart monitor app (i know..) on my old phone, i used to check my heart-rate a lot, and my heart was going very quickly. I started to panic about this, thinking i was going to have a heart attack, felt like a couldn't sit still, and ended up taking a shower, running around on the spot (weird, i know) and god knows what to try and 'escape'. I was lying on the sofa later that night and could still feel my heart racing. I had to go outside to try and get some air, but just felt so 'strange'.
My girlfriend and I ended up going to A&E, and the doctors did a blood test, ECG, and everything was fine, i just had a fast heart rate (around 120) and they said it could just be anxiety. Since then i had one episode of real heart palpitations, big thuds in my chest. Went back to A&E and got checked again, and once again nothing showed up on blood tests of ECG. And the strangest thing was, as soon as i was walking to the car, these thuds stopped!
Touch wood, no more fast heart and no more palpitations, but the only thing i sometimes have is that feeling of being very 'spaced out' and 'weird' and needing to 'get out' of wherever i am, feeling dizzy and like i might pass out (but never have). Is this similar to a panic attack that anyone can conceive of, or a anxiety attack or similar? I have a strange symptom with them which feels like indigestion, and a need to go to the toilet. I have found that Ranitidine anti intigestion really helps, and someone has said that the stomach acid/gasses can actually trigger the heart to beat faster but i don't know how true this is..
Anyway i'm starting to ramble, but i would be grateful to hear from anyone with any tips to get out of the 'checking' habit or to explain whether the feelings i sometimes have may be anxiety attacks, or if that's unlikely.
Nick :)