Stagestruck
21-02-15, 12:34
Ok - after lurking for a few weeks feeling too shy to admit to my daft fears - here goes.
I have a lump behind my right ear, about a third of the way up my ear, on the round bony part. I admit it's tiny, it feels like half a pea under the skin. Sometimes it seems to feel harder than others, sometimes a bit bigger, probably as a result of me touching it. It doesn't seem to move, but it's sitting on top of bone, so it's probably not got far to move to. The skin over it moves, but it tends to stay put. It doesn't hurt or feel tender.
I found it about 7 weeks ago and went to the doctor as soon as I could get an appointment. She felt all around my neck and collar bone and said that was all ok. She said it was a lymph node which has swollen in reaction to an infection, probably of the scalp or a cough and it would take about a month to go away. She ended by saying I should feel free to return if it got bigger or didn't go away. She dismissed my fears of things such as lymphoma, saying such lumps were huge and, although it probably felt massive to me when I can only feel it, not see it, it really was tiny.
I can't remember any infection that could have caused it to swell it recently. I had a bad throat at the end of November and conjunctivitis about the same time. The right eye was the worst. But that's about 3 months ago.
I've given it 7 weeks and it's still there. Not sure if it's smaller, definitely not bigger, but I'm worried it's not gone. I have suffered from HA in the past (was on citalopram for about 2 years) and tend to jump to the worst case scenario, missing out the more common explanations. I'm desperately trying to control myself and not to let this trigger another bout of HA - but lumps are scary things. Everything I read says nodes swollen by infection should go in 4-6 weeks and it hasn't. I'm having to resist the temptation to constantly check all the other nodes - armpit, groin, because I know when I start that I'm on a downward spiral to scaring myself stupid, not sleeping and worrying 24/7.
I have an appointment with my doctor to follow this up, as she advised, this coming Wednesday, but I'm getting more and more worried. In the past it has only taken a trigger and I jump from symptom to symptom, anticipating cancer in just about every organ of the body.
Sorry not sure if this should have gone in the symptoms forum ....
I have a lump behind my right ear, about a third of the way up my ear, on the round bony part. I admit it's tiny, it feels like half a pea under the skin. Sometimes it seems to feel harder than others, sometimes a bit bigger, probably as a result of me touching it. It doesn't seem to move, but it's sitting on top of bone, so it's probably not got far to move to. The skin over it moves, but it tends to stay put. It doesn't hurt or feel tender.
I found it about 7 weeks ago and went to the doctor as soon as I could get an appointment. She felt all around my neck and collar bone and said that was all ok. She said it was a lymph node which has swollen in reaction to an infection, probably of the scalp or a cough and it would take about a month to go away. She ended by saying I should feel free to return if it got bigger or didn't go away. She dismissed my fears of things such as lymphoma, saying such lumps were huge and, although it probably felt massive to me when I can only feel it, not see it, it really was tiny.
I can't remember any infection that could have caused it to swell it recently. I had a bad throat at the end of November and conjunctivitis about the same time. The right eye was the worst. But that's about 3 months ago.
I've given it 7 weeks and it's still there. Not sure if it's smaller, definitely not bigger, but I'm worried it's not gone. I have suffered from HA in the past (was on citalopram for about 2 years) and tend to jump to the worst case scenario, missing out the more common explanations. I'm desperately trying to control myself and not to let this trigger another bout of HA - but lumps are scary things. Everything I read says nodes swollen by infection should go in 4-6 weeks and it hasn't. I'm having to resist the temptation to constantly check all the other nodes - armpit, groin, because I know when I start that I'm on a downward spiral to scaring myself stupid, not sleeping and worrying 24/7.
I have an appointment with my doctor to follow this up, as she advised, this coming Wednesday, but I'm getting more and more worried. In the past it has only taken a trigger and I jump from symptom to symptom, anticipating cancer in just about every organ of the body.
Sorry not sure if this should have gone in the symptoms forum ....