Saw the doctor about lymph nodes just now...

[KayeS]

I've been very conscious of being able to feel lots of little lymph nodes around the edge of my pectoral muscle area and in the armpit so I went to the doctor about it this morning and he had a feel and said he couldn't even feel anything and he thinks it's just the muscle fibres I'm feeling... And he said the lymph nodes are deep in the armpit and I wouldn't be able to feel them on the surface anyway.

I'm not in full blown panic mode or anything but it really frustrates me when I receive different information from sources I'm supposed to trust... I remember years back one doctor telling me you CAN indeed feel lymph nodes and she found a normal one on my neck and got me to feel it and told me "this is how they feel when they are normal"... the ones around my chest feel like lymph nodes, just like the ones in my neck so it's frustrating when the doctor can't feel them, or tells me they aren't lymph nodes. I'm not going against what he said, don't get me wrong, but it's hard to know who to believe sometimes. They're only human after all.

Anyway can anyone else feel lots of little lumps and bumps on the outer area of their chest towards the top of the armpit area? I'm really going to make a conscious effort to leave them alone now but would feel better knowing it's normal to feel this...

[Gary A]

You've already been told it's normal by a doctor. To be honest, does it really matter what they are? The only thing you need to be concerned about is whether they're suspicious lumps, your doctor has confirmed they are not, so frankly, why do you care what they are? They aren't going to hurt you so leave it at that and get on with your life.

[KayeS]

Well, ultimately because I suffer from health anxiety? I understand where you're coming from and believe me, I say the same things to myself... but it's because I am the way I am that I need this kind of reassurance all the time, whereas a normal person wouldn't even have gone to the doctor in the first place :/

What I find more reassuring than being told I'm fine by a doctor, is hearing other people say they have the same things as I do.

[Gary A]

Yes but part of health anxiety is the need for constant reassurance. If you keep that cycle going then you're not challenging your health anxiety, you're simply obeying it and allowing it to control you. I'm not trying to be mean or anything here but it's actually very counter-productive to just say "I have health anxiety therefore I do this....".

Challenge the health anxiety, take it on, fight it. If a normal person wouldn't need the reassurance, then try as hard as you can to act like that. Of course it's easier said than done, of course every fibre in your body is going to be forcing you to keep getting the reassurance, you're in a battle that is not easy to win. The point is that the longer you accept it the more it'll control you, the more it'll feed off of your negative thoughts.

You are a healthy person, deep down somewhere inside you know this, so try to reach in and grab that thought. Ignore the devil on your shoulder and keep reassuring yourself. If you do this, eventually you will get to a point where you can control the anxiety, rather than it controlling you.

[KayeS]

I appreciate the replies, I wasn't getting at you or anything. Believe me I try, VERY HARD and have actually made progress since this time last year. Although I went to the doctor this morning, I have stopped myself going 10 other times in the last month lol. I really am trying to beat this and not just accept that I have it. In fact the idea of just accepting I have it disgusts me. I can't live my life with health anxiety being a part of it so trust me, I'm doing all I can do get rid of it. Ironically though, I also have the fear of being TOO passive about my health eventually and then ignoring things that I actually should be taking notice of :/

[Gary A]

Yeah, that's the tricky part. Health anxiety is a very difficult thing to overcome because it can be very conflicting. We're constantly berated about not looking after our health and not going to see doctors quickly enough at the first signs of illness. Then when you get to the other end of that scale we get told we're going too much and we need to calm down about our health. :wacko:

It's all about trying to get a sensible perception on the risks. We all can and will get ill, but there's a difference between finding a symptom and actively looking for it. When we're truly ill, our bodies generally aren't shy about letting us know, so trying to find signs when none exist is probably where the fault comes in health anxiety.

There are checks that we all should do, like scanning breasts and testicles for lumps on a monthly basis. These are advised because these types of things can, at times, creep up on you silently, so we're told to look out for them. That's where I think the confusion arises, the HA sufferer takes that approach and applies it to their entire body and not only on a daily basis, but an hourly, even minutely basis.

[KayeS]

Lol yeah that's pretty much it. I can admit that for the last week, (more so in the evenings when I'm home), I have been constantly feeling around for lymph nodes, trying to count how many I can feel, trying to reassure myself that they feel normal, panicking because one feels harder than the others, then wondering if that's even a lymph node or just other, normal body tissue... I'm sure it's contributed to the areas experiencing intermittent pain now. But then I start thinking "wait, DID I cause the pain or was the pain there before?!"... It's ridiculous. It's unfortunate that this bout of extreme health anxiety was triggered by doctors actually for me, when I was feeling better than ever :/

[Niqq90]

Hey guys, hope you don't mind me jumping on this! I found a small lump on my neck a couple of weeks ago which I will be getting checked out when I can. It's quite a small lump, squidgy and moves when pressed. The only pain is when I play with it - is this something I should be concerned over?
Thanks!

[Gary A]

Sounds like a cyst. Get it checked to be sure but really doesn't sound like anything to be concerned about.

[KayeS]

I'd agree it sounds like a cyst.