New member - Swollen lymph nodes in neck

[NGD99]

Hello everybody. I'm a 17 years old Romanian boy. I'm playing football at a professional level now and I have been playing football since I was 7. I eat healthy, no fast-food, no bad habits like drugs, smoking or drinking alcohol. All started 7 months ago when i had a bad upper respiratory infection with a very bad cough which lasted about two months. This is the point when my HA begun.
Then i did a chest x-ray which was clear and two CBC's which were clear too. Then a month later due to anxiety i was feeling so bad and I did another CBC, an abdominal ultrasound and a Head MRI. All clear except the Head MRI which discovered a chronic sinusitis. All good for a month, when my barber cut me on the neck and I thought I caught HIV. Another two months of stress. After two months I did a CBC, HIV test, Hep C and B tests and all came back clear. I have discovered 6 lymph nodes on my neck when I started to think about HIV, about 4 months ago. They are not big, are movable and are not rock hard, neither so soft. I think at the worst now(neck cancer, lymphoma). What I can do? I am so depressed and I'm only a 17 years old healthy boy. Please, help me! Sorry for my bad english.

[KeeKee]

I think to a certain extent it's normal for lymph nodes to be palpable without them actually being swollen.
I have one under my chin and asked the doctor to feel it as it had been that way for a very long time and I was told it wasn't actually swollen even though it's so noticeable.
Are you sure they are swollen and not just large enough to feel as a norm?

[NGD99]

I don't know the difference between swollen lymph nodes and large ones. I have palpable lymph nodes in groin area also and have been there for a very very long time. My GP said that the lymph nodes on the neck are not pathological and that they're doing their job. But what job cause I'm not ill and I noticed them 4 months ago.

[KeeKee]

Hmm I'm not sure. I also have them on my groin, especially one but I was told it was 'ligament'.
I can feel 2 lymph nodes in my own neck but I'm quite sure they aren't swollen and are just how they should be. I've also read that they can stay up for many months after an infection so could be due to things such as the common cold etc.
If it were more serious your blood tests would have shown something.

[NGD99]

I just don't know how to relax. I always think at the possibility to have cancer. But as the GP said, they are not pathological, because they are movable.

[Lifelonganxiety!]

Hey dude,

Take it from me, you have nothing to worry about here. You've been examined (a lot) and they found you're completely in the clear.

I have multiple "swollen" nodes in my neck, jaw, groin and so on. It's entirely normal. they've been that way since I found them at your age, that was unfortunately 20 years ago now. But anyway, I'm still here with all these bumps in my neck, nothing bad happened.

Don't waste some of your best years worrying about this. Enjoy your life, and good luck with your football career! Be good, and sign for Tottenham Hotspur please.

[NGD99]

Thank you so much for reassurance. I think this is a vicious circle. I have seen some articles on the internet that stress is the number one immune suppresor and sometimes I think: "Maybe have I acquired cancer recently due to this big amount of stress and anxiety and it couldn't be seen on abdominal ultrasound, chest x-ray and head MRI and it cant be seen on blood tests now". I am trying to relax but from time to time the HA comes again...