Lymph Node Obsession i need help

[Thelegend27]

So my story begins around 4 months ago when i located a lymph node on the lower left side of my neck right above the collarbone. I've heard of lymph nodes in the past but never really thought much of them. Well after finding this node i went to Google like the hypocondriac that i am amd sure enough it scared me, so i started poking around trying to find more and i discovered more, i found one right beside the one on the left side of my neck, and then i foubd 2 more side by side on the lower right side of my neck almost symmetrical to the left nodes. So i scheduled a doctors appointment and the doctor felt of them and said they didn't feel large and she ordered a cbc and ultrasound which both came back good, all the nodes were less than 2 cm one was 1.9 cm but i think that's the one under my jaw where your saliva comes from which i heard is normally 1.5 cm so its only slightly enlarged and the others were 1.1 cm or less. She said the nodes doesn't look suspicious or enlarged and that there is fatty hilum present which apparently is a good thing and that my nodes could be a sign of a previous infection or inflammation that once cleared. I know a ultrasound isn't used to diagnose anything but i know it gives doctors a general image to see if anything looks suspicious. She told me to stay off Google and if i remain concerned to come back in a couple of months and we can check the sizes again. I mentioned a biopsy but she told me the nodes are alot smaller than nodes that they usually consider for a biopsy and that she didnt see any need to do so. These nodes are not rock hard and they aren't soft like jelly they are somewhere in between and i can move them a little and one of them i can really slide around. I was concerned that they may be supracalvicular lymph nodes but she told that they are not, that they are close to the supracalvicular nodes thats why i assumed thats where they were. So aside from from the nodes i dont i dont feel any different than i usually do and i dont have the classic symptoms of any diseases that ive read about no night sweats or fevers and after i ended my diet and gained my weight back so weight loss isn't an issue. Should i accept the doctors word and calm down and just keep an eye in the nodes. Or should i push for a biopsy? I don't have insurance at the moment so getting to see a specialist will be a little difficult. Do my nodes sound like normal nodes? I am a slim person not alot of fat on my neck. She also checked my groin head knees elbows neck and jaw and said that she didn't feel any nodes, and the ones in my neck she had a hard time finding although i find them very easily ine is really easy to find.

[ServerError]

My question to you would be this: why would you value our opinion over that of a doctor? I'm not suggesting you actually need to answer that here. But you should ask it of yourself.

There is no reason to push for a biopsy. The only point at which to get a biopsy is when a doctor says you need one. Personally, if I was in your shoes, I wouldn't even be keeping much of an eye on these nodes. You've essentially been given the all-clear. That's what I would be focusing on.

[PASchoolSyndrome]

The above poster is correct. People do this on this site all the time and it drives me absolutely wild. I get the need for reassurance but come on - 100% trust your doctor over anything we say.

THAT BEING SAID. I think we've all sort of been there. Calm your fears, don't google. Google will tell you that nodes are cancer. Real life and anatomy will tell you that as humans we have over 300 nodes in our body and almost everyone has palpable ones on their neck at one time or another, and some stay palpable forever. I too went through the lymph node scare that sounds quite identical to yours scare and saw 2 doctors over them but let me tell you - ITS NORMAL.

[GlassPinata]

Hmm.. I'm in the same boat. Live in the US, no insurance, found a neck lymph node (I thought) a few months ago. It scared me. i started a thread about it.
It turned out that mine was a big pimple- almost like a cyst- under the skin on my neck. Thank god. it eventually came to a head and popped.
But my initial thought, of course, was lymphoma. it sure felt EXACTLY like a lymph node, at first.
I guess the only advice I can offer you is what you probably already know: most lymph nodes are NOT cancer, they are a response to an infection somewhere in the body.
I would try not to poke at it if I were you, apparently this can make them become permanently enlarged.
Best wishes.

[Thelegend27]

Thanks for the advice everyone, I'm not here looking for a diagnoses, i was looking for more of a way to forget about the lymph nodes. I like to ask people who have experienced things like this before because they can relate to my situation where a doctor may not know exactly how it feels to be in those shoes if they themselves have never experienced it themselves. I hate to get on here and post things like this because i know there are people out there who are actually living the nightmare that i am affraid of. Well thanks again and I'll leave the nodes alone unless they start growing. Have a blessed day everyone.

[bin tenn]

Just leave it alone - that's the best advice I know to give. I realized my obsessive lymph node checking was bad when people around me were constantly asking if I was okay because I was repeatedly feeling for them in my neck. At that point I decided to just let it go.

[PASchoolSyndrome]

Great idea. You're not alone but take reassurance that a lot of us have "swollen" lymph nodes and have obsessed over them in the past (mine not so far distant past). I hope I didn't come off rude - but moral of the story is we all have lymph nodes, all freaked out over them, went to the doctor to tell us that it's normal and okay, and now we do our best to let our anxiety not control us and let it go.

Bin Tenn, that's happened to me haha. I'll reach for my neck and my roommates will yet "STOP FEELING THEM."

[Mav]

Look, you need to stop touching it. As hard as it is, you have you realise everytime you touch it you will spiral into anxiety, again and again and again!

I've had a node in my neck that I discovered in December, it's in the cervical region of my neck. I'm supossed to be seeing a specialist (non-urgent referal) for it even though the doc said it seems fine.

I have stopped touching it, and I also apply a bit of heat on it just to see if it helps it go down and it actually seems to have helped. It doesn't seem to poke out as much as it used to. So I suggest if your anxiety is REALLY bad then try the heat compress thing, but that should be the only time your touching it. Do it lightly and don't try and aggrivate the are more than you have done.

Thats the only advise I can give to help you stop touching it.

But you just need to believe your doctor honestly. If they thought there was a chance of malignancy you probably would have been checked out and on your path to reciving a diagnosis.

[Thelegend27]

I have a long history of health anxiety due to some heart palpitations over the years and when i located the nodes it only kicked my anxiety right back up. I realize that most of the time lymph nodes do not indicate anything serious. Its just the what if in the back of my mind that keeps me coming back to my lymph nodes. Theres no telling how long they've been palpable because i never used to feel my neck for all i know it could have been palpable for years. Growing up i had alot of ear infections, had a severe case of tonsillitis, alot of the stomach flu, i also had some sternum or chest wall inflammation once, ice dealt with many different sicknesses in the past that could have contributed to the nodes becoming palpable and slightly enlarged and just stayed that way. At times it almost like i can sense the nodes in my neck as if they are huge but they are still really small i think its a combination of me poking and rubbing them to a mind over matter type of thing. I'm trying to get passed this obsession and you guys have helped alot. Also i got on google before and read peoples stories where they had a clear cbc and ultrasound but later turned out to have lymphoma or something else that's why i got a little worried after the doctor didn't send me for a biopsy. But I'm going to push forward and try putting all this behind me and focus in what really matters and that being healthy and happy. Thanks everyone.

[PASchoolSyndrome]

Never google!

Keep in mine that when lymphoma patient's lymph nodes swell they get to the size of golf-balls. I wish you the best of luck in moving forward!

[Mav]

Never google!

Keep in mine that when lymphoma patient's lymph nodes swell they get to the size of golf-balls. I wish you the best of luck in moving forward!

It's not just that, it's that cancer grows FAST. Especially in younger folk, it's much more noticable. In a matter of months there is obvious symptoms.

I need to keep reminding myself that everytime I start spiraling.

[Thelegend27]

One more question for yoy guys, when you have some palpable nodes do they feel slightly bigger when you wake up in the mornings? Mine feel slightly bigger when i first wake up. I thought it might be because when you wake up your face and stuff looks a little puffy and i wonder if your neck may do that is well therefore making the node seem a little bigger but it may actually just be the same size and that it may just be the fat and tissue around the node.

[PASchoolSyndrome]

If I have a particularly bad day they absolutely feel bigger. If I go awhile with out feeling them it's hard for me to even find them, but if I play with them then it's almost like they loosen up and "stick out" more.

It might just be your mind playing tricks on you. You need to leave them alone!

[axolotl]

My mother in law recently had a lymphoma around the collar bone, it wasn't that she ummed and ahed while poking and prodding something slightly swollen for a few months, in a matter of a few months she had something the size of a tennis ball on there. It's fast, and it's dramatic (and for the record, after an admittedly sh***y six months on chemo, cured).

If a doctor isn't worried you shouldn't be. This isn't an obscure disease, and you've had plenty of tests. If they had an inkling it was malignant they'd be all over it. Trust your doctors, stop asking internet randoms for second opinions, stop prodding, let your lymph nodes do their job, and try and move on.

[Thelegend27]

Reading back through these so many years later is kind of crazy, I can see now how much time I was wasting worrying myself. For anyone who finds this post and may be experiencing similar things just know I am still here doing fine. I know some people post and ghost and you never know the outcome so I thought I’d leave a comment.