Lymph Node Waiting Game :(

[anxietygirl27]

Hi everyone - ANOTHER post about lymph nodes.

I went to urgent care this morning, as I had noticed I have several swollen and painful nodes on my lower right neck. She felt around, and made a comment that "Wow! Your nodes are very large" - which of course for someone with a lymphoma fear is enough to send me into a spiral. She didn't seem to be concerned at all, however.

Did a strep test that came back negative, but she said my throat is pretty inflamed and my ear is full of fluid so prescribed a steroid pack and antibiotics to help get me back to normal.

I felt better until the end of the appointment when I asked her if I should be monitoring my nodes to see if they go down, and she said "yes BUT they won't go down for another three weeks or so let's not worry until then". A seemingly benign statement but almost implies that she's expecting them not to go down?!

I am trying to stay positive but my lymphoma fears are in full force and it's going to be a tough couple of weeks - I am going to try to completely stop touching them for at least two weeks so we'll see. I almost wish they would have done a blood test right then and there so I wouldn't have to worry quite as much :weep:

Typing this out I realize how ridiculous I sound but I don't like having symptoms like these without any known cause from the doctor. I'll update progress for anyone else with similar concerns!

[TattooArtist]

You have symptoms of a minor infection. We know this because you were prescribed meds to treat a minor infection. If you were in danger of something more sinister you would have been sent for further testing. In a few weeks you will be well. Likely you will see some symptom improvement very soon!

[anxietygirl27]

Thanks for the reply! I know how silly it sounds - lymph nodes are just a trigger for me. Here's to feeling better soon!

[worryingmum]

God this was me a couple of weeks ago, i was so obsessed with lymphoma... I work at the hospital with oncology consultants and in the end got them to check my neck..... still wasn't good enough when they said they were ok. I can imagine the comment she made didn't help, what sounds like a completely innocent sentence to them means ALOT more to us with health anxiety. I am sure you've got an infection (mine was in the end).

[anxietygirl27]

God this was me a couple of weeks ago, i was so obsessed with lymphoma... I work at the hospital with oncology consultants and in the end got them to check my neck..... still wasn't good enough when they said they were ok. I can imagine the comment she made didn't help, what sounds like a completely innocent sentence to them means ALOT more to us with health anxiety. I am sure you've got an infection (mine was in the end).

It's so crazy what we put ourselves through lol. Even after I've gone to the doctor I'm now afraid it IS lymphoma bc those nodes acted up after a weekend of relatively heavy drinking. In reality, the alcohol probably just wrecked my immune system and made the infection worse. Ugh!

---------- Post added at 19:47 ---------- Previous post was at 18:06 ----------

Great..I was doing more reading on this forum about lymph nodes to make me feel better that so many other people have this fear. Of course I manage to find the ONE person on here that had a lymphoma fear, found a swollen node similar and it ended up being lymphoma. Now any sense of calm I had is gone and I am in a full on spiral :weep:

[Thelegend27]

You're letting your anxiety get the best of you, the doctor was simply saying if the nodes stay enlarged they will run additional tests.

Lymph Nodes swell for so many reasons and yes one reason is cancer but statistically it's not likely cancer, in a primary care setting, a patient shows enlarged lymph nodes has a 0.4% of it being cancer under the age of 40, and a 4% over the age of 40.

These statistics do not include supraclavicular lymph nodes as these carry a much higher risk for cancer at 25% under 40, and these statistic are mainly focused in the virchow nodes which are imbedded behind your collar bone right up from where your collarbone joins the sternum, i had a difficult time figuring out where the supraclavicular nodes were because i had palpable nodes near the bottom of my neck, but my doctor showed me where these nodes were and assured me my palpable nodes were not supraclavicular, these nodes sometimes enlarge with lung and thorax cancers.

Please do not turn to the web for answers itll only scare you, the best thing to do is give them a few weeks and if they havent gone down go back and get yourself a cbc and ultrasound as this is usually the first test to see if anything looks abnormal.

Remember swollen lymph nodes dont always return to their original sizes, sometimes they can become permantley enlarged or at least palpable.

Good luck and best wishes.

[anxietygirl27]

Thanks, TheLegend! I felt a lot better yesterday, as I didn't go poking for the nodes but did run my fingers lightly over the area and they already seemed relatively smaller so hopefully, the steroids/antibiotics are doing their job! I did go ahead and make an ENT appointment for about three weeks out and will cancel if they go down, I'd just rather get a second opinion than go back to the same doctor again.

[anxietygirl27]

UPDATE --

I officially made it 8 days without poking around for lymph nodes. This morning, I failed and had to feel but guess what - they're SMALLER! It's a miracle what can happen when you stop bothering your body ;)

However, my antibiotics don't really seem to be helping the ear pressure so I think I'll still go to the ENT.