Firm/Hard lymph nodes for over 7 months

[swh1993]

Disclaimer: I'm very aware that my anxiety is the number one thing that requires treatment, and I am making steps to treat that, and I'm feeling very positive about it. I'm really sorry for the huge essay in advance, I'm awful at being concise!

I found a hard lymph node in my neck 7/8 months ago, and then another smaller hard one above it while fiddling around. My GP said they were Lymph nodes, most likely reactive. I've had a blood test, had my neck under an ultrasound, looked at by a proper ENT specialist (who sent me for a higher quality ultrasound because he wasn't happy with the first) and was eventually told there was absolutely nothing abnormal found. Nobody at any point was even remotely concerned (although the lady who did the first ultrasound said it looked a bit "chunky" whatever the hell that means)

I just wondered if anyone here with more experience of this sort of thing could help me out? Some of the threads about lymph nodes have been incredibly reassuring, but I have a few lingering worries:

1) People online have mentioned "shotty lymph nodes", but no doctor I spoke to mentioned them. The ENT brushed that off as a possibility but didn't go into detail. Is it possible they hardened up due to an old infection and never went away? They are not swollen, but why the heck would a lymph node become hard like this? Does infection make them hard?
All Google tells me is that if they're hard it's cancer, which isn't helpful. All my doctor and the ENT told me was "there is nothing to be concerned about", even when I tried to ask these questions.

2) Since discovering them I've noticed the 2 hard lymph nodes become tender when I'm not well, although they never grow or shrink and have felt exactly the same hardness and size since I found them. Does this automatically mean they're benign?

3) Apart from when I'm sick as mentioned above, they are completely painless. They don't grow or shrink or become painful even if I poke and prod them constantly as I did for the months after I found them? Could I have caused them to stay this way?

I'M SO CONFUSED :huh:

I know I need to stop worrying and touching and generally move on with my life but if anyone has any insight it would go a long way to helping me kick this to the curb and move on, as well as getting help for my anxiety.

Thank you so much in advance, I tried to resist posting about this since November last year but I thought I'd be proactive and try get some answers from people who have dealt with the same. :)

[Fishmanpa]

I'm a head and neck cancer survivor.

Cancer in an uncontrolled growth of abnormal cells. It doesn't come and go nor does it stop once it starts.

I can assure you that in 7 months it would be very obvious and you would be quite ill by now. And yes, poking and prodding as well as past infections certainly could have caused them to be shotty.

Positive thoughts

[swh1993]

I'm a head and neck cancer survivor.

Cancer in an uncontrolled growth of abnormal cells. It doesn't come and go nor does it stop once it starts.

I can assure you that in 7 months it would be very obvious and you would be quite ill by now. And yes, poking and prodding as well as past infections certainly could have caused them to be shotty.

Positive thoughts

Fishmanpa, I've seen your replies to other posts of this nature and your outlook has been very helpful, thank you :)

If someone would just say to me "yo, lymph nodes can just get hard sometimes" then that would be fine! I just feel as if nobody has given me a straight answer on that. But you're absolutely right and I appreciate your reply. I've accepted I might never know exactly what caused them, and that my prodding has not helped one bit.

[axolotl]

I'm not saying this to trigger anyone, but my mother-in-law had lymphoma (now cured) and her lump was, very quickly, within a couple of months, the size of a golf ball. Seven months would be a long time.


All my doctor and the ENT told me was "there is nothing to be concerned about"

This should be enough. This is a health anxious mind thinks to that statement:

"Ok, but why are they hard? What's happening? What's causing it? There must be something".

A non-health anxious mind goes:

"Cheers, doc. Phew". (If they even noticed in the first place)

To beat this thing we have to think more like non-HA people, and realise we don't need to know every little detail of every little thing, we just need a doctor to go "no, it's not that, and you don't need to worry". That should be enough.

[Scaredbear]

I have had a swollen lymph node on the left back of my neck for years. I have been to the GP a few times and they have done blood tests which were fine. GP said that sometimes if a lymph node swells up due to an infection it can just stay enlarged and it's nothing to worry about. I was stressing about mine and convinced myself I had all sorts like lymphoma but trust me, it's most probably nothing!

[Allochka]

Regarding node hardness - are you sure their hardness is not smth perceived?
I have an enlarged lymphnode in neck, had it for years. It swells even more with illness, then goes down, but still stays quite large.
I've just checked how it feels. Well, It feels rather hard when simply running my fingers over it. But when I dig deeper into neck (it requires quite some prodding :-), I can feel that it is really rather soft. But, as I said, when simply running fingers over or gently poking it feels hard. So perhaps yours isn't hard in reality as well?
I know my is benign, because I had it for at least 4 years without change

[orthagonal]

I've had a palpable submandibular lymph node since I had my tonsils removed when I was 19. That was almost 20 years ago.

[linniek808]

I have enlarged lymph nodes in my armpit. They found on ultrasound 9 months ago. Going for a follow-up on Wed.It hasn't gotten noticeably larger. Of course my HA has kicked in . My doctor said she wasn't worried, maybe I shouldn't either.

[CHELLEB1017]

I have 2 very small tiny hard(to me they feel hard but I am not a Doctor) lymph nodes in the back of my neck. I seen 4 Doctors, and ENT, and had an ultrasound and guess what every single Doctor was right!! Nothing to worry about! The ENT even called them small and shotty nodes. I say stop worrying and enjoy life!!!

[swh1993]

Thank you everyone, this has been so reassuring. I'm glad I spoke up :) I'm still having good and bad days but I guess the longer they are there without anything happening, the easier it becomes to accept that they are not scary.