View Full Version : Lymphoma :(
I have a rock solid lymph node in my neck, like bone that doesn't move an inch and I'm freaking out. Today I was with my family and they said "oh that sounds like Auntie so and so when she had lymphoma" This particular auntie was very ill and literally came around from her death bed after being read the last rites. AHHH I don't know what to do with myself. It's not huge but it's certainly there on one side and not the other. I'm going to try to go back to my doctor tomorrow.
I am so scared :(
Lymph nodes are not cancer detectors. They are the bodies filters and enlarge for all sorts of reasons with cancer being rarely the cause. lymphoma believe it or not is actually pretty rare when compared to other types of cancer, it accounts for around 4% of cancers annually... Also, most cancerous nodes are pretty big. They will make themselves known, you wont have to go searching for them.
If it concerns you, make an appointment with your GP. In the mean time, try not to worry as its more likely then not that its presence has nothing to do with cancer, if its even enlarged to begin with...
Doesn't sound like you have the most sympathetic family!
I've had what were described when I was a teenager as 'concretions' in my neck for around forty years now. They just feel like rock-hard lymph nodes. They've never led to anything sinister and doctors just say, "ooh, you've got hard lymph nodes!"
Maybe it's something like that.
I hope so :( I couldn't get a doctor's appointment and as I'm living with my parents at the moment they watch my every move and will say "you don't need to go to the doctor's for that" (they weren't there talking about my auntie).
I'm just really worried because the node (I presume it is, it feels like it could be bone but it's completely non-existent on the opposite side no matter where I twist my head) is rock solid and feels like it's fixed to something which according to all of google is a telltale sign that it's malignant.
I have a couple of other nodes on the same side but they are tender and move around easily on my neck. The one that feels solid is directly under my ear between the neck and jaw, if that makes sense, so I don't know if it's due to its position that I can't move it. Apparently nodes in this area are much more likely to be cancerous.
I had an epstein barr blood test last week and it came back positive, but they can't be precise as to when I caught it so don't know if it's causing my current symptoms or not. Doctor is insisting that will be why I'm generally unwell and disagrees with the lab report that says it's not responsible for my current symptoms. I have been under the weather for a couple of months now. It's just strange that it's all on the same side. Apparently my tonsils look 'angry' haha, pretty swollen, but I don't get why they won't go down after months and why the nodes are only on one side. Ughhhhh.
I have the same thing going on except my nodes are not hard. I started panicking about my lymph node under my ear in 1st of December, the skin around it was red and it was apparent that it was accute. It wasn't even that large, more like 0.4x0.4 cm, but I did poke and prod not only this node but all the possible locations of nodes in my neck. I kept poking and prodding every day till on 13th of December several other nodes on my other side of the neck sort of enlarged. I panicked and cried and thought all the worst case scenarios and then I developed cough and runny nose. But I still thought it was lymphoma. Next day I found out I am pregnant!
I am now 5 weeks pregnant and each day is an agony of fear. 2 small lymph nodes appeared on the back of my neck. Two days later my husband also got a lymph node on the back of his neck.
I went to GP and she did blood work and said that the lymph nodes are not even that large (just palpable) and that they have appeared due to the fact that I am in fact ill with a virus or something like that - I still have cough. My bloods came back excellent.
But the thought of cancer does not leave me, I am worried so much, even more so now that I am pregnant! Before going to bed I see images in my eyes of all the people I know - without hair and eyebrows, etc. I even saw a dream where there were several lymphoma patients, they were getting a treatment, I was there for tests. In the end doctor called me in and said I do not have it and that my next visit has to be to psychiatrist. I actually laughed at that dream as it was completely on point.
Unfortunately I have read so many stories on Google that I just cannot stop myself of fears. I went to another doctor today - internist - she said the same as my GP, but scheduled another blood test - 12 days from the initial one. Nothing has changed. WBC is normal, on the high end of normal, with neytrofiles being a bit higher and lymphocytes a bit lower but still good in absolute numbers. I even looked through ALL BLOODY BLOOD TESTS I have had during last 8 years and I certainly have had results like this before and even lower. I am ill with bronchitis (she heard sounds with her machine) and I am pregnant.
And I am also nuts..
Mindprison
27-12-17, 21:16
My health anxiety kick started exactly this day last year and it was due to a swollen lymph node in my neck.
Oh how I wish I could go back and change my reaction then, perhaps I wouldn't have such crippling health anxiety that is still going on to this day.
Allow me to tell you what I wish I knew back then. It's very very very unlikely to be anything sinister. Cancerous lymph nodes reach extremely large sizes in a short period of time and it would be extremely obvious (especially to doctors, who I should have listened to) at the time that something was not right.
My particular node was swollen due to a very minor throat infection that gave me barely any symptoms. Yet I had the flu earlier this year and my lymph nodes didn't even move an inch.
If a symptom can be attributed to some minor ailment other than cancer, then I would bet ALL my money on it being that. (And be a very rich man afterward :yahoo: )
I have the same thing going on except my nodes are not hard. I started panicking about my lymph node under my ear in 1st of December, the skin around it was red and it was apparent that it was accute. It wasn't even that large, more like 0.4x0.4 cm, but I did poke and prod not only this node but all the possible locations of nodes in my neck. I kept poking and prodding every day till on 13th of December several other nodes on my other side of the neck sort of enlarged. I panicked and cried and thought all the worst case scenarios and then I developed cough and runny nose. But I still thought it was lymphoma. Next day I found out I am pregnant!
I am now 5 weeks pregnant and each day is an agony of fear. 2 small lymph nodes appeared on the back of my neck. Two days later my husband also got a lymph node on the back of his neck.
I went to GP and she did blood work and said that the lymph nodes are not even that large (just palpable) and that they have appeared due to the fact that I am in fact ill with a virus or something like that - I still have cough. My bloods came back excellent.
But the thought of cancer does not leave me, I am worried so much, even more so now that I am pregnant! Before going to bed I see images in my eyes of all the people I know - without hair and eyebrows, etc. I even saw a dream where there were several lymphoma patients, they were getting a treatment, I was there for tests. In the end doctor called me in and said I do not have it and that my next visit has to be to psychiatrist. I actually laughed at that dream as it was completely on point.
Unfortunately I have read so many stories on Google that I just cannot stop myself of fears. I went to another doctor today - internist - she said the same as my GP, but scheduled another blood test - 12 days from the initial one. Nothing has changed. WBC is normal, on the high end of normal, with neytrofiles being a bit higher and lymphocytes a bit lower but still good in absolute numbers. I even looked through ALL BLOODY BLOOD TESTS I have had during last 8 years and I certainly have had results like this before and even lower. I am ill with bronchitis (she heard sounds with her machine) and I am pregnant.
And I am also nuts..
Late reply, congratulations on your pregnancy :)
I know what you mean about having intrusive thoughts about the hair loss etc, I think a lot about lying in a hospital bed with a boney frame, no hair and sunken eyes while all my friends go on and enjoy their lives!
A main emotion I'm feeling at the moment is anger, I feel fuming that my doctor is just dismissing me with "it's probably this" well 'probably' isn't good enough. I need conclusive results!
I used to live in a country with an excellent health system that would be extremely thorough with testing due to insurance. I come back to the UK and it's just "If we don't HAVE to we won't do it" it's a shock to the system. While in my previous country I had a very crampy leg and while I didn't even mention DVT they sent me for a scan as they said "it doesn't matter how low your risk factors are, it's better to be safe that sorry." Also on the NHS I had severe pain in my ovary area they wouldn't scan it. When I moved abroad he sent me for a scan straight away and told me I have several large ovarian cysts.
I hope this doesn't trigger anyone, but I was at the doctor's office and I literally saw the doctor GOOGLE glandular fever and gave me advice on what stuff to search for on the internet. What's the point in even having a real doctor. I almost imagine myself going back to them when I'm finally diagnosed with a late stage cancer due to symptoms being too obvious to ignore and showing them what they've done due to their lack of care.
My lumps in my neck are now bigger, I have more of them, and I have severe pain in my shoulder, breast and arm on the same side. I also have nodes popping up in my groin. I can't walk up a flight of stairs without feeling breathless and my heart racing and not in the anxiety way that I know well.
I wish someone would give me answers instead of telling me to "see if it goes away" I'd understand that if my symptoms were the same. But they're getting worse. I'm beyond upset now, just very very angry!!!
I am sure that repeatedly prodding nodes will inflame them and make them bigger and more tender. Also, if you have any kind of virus, they will get bigger.
Also, maybe your mum should warn your family to not discuss health issues in front of you due to your issues. Even if you didn't have health anxiety, it's pretty insensitive of them to mention your aunt having lymphoma when you have just said you were worrying about a node. I mean....come on people, common sense!
Bastett, congratulations on your pregnancy! You must be super excited. Pregnancy makes you more likely to catch viruses and bugs due to the body suppressing the immune system to a certain degree whilst pregnant so don't worry about slightly raised white blood cell counts and viruses etc. I would watch your health anxiety whilst pregnant as the hormones can make you more prone to be upset and heighten things like anxiety (also post natally). Obviously, not in everyone but in some. Make sure you talk to your midwife if you are feeling much more anxiety than usual and let her know your history.
Unfortunately they don't feel tender just large and hard, and I didn't touch for a week to see if they'd get better but they've just got bigger and more of them!
Unfortunately they don't feel tender just large and hard, and I didn't touch for a week to see if they'd get better but they've just got bigger and more of them!
I'd be worried too. I do think you should go to the doctor, and it would be very strange of your parents to stop you! I'd speak to them about it.
I'd be worried too. I do think you should go to the doctor, and it would be very strange of your parents to stop you! I'd speak to them about it.
I've just been, she said they won't scan due to my 'more likely' diagnosis of glandular fever, which I don't feel like I fit anyway and was never proved
Of course my parents will let me, it was just at the time I wrote that I'd only just been to the doctors like the day before or something :/
I've just been, she said they won't scan due to my 'more likely' diagnosis of glandular fever, which I don't feel like I fit anyway and was never proved
Of course my parents will let me, it was just at the time I wrote that I'd only just been to the doctors like the day before or something :/
Well, swollen lymph nodes are of course classic of glandular fever. I guess give it a couple of weeks and see if there's any improvement.
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