Hard lymph node panic

[ballerina]

Over Christmas and up until about febuary my lymph nodes in my neck and groin swelled, I felt run down, didn’t have a fever but felt chilly, had muscle cramps, fast heart rate, blocked ears, puffy feeling around my left eye, aching face near jaw line, hot flushed cheeks, diaherra, trouble sleeping etc. The doctor said she thought it was probably Glandular Fever despite the fact that I had no raised temp or any evidence of any throat or ear infection. I started for feel better for a couple of months but now I feel ill again. However the lymph nodes never went down. Now there’s one that really worries me, it’s below my left ear and rock solid, it’s not on the other side of my neck only the left side. It’s the fact that it doesn’t move at all that scares me. The doctor couldn’t feel it when she felt my neck despite the fact it is blatantly there, but did feel the other moveable nodes around that area. I don’t think it has grown in all these months but hasn’t gone down either, my auntie had lymphoma and got very ill with it, almost died, when she was about 50, which is what scares me, that I might be more susceptible to it :( :( :( The doctor said she’d book me in for an ultrasound but the next appointment is in 2 months as it’s ‘not urgent’. I’ve also read that ultrasound is crap for lymphoma anyway and people came back with clear ultrasounds yet had lymphoma, and that their nodes stayed small yet had it. I’m freaking out and can’t carry on my day to day life normally because I’m freaking out so much. If the node was moveable like the others I wouldn’t be so stressed.

[Fishmanpa]

The doctor couldn’t feel it when she felt my neck despite the fact it is blatantly there, but did feel the other moveable nodes around that area.

I guess what you consider a node and what a trained medical professional considers a node are two different things :shrug:

You could seek a 2nd opinion but would you believe it?

Positive thoughts

[ballerina]

I guess what you consider a node and what a trained medical professional considers a node are two different things :shrug:

You could seek a 2nd opinion but would you believe it?

Positive thoughts

Just because it's only on one side so I'm like if it was a bone or muscle wouldn't it be the same on the other side? Plus it never used to be there I'm certain

[Fishmanpa]

Just because it's only on one side so I'm like if it was a bone or muscle wouldn't it be the same on the other side? Plus it never used to be there I'm certain

We're asymmetrical by nature. Again, a medical professional didn't feel it but felt other normal movable nodes in the area around it. If it were that obvious (like mine was) like you said, it wouldn't be missed.

Choice is yours to pursue it.

Positive thoughts

[EmmyDay]

Hiya
Firstly I'd like to say that lymph nodes pop up for all sorts of reasons, and sometimes the unlikely ones end up with it permanently up after its become inflamed (especially if whilst it was enlarged you kept prodding at it, which a lot of people do). A hard lymph node also doesn't always mean it's something to be majorly worried about, though you should get it checked and it's a good thing you did.
A lot of the time, people with health anxiety feel their problems are bigger than they are. That's not to say it's not a problem, but that if you're saying there's a really big, immobile lump, and a doctor can't find it, there's a chance that in your head you think it's a lot bigger than it is, and that's something you can't help. Of course, I would still suggest you speaking to another doctor because sometimes doctors do miss things, if a second doctor can't feel this lump I'd be inclined to say your head was making you think it was worse than it is, but you should get a second opinion.
Ultrasounds, if you were to be sent, are very good at detecting cancers, it's the unlucky minority who get it missed, and if there's any doubt they'll do an aspiration or biopsy (which they often do anyway). Things like cysts and what not look different to cancers on ultrasounds so the majority of the time they're able to pick up on it. Don't Google these things, because the things that are popping up are going to be horror stories and it'll scare you.
I doubt you have anything to be worried about but as I said, a second opinion is probably the best route to go down now, just to be on the safe side!


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[AnxietyGirl30]

Hi, I was recently on here about a lymph node, the majority I thought I felt were actually spots and the one I did have was a swollen lymph node and after 6-8 weeks I can’t even feel it anymore. I went back and forth to the doctors several times regarding it and in the end had to take what they were saying as truth and get on with life and I myself eventually forgot it. Then when I did have a check one day I couldn’t feel it so I guess it went back down. Try to be reassured by what the doctors are saying because if they felt that there was anything dangerously wrong you would be sent off straight away to hospital.

[ballerina]

I feel so gross, my neck is all puffy both at the jaw line and at the bottom of my neck, the left lower part of my face also feels sore, I don't know if that could be something to do with a salivary gland.
I am 'aware' of my nodes 24/7, they don't hurt as such, but they can feel like they're burning and I can feel them all day long, without touching them I mean. I feel chilly but no fever, and my muscles in my arms and legs are cramping. My hands also have a swollen feeling even though they don't look it, I don't know what that could be. My groin nodes are still palpable and I'm aware of them too.

I did get 80% better from christmas, I felt ok, besides the slight puffiness around my jaw and the nodes still being palpable. But now it's got worse again.

I hate health anxiety because it's almost like deep down I know it's unlikely to be cancer but on the other hand I'm 100% convinced.
I hold out a little bit of hope because I know that I've felt like this in the past and got over it, I hold out for the periods of my health anxiety being low.

When I get like this I read articles about young people dying of horrible diseases and I just can't get over how cruel the world is, how am I supposed to go about daily life when stuff like that happens, and why shouldn't I be next?

I should be looking forward to holidays this summer and a bunch of other stuff I've got coming up but I'm so miserable all I can think about all day are my nodes and how I'm dying of cancer. I also have my friend's wedding this week where I'll be a bridesmaid but I feel so puffed up I feel ugly and don't want to be in any photos.

My nodes have been up for around 4.5 months now so I believe they're never going to go down and I'll be stuck like this forever.

[AnxietyGirl30]

Hey how are you doing now?

[Fishmanpa]

Hey how are you doing now?

I would assume fine as she was logged on about two weeks ago :)

Positive thoughts

[ballerina]

Sorry to disappoint but not really haha. I have a more updated thread but basically the nodes weren't considered clinically enlarged even though they're palpable and haven't been before - fair enough, they're larger than they used to be but look benign - phew! I've managed to calm myself over cancer fears. And the hard lump was said to be my parotid gland, yet they didn't give me a reason for it, but with having such an effed up throat I guess it's something to do with that. Having to work it out for myself as all you get is a good old shrug of the shoulders from GPs.

I'm on a waiting list and seeing an ENT in a month, I'm off work yet again with tonsilitis. I'm having an HIV freak out as around 2 weeks after having a couple of unprotected encounters (stupid stupid stupid, I was being self destructive, drinking a lot etc) I developed all this throat/tonsil business and apparently that's a symptom :( I've been freaking out because even though I think they're straight and 99% sure they're not drug users, they're from a big city where I feel HIV is rampant. It was 4 times, with 2 different guys, vaginal/oral, no anal. I had an HIV test 2ish months post encounters and it was negative, that's something I suppose but I know it's not conclusive, I just need to get the balls to go back and get another one, it's been a good 8 months now. If the HIV test is clear (I'm actually worried about not just it being positive but it being false positive as I'm sick and apparently it can pick up other antibodies by accident?)

I need to get a test, and fingers crossed it be negative and stop worrying about HIV. Then maybe consider that I may need my tonsils out due to having chronic infection issues for 8 months.

[ThroatGoat]

Your original post sounds very similar to what I've been dealing with for 3 months. Except I had a high fever too at one point. Had a ton of tests and it seems to have been a mystery virus infection (Not HIV for me I can assure you).

I would guess you've had a virus too.

[ballerina]

Your original post sounds very similar to what I've been dealing with for 3 months. Except I had a high fever too at one point. Had a ton of tests and it seems to have been a mystery virus infection (Not HIV for me I can assure you).

I would guess you've had a virus too.

it sucks doesn't it :( wish I could just take a pill and it would go away

[Nervousmommy]

I had glandular fever and a couple of my lymph nodes grew large and never got smaller. This was 24 years ago. Epstein-Barr is a weird virus.