EmmyDay
04-04-18, 19:34
I posted the other week about an enlarged lymph node but I think this has become a new problem in itself. Although I’m worried about the lymph node, I think this stems more from general health anxiety and needing more faith in my GPs, so I think this is the best place for this to go.
A brief backstory is that about 2 and a half weeks ago, I had an itch under my arm and suddenly noticed a fairly large lump in my armpit. I asked a family friend who is a nurse to take a look, she said it was fine. I left it for a week but it didn’t go away, so this is where my new problem has started.
In the past week I’ve seen 4 doctors, 3 of which were very reassuring. Last week Wednesday I got quite severe, sharp pains under my arm and stretching about a quarter way down my arm and into my shoulder, so I went into a nearby walk in centre. The doctor there said that sounded like an infection and that had caused the lymph node to pop up, but he said to me if I wanted he could request I got a full examination from my regular GP and he’d prescribe some low dose antibiotics. In my head I thought “If I see one more doctor who says it’s fine, I’ll feel much better!” So agreed, got my prescription, and started my 250mg Flucloxacillin. Got an appointment with my GP the next day, she did a full examination of my breasts and underarms (which made my underarms quite sore), and said she wasn’t concerned and it should go down within 6 weeks on its own. Later that night I noticed another, very tiny lump under my other arm, it was really painful to touch. I felt reassured until a few days later when I noticed the antibiotic was making little to no impact.
In a panic, I phoned my pharmacy over the weekend and they said not to worry because my antibiotic sometimes didn’t work until the last minute, and since it was a low dose I may just need a stronger one. On my final day, I still had the lump. My partner is insistent that before I started the antibiotics when we measured it, it was 5mm - I didn’t see so can’t be sure for myself. I do know now it’s about 3mm, whether or not that means it’s shrunk, I don’t know, but my boyfriend says it has and I doubt he’d lie about this. Since it was my last day of antibiotics, I called my pharmacy again and they said to go to my GP and ask for stronger antibiotics on their request, by this point the smaller lump under my other arm had gone. I booked an emergency appointment and met the worst doctor someone with health anxiety could meet! He didn’t really listen (kept asking questioned I’d answered multiple times) and was convinced I had breast cancer for the first 5 minutes, he sent me in a frenzy! I went to the doctors in January with the same problem, it went away until the other week but he kept focusing on it like it had been there for 3 months. In the end be settled with it’ll probably go in 6 weeks, but by that point I was already worried. The doctor was newly qualified, I told the pharmacy what he’d said and they basically just said to go to my walk in centre and ask them if he wasn’t prescribing more antibiotics.
Off I went to the drop in place, and met the most reassuring doctor yet. He felt it and said it was tiny, gave me more antibiotics and said even if it didn’t clear up on antibiotics, not to worry as it’ll go in it’s own time. Fine then, right? WRONG!
I’m still worried sick! I’ve had so many doctors say it’s fine and I’m still worried and fear it’s something serious. I’ve been on the stronger antibiotics for 24 hours now and convinced myself they should definitely be making it smaller by now and it’s not. It was painful but now it’s not unless it’s really pressed down on so I’ve convinced myself that’s bad. I’ve got quite a tender chest, getting sharp pains in it and coughing now, so I’m making myself worry it’s related. I’m 18 years old and everyone I’m talking to this about thinks I’m crazy, but I just don’t know what to do to reassure myself. So many medical professionals tell me not to worry but I just can’t, I don’t know how to believe them!
A brief backstory is that about 2 and a half weeks ago, I had an itch under my arm and suddenly noticed a fairly large lump in my armpit. I asked a family friend who is a nurse to take a look, she said it was fine. I left it for a week but it didn’t go away, so this is where my new problem has started.
In the past week I’ve seen 4 doctors, 3 of which were very reassuring. Last week Wednesday I got quite severe, sharp pains under my arm and stretching about a quarter way down my arm and into my shoulder, so I went into a nearby walk in centre. The doctor there said that sounded like an infection and that had caused the lymph node to pop up, but he said to me if I wanted he could request I got a full examination from my regular GP and he’d prescribe some low dose antibiotics. In my head I thought “If I see one more doctor who says it’s fine, I’ll feel much better!” So agreed, got my prescription, and started my 250mg Flucloxacillin. Got an appointment with my GP the next day, she did a full examination of my breasts and underarms (which made my underarms quite sore), and said she wasn’t concerned and it should go down within 6 weeks on its own. Later that night I noticed another, very tiny lump under my other arm, it was really painful to touch. I felt reassured until a few days later when I noticed the antibiotic was making little to no impact.
In a panic, I phoned my pharmacy over the weekend and they said not to worry because my antibiotic sometimes didn’t work until the last minute, and since it was a low dose I may just need a stronger one. On my final day, I still had the lump. My partner is insistent that before I started the antibiotics when we measured it, it was 5mm - I didn’t see so can’t be sure for myself. I do know now it’s about 3mm, whether or not that means it’s shrunk, I don’t know, but my boyfriend says it has and I doubt he’d lie about this. Since it was my last day of antibiotics, I called my pharmacy again and they said to go to my GP and ask for stronger antibiotics on their request, by this point the smaller lump under my other arm had gone. I booked an emergency appointment and met the worst doctor someone with health anxiety could meet! He didn’t really listen (kept asking questioned I’d answered multiple times) and was convinced I had breast cancer for the first 5 minutes, he sent me in a frenzy! I went to the doctors in January with the same problem, it went away until the other week but he kept focusing on it like it had been there for 3 months. In the end be settled with it’ll probably go in 6 weeks, but by that point I was already worried. The doctor was newly qualified, I told the pharmacy what he’d said and they basically just said to go to my walk in centre and ask them if he wasn’t prescribing more antibiotics.
Off I went to the drop in place, and met the most reassuring doctor yet. He felt it and said it was tiny, gave me more antibiotics and said even if it didn’t clear up on antibiotics, not to worry as it’ll go in it’s own time. Fine then, right? WRONG!
I’m still worried sick! I’ve had so many doctors say it’s fine and I’m still worried and fear it’s something serious. I’ve been on the stronger antibiotics for 24 hours now and convinced myself they should definitely be making it smaller by now and it’s not. It was painful but now it’s not unless it’s really pressed down on so I’ve convinced myself that’s bad. I’ve got quite a tender chest, getting sharp pains in it and coughing now, so I’m making myself worry it’s related. I’m 18 years old and everyone I’m talking to this about thinks I’m crazy, but I just don’t know what to do to reassure myself. So many medical professionals tell me not to worry but I just can’t, I don’t know how to believe them!