View Full Version : Worried I have cancer
Hi I’m new here! Been lurking for a while now!
I’m worried sick I have cancer. My submandibular lymph node is swollen on the right side. And I have another lymph node under my chin. That one is kinda tender where as the submandibular one isn’t (that has me scared) I also noticed a red blood vessel small spot under my tongue. The lymph nodes have been up for a while over 3 weeks. I’ve had a minor sinus infection but they were up before this. I’ve been to a primary doctor who said that were fine, my friend rn said they’re fine. However I’m not convinced. So I made an appt with an ENT for this week. It’s with a CNP but the receptionist said the cnp could treat just as good as the regular ent doctor. Anyways I’m planning to demand a test of some sort so I can move past this.
I read a lot about lymph nodes but never anything about the submandibular node and under chin. I’m thinking it’s oral cancer, salivary or something idk.
The submandibular node is small feels flattish with hard ends and is moveable. The one under my chin feels pee like and moveable. It seems to be going down in size but I can’t tell.
Any advice please. I’m so sick over this I can’t even live my normal life anymore. I’m scared my time is running out.
I've started palpating my neck last year, after loss of 2 friends because of lymphoma. Then I found 2 lymph nodes in the posterior triangle (not a good location to find them, according to Dr. Google), so I freaked out. Went to lots of doctors and took tons of tests in private for nothing. 2 months ago, one of the node became swollen, moveable, not painful. It was around to 2cm according to haematologist, but of no concern, she said. Of course i did not believe her and thought I would die (stupid me), buuuut the node went down eventually after 6 weeks. It s bigger than initially but some node can just stay a bit bigger just like that.
My advice: go to ENT, put your mind at ease and take their oppinion for granted, don't start questioning the result, thinking that you might be one of the misdiagnosed ones. I am sure you're fine.
Thank you for the reply. Glad to hear you turned out ok. I am just so freaked out if the locations of mine. The submandibular feels weird doesn’t feel like a ball but has hard ends it’s flat and that has me worried it’s a tumor of some sort
This is the same exact thing that started up my HA years ago. I could feel lumps right below my ears, on my jaw, and under my jaw. I thought all the same things you did. Since then I think I've had 3 different drs check them and say not to worry. I even had an ultrasound on one and they were like "yep, normal lymph node". All lumps still feel the same size and I had the dr check them again back in May. Still no issue. If you prod and poke you'll always find something. I still struggle with this on occasion, but I try to remind myself it's just my mind getting the best of me. I hope you can relax a little bit. I'm very very confident in the fact that you are fine.
Thank you for your reply! Glad to hear you came out ok! Thank you for the positivity!
I’m planning to ask for an ultrasound in Tuesday! Did you ask or they suggested? This is my first time going to this ent place. But I feel like without a test I can’t be reassured and move on. Is the ultrasound good? Or should I ask for biopsy
I’m planning to ask for an ultrasound in Tuesday! Did you ask or they suggested? This is my first time going to this ent place. But I feel like without a test I can’t be reassured and move on. Is the ultrasound good? Or should I ask for biopsy
Let the specialist do their job. As a cancer survivor, they know what they're looking for and practice CYA (cover your arse) medicine if there's even a slight chance.
Positive thoughts
They suggested the ultrasound only to reassure me since I was still convinced that there was something sinister. I think the ultrasound should do the trick- if they are really that worried, you wouldn't need to ask for a biopsy, they'd just do it! Good luck :) Keep us updated on how everything goes.
Thank you for your reply! Glad to hear you’re doing good!
They suggested the ultrasound only to reassure me since I was still convinced that there was something sinister. I think the ultrasound should do the trick- if they are really that worried, you wouldn't need to ask for a biopsy, they'd just do it! Good luck :) Keep us updated on how everything goes.
Thank you I will for sure update! I’m hoping they don’t kick me out and insist I don’t need an ultrasound. I just know I won’t be able to move on without it.
Hey guys I have more questions. My submandibular node feels more hard pellet like when I’m laying down but when I’m standing it feels more soft but still hard on the end. Is it possible this is a tumor and not even a lymph node
Hey guys I have more questions. My submandibular node feels more hard pellet like when I’m laying down but when I’m standing it feels more soft but still hard on the end. Is it possible this is a tumor and not even a lymph node
I think it's much more likely that you're just digging for a reason to worry.
I think it's much more likely that you're just digging for a reason to worry.
I’m really not I just think it feels different from a normal lymph node.
Been there, submandibular salivary gland tumor.
ENT head and neck surgeon.
CT with contrast.
Surgery to remove.
They are not common but they happen. The vast majority are benign.
Go get properly checked, stop poking, feeling, analizing, googling...
Every day you survive is a day closer to death, so, technically, EVERYBODY'S time is running out. I had kidney cancer last year [cured by surgery] and have had an incurable form of leukaemia for five years now and start chemo next month. Neither cancer presented any symptoms at all. It seems to me you are worrying yourself sick without due cause. There are myriad reasons why your glands may feel enlarged, OTHER than cancer. My suggestion is to get medically checked out and start some psychological therapy to help you cope with the anxiety you're experiencing until it settles. Your physical symptoms are, most likely, completely innocuous and nothing to worry over. See a doctor for reassurance and work on that anxiety. There's NO POINT worrying about cancer unless and until you get it, and THEN you can worry, with good reason, if you so choose. We all have to die, and we all have to deal with the unpleasant emotions which that fact evokes, whether we like it or not. If you must worry, worry about FACTS, not just your conjecture or from untested fear. If you worry, YOU DIE. If you do NOT worry, YOU DIE. Make the choice only to worry about things you know to be true and try to divert your focus from what you THINK may be happening. Talk to trusted people who like you and are happy to support you. Age brings illness, it's inevitable for all of us. If you WERE to have a cancer, worrying frantically about it will not change the outcome [dependent upon the type of cancer] and anxiety will simply steal what time you [or any of us] may have left. I choose NOT to allow my impending death from leukaemia to be the only thought in my brain every day. because I want to enjoy my remaining time to the best of my ability, not spend it crippled by extreme mental distress. I've suffered from Derealisation Disorder since age twenty, which is a really frightening symptom of intense anxiety. I'm recovering, slowly, from one such episode at the moment. The first episode took 36 months to get over, the second about 18 months and, because I know I'm prone to the very unpleasant effects of intense anxiety and recognise that having cancer and having to start chemo were the stressors which led me to this episode, I'm feeling a lot of improvement after only six months, this time. Each of us has to make a conscious decision to accept we process anxiety wrongly and we must also choose, eventually, to stand up and face the anxiety. It doesn't abate until one makes that choice to get better and to try, gently and slowly, but surely, to guide our thinking calmly and self-supportively AWAY from fixation on the fear. Over time our brains cop on that there is no actual threat and our levels of anxiety hormones being emitted by the adrenal glands begin slowly and gradually to diminish, until our anxiety returns to the 'green zone', in which we feel calm and in control. See a doctor. Establish the facts and dismiss everything else. You either will have cancer or you won't. But you need to find out, because you'll drive yourself doolally with all that worry. Get well soon! I'm sure your medical work up will be fine!
NotDeadYet
07-10-19, 04:44
Thank you I will for sure update! I’m hoping they don’t kick me out and insist I don’t need an ultrasound. I just know I won’t be able to move on without it.
Rox2019,
So sorry to hear about your lymph node worries. Most of my health anxiety has centered around these same stressors. Of course I'm not a doctor and cannot tell you that there is nothing wrong with you however you have had two qualified medical professionals already tell you not to worry. I have seen it in my own life and multiple times on this forum where someone says that they will feel completely satisfied once they have a certain test.
Please trust your ENT if they do not recommend an ultrasound. Your brain very well may come up with a reason to question the results of any test you receive. Until you take care of your anxiety, you will not believe any test results. I
f you're looking for any advice from this forum mine to you would be to trust the medical advice you've already been given by two medical professionals and move forward with that. Please also remember that cancer of any kind does not stop growing and causes a multitude of symptoms. If this isn't growing and you don't have other symptoms, then it's a safe bet that you can trust the advice you've already been given by medical professionals.
Best Wishes
Rox2019,
So sorry to hear about your lymph node worries. Most of my health anxiety has centered around these same stressors. Of course I'm not a doctor and cannot tell you that there is nothing wrong with you however you have had two qualified medical professionals already tell you not to worry. I have seen it in my own life and multiple times on this forum where someone says that they will feel completely satisfied once they have a certain test.
Please trust your ENT if they do not recommend an ultrasound. Your brain very well may come up with a reason to question the results of any test you receive. Until you take care of your anxiety, you will not believe any test results. I
f you're looking for any advice from this forum mine to you would be to trust the medical advice you've already been given by two medical professionals and move forward with that. Please also remember that cancer of any kind does not stop growing and causes a multitude of symptoms. If this isn't growing and you don't have other symptoms, then it's a safe bet that you can trust the advice you've already been given by medical professionals.
Best Wishes
Thank you for the reply, I’ve decided my mental help can’t take it anymore and I’m planning to go to the ER tomorrow. Hopefully they will figure out what’s going on. I am very scared!
Every day you survive is a day closer to death, so, technically, EVERYBODY'S time is running out. I had kidney cancer last year [cured by surgery] and have had an incurable form of leukaemia for five years now and start chemo next month. Neither cancer presented any symptoms at all. It seems to me you are worrying yourself sick without due cause. There are myriad reasons why your glands may feel enlarged, OTHER than cancer. My suggestion is to get medically checked out and start some psychological therapy to help you cope with the anxiety you're experiencing until it settles. Your physical symptoms are, most likely, completely innocuous and nothing to worry over. See a doctor for reassurance and work on that anxiety. There's NO POINT worrying about cancer unless and until you get it, and THEN you can worry, with good reason, if you so choose. We all have to die, and we all have to deal with the unpleasant emotions which that fact evokes, whether we like it or not. If you must worry, worry about FACTS, not just your conjecture or from untested fear. If you worry, YOU DIE. If you do NOT worry, YOU DIE. Make the choice only to worry about things you know to be true and try to divert your focus from what you THINK may be happening. Talk to trusted people who like you and are happy to support you. Age brings illness, it's inevitable for all of us. If you WERE to have a cancer, worrying frantically about it will not change the outcome [dependent upon the type of cancer] and anxiety will simply steal what time you [or any of us] may have left. I choose NOT to allow my impending death from leukaemia to be the only thought in my brain every day. because I want to enjoy my remaining time to the best of my ability, not spend it crippled by extreme mental distress. I've suffered from Derealisation Disorder since age twenty, which is a really frightening symptom of intense anxiety. I'm recovering, slowly, from one such episode at the moment. The first episode took 36 months to get over, the second about 18 months and, because I know I'm prone to the very unpleasant effects of intense anxiety and recognise that having cancer and having to start chemo were the stressors which led me to this episode, I'm feeling a lot of improvement after only six months, this time. Each of us has to make a conscious decision to accept we process anxiety wrongly and we must also choose, eventually, to stand up and face the anxiety. It doesn't abate until one makes that choice to get better and to try, gently and slowly, but surely, to guide our thinking calmly and self-supportively AWAY from fixation on the fear. Over time our brains cop on that there is no actual threat and our levels of anxiety hormones being emitted by the adrenal glands begin slowly and gradually to diminish, until our anxiety returns to the 'green zone', in which we feel calm and in control. See a doctor. Establish the facts and dismiss everything else. You either will have cancer or you won't. But you need to find out, because you'll drive yourself doolally with all that worry. Get well soon! I'm sure your medical work up will be fine!
Thank you for the reply. I will keep you in my prayers! Hope your treatment goes well!
Hey guys so I folded and went to the ER. I insisted on an ultrasound and they did it. It’s just lymph nodes and they don’t look sinister. I straight up asked if it’s cancer looking or tumor like and the doctor said no. It’s just small swollen lymph nodes. I’m working on accepting this and not questioning and just moving on. Thank you everyone that replied and helped me along the way. They did blood work all normal. It only took the radiologist 40 ish minutes to read the results and that kinda made me feel like what if they read it wrong but I’m not gonna let myself go there. I have to move on.
NotDeadYet
07-10-19, 21:08
That's excellent news! You have reassurance and and an all clear. Do not start questioning the results. My next recommendation for you is to get mental health help and begin developing coping mechanisms for when something like this arises in the future.
Best Wishes
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