View Full Version : Lymphoma worries please help!!
Hello,
I have been worried about the possibility of lymphoma for a few months now, but everyone seems to thinks im making a mountain out of a mole hill
I have a lymph nodes 1cm or less either side of my neck about 1inch above the bottom of my neck around the same place on each side, they are quite firm but I wouldn’t say they are stony hard they both move up and down however one more than the other but I think that’s due to were one is placed within the muscle of my neck. They seem to decrease in size and get bigger throughout the day bigger at night but never bigger than 1cm. I first noticed the left one June 2008, and the left one before Christmas 2008 .
I have been getting chronic hives since November 2008 I had never had them before then, when I say chronic however I might only get them on my hands and if I leave them alone they go away , there is the odd time were I get them on my stomach fairly big maybe 10cms they are quite itchybut they go away quickly with anti-histamines.
I have been to the doctors, march 09, regarding this they checked my glands and said they feel fine not alarming at all one doctor couldn’t even feel them till I showed him, I have had blood tests one showed slightly elevated white blood cells 11000 (abnormal neutrophils) , one month later I had a retest after antibiotics overall white blood cells were around 7500 the only one abnormal was eosinophils but they were only out by 0.04 the doctor felt this is due to an allergies or asthma which I had as a child. Apart from the hives I feel fine go to the gym 3 times a week and often go cycling
What I would like to know is, should I follow this up further and is hives a symptom of lymphoma I know itching is but is this normally severe and without rash?
Any advice would be appreciated
Does the lack of replies mean you think its serious?
Please someone give me some reasurrance I'm worried sick and have been for months
My doctor even told me I am paranoid and the hives are due to stress
Please someone reply
Hello LittleMac,
From all you have said, I am absolutely certain you do not need to have any more checks for lymphoma. The doctor is perfectly sure, from the examinations he has given you and from the blood test results, that everything is fine, and that you have no sign of lymphoma. I know what it is like to have a constant worry, and how difficult it is to feel reassured. Try to hang on to all the positive points. The doctors have felt the glands and said they are fine; one doctor couldn't even feel it. They are perfectly happy with your blood tests, and are not concerned about the hives - they know this is stress related. You feel fine in yourself - plenty of energy for the gym and cylcing. Also remember, you first noticed what you thought was a problem last June - that is quite some time back now, and by now I am certain anything sinister would have been picked up, especially since you were thoroughly checked out in March of this year.
I do hope you will be able to feel more positive soon. There is nothing to worry about of that I am certain.
Rosie x x
thanks for your reply!! my missus is sick of reassuring me lol, im fairly new to this anxiety game and its not nice.....
No, its not nice at all. You will find there are plenty of people here who understand, and will be able to give you some really good support. It might be worthwhile going back to the doctor to explain the way you are feeling, because there are various treatments which can help significantly with health anxiety, and since you have only just started with your anxiety problem, it would be great to nip it in the bud.
Hi
I really dont think its lymphoma.
My dad has recently come out of hospital after spending 6 months in there with lymphoma.
He could barely stand up b4 he went in, and as u are going to the gym and cycling, then pretty sure u are ok.
Also u first noticed something last year, so it would of been picked up by now if it was
try not to worry, easier said i no.
love mandie x
thanks again for your replies, like u both have kindly pointed out, I must have quite a bit of energy for the gym ad other activities at work for example i do 12 hour shifts so energy isnt an issue. I do feel tired but ive put this is due to poor sleep from worrying and due to the 12 hour shifts.
I also assume that if it was something sinister even from christmas 08 it would have progressed even from then?
my problem is i always check my glands and I cant seem to get this out of my head...
Hi LittleMac
I am pretty sure you do not have Lymphoma mate, for one thing the glands in your neck would have got a lot bigger over time, you would have little energy to do anything.
Mu husband had lymphoma 5 years ago and he is now in remission so if u have any questions you would like to ask feel free and I will try and answer them and put your mind at rest,
Elaine x
LittleMac
My dad got ill very quick, so the fact u saying from xmas 08, im pretty sure its not lymphoma
Elaine- glad to hear yr husband is now in remission. my dad was given all clear in january 09 and to hear yr husband had it 5 years and is ok makes me feel good
love mandie
Hi firstly id like to say congrats on both of your family members being given the all clear,
I dont want to pry into your lifes or dig up past suffering, but i would be interested to know what prompted them visiting the doctors i.e. what symptoms did they have? how big were the lumps they had if they noticed them?
i mean when i come back to earth i think im 23 fit and fairly healthy the likelihood of getting lymphoma before 40 is 0.4% even after 40 its only 4.0%
again thanks for your support
Hi there,just wondering if you feel a little better??
My glands and things go up and down all over the time and such..I'm sure you are alright and as you said,if it has been a good while and was something serious,you would have got worse! :hugs:
I hope you're alright
Amy xxxxxxxxx
yeah i do feel better thanks,
however it still bothers me that i am getting the hives, however there more likely from stress, and that i can still feel the glands constantly they do worry me constantly if im honest
claire1980
19-04-09, 13:16
Hi stress/anxiety is a really strange thing but you have to put your trust in the doctors.They do know what they are talking about. I do know how you feel though as I suffer from health anxiety and I never believe the docs when they say that i'm ok, you have to keep tellin yourself that you have had different tests and if you really had something to worry about it would of been picked up in the tests as thats why the docs test you.
Dreamer029
19-04-09, 16:08
sometimes lymph nodes can stay swollen for awhile. it's just that the system is backed up. like the other people said, symptomatic lymphoma lymph nodes usually get big fast. the hives and elevated eosinophils probably go together, you are allergic to something and that is why the percentage of eosinophils are up. those are specific to allergies.
LittleMac - I have had this worry too! I found a lymph node in my groin which was swollen so I went to the doctor to get it checked out and she said it was fine! Furthermore a blood test would indicate that something has wrong - so if your doc has felt them and said they're fine plus you've had blood tests and these have not prompted your doc to do further tests to find out if something is wrong - is a good sign! I have also had a lymph node in my neck, on the right hand side, which I can feel for years and years. This happens sometimes!
LittleMac - my dad had the swelling in his stomach, he had always had flat stomach and one day we notice how big his stomach looked.
His other symptoms were extreme tiredness, he was always going to lay down which was most unusual for him, he lost his appetite and his legs swelled up. his blood results also showed up as abnormal white blood count and severely anaemic.
love mandie x
your blood test would show a high Lymp count please dont worry your fine
wish you better
Hi LittleMac
My hubby went to GP acute pain in his left side,( lymphoma was in the muscles of his back ) which promptd an ultrasound and ct scan.
Mandie
I'm glad to hear your dad is in remission too, lymphoma is one of the more curable cancers so here's to your dad and my hubby >
xx
hello again, when you say the white cell count would be high do you mean drastically high?
not marginally high like mine was but after antibiotics it came down like I said eosinophils were the only white cell marginally out by 0.04 this didnt worry the doctor......
however i did google high eosinophils and they are linked to hodgkins lymphoma and some website suggest hives are linked to lymphoma to this is what makes me worry, then again real lymphoma sites and medical sites dont have this on they say the itching is without rash
LittleMac
If the gp was concerned he would of got u into hospital like he did my dad.
Please stop worrying bout this, if u had this condition it would of been picked up by now.
Lainey - thank you
mandie x
hi again, ive just been to the gym im lifting more weights than ever before n i ran 2km in 10mins i also cycled 5km in 10mins
I doubt if i was an ill man id be able to do all this.....
thanks for your support !!
LittleMac - that is so true.
my poor dad couldnt even climb the stairs.
love mandie x
Hi again sorry to post but im in a bad way.
I just cant shake these lymphoma fears everywhere i go i see cancer or lymphoma which really gets to me.
the lymph nodes are still there either side on the neck about an inch from the bottom and dont seem to be growing, they do seem to be bigger or more puffy on a morning but never over 1cm which is classed as normal this change in size scares me i worry about an indolent lymphoma which waxes and wanes.
the hives have calmed down definatly but i do get them every now and then
i feel ok apart from being tired and groggy during the day but i think this is due to 12 hour shifts and my lifestyle, also my girlfriend has a smaller (but she is smaller and thinner than me on the left side of her neck)
do you guys think its worth going back to the doctors or is it a waste of time as they havent really changed?? i just cant stop worrying about this
I would suggest it would be a waste of time to go back to the doctors about lymphoma. I worried about this for ages, too and finally went to see a specialist who said lymph glangs to worry about are over 2.5cm (an inch) big - often they get as big as a golf ball she said. I found I worried about my health to avoid worrying about something else - could you be using classic avoidance and worrying about your health instead of your job/money/relationship?
hi there - just to add to the other replies of reassurance, i am SURe you are fine. i had a very similar expereince about 3 years ago. out of nowhere i was getting hives CONSTANTLY - some big, some small, and i had never ever gotten them before. it really freaked me out. i had read online that hives (urticaria) can be a sign of lymphoma so then of course i was feeling all my glands constantly and i was just a mess. on top of that i was having trouble breathing (eventually a few weeks later i had my first panic attack). anyway, long story short, my doctor told me that a lot of times with hives, doctors never know why they show up and why they go away. she said "they go away eventually as mysteriously as they arrived". and that is the truth, i have no clue what it was, but i hope it makes you feel better to know that this happens to a lot of people. you will be fine!
I also had and still get, really bad hives - they are infuriating. I had a really bad allergic reaction to some unknown substance two years ago and came up in proper allergic lumps (looked like the elephant man). They only went away after about six weeks. After that I am more prone than ever to hives, itchy red raised bumps and lumps and generally quite heat and pressure sensitive skin. Anti histamines and an anti-itching cream helped me. They generally go away within 48 hours.
Could they be sweat related since you are exercising a lot?
Fear of lymphoma was exactly what triggered my last relapse into health anxiety. I was obsessed with my lymph nodes and kept checking them constantly. Every night I would convince myself I had lymphoma and it was all over for me. It turned out the one I thought was gigantic was actually not abnormally big at all (my GP had to feel for it for ages before she found it and went "oh, it's allowed to be like this!") and two that were actually slightly enlarged were mildly infected from my psoriasis, which is very common. So I basically spent months tormenting myself over something that wasn't a problem at all. Lymph nodes can swell up for all sorts of reasons, and it sounds like your doctor's followed it up very thoroughly. One of the symptoms of health anxiety is being unable to trust in health professionals - but second-guessing every single thing they do just makes it worse for us. Believe me, I've been there. I always question what my doctors tell me and it wears me down.
My older brother has had swollen glands occasionally for no obvious reason at all, they eventually go down.
I had idiopathic hives a few years ago and nobody ever really figured out what I got them from. They were really bad for a while and it took lots of antihistamines to get rid of them, but it hasn't come back since then. My GP told me hives are very often idiopathic - that is, the cause can't be pinpointed.
Hope you get over your fear soon!
Of it makes you feel any better, the gland in the left fide of my neck has been swollen and feeling about the size of a cocktail sausage to the touch.... for as long as I can remember... and I'm 31.... it is also moveable and the docs never usually notice it unless I point it out.... and then they say its nothing... so I guess it must be as its been like it so long x
i have noticed some sites suggest the hives are a symptoms of lymphoma but these are poor quality medical sites, sites such as patient.co.uk, nhs and lymphoma websites suggest the itching its allover the body without rash not like mild idiopathic hives.......
this does reassure me and i do appreciate the advice, however i still worry about it, i also sometimes get what i could describe as a poking feeling in the upper left abdomen but it comes and goes and it isnt painfull so i think its in my head, if if was lymphoma pain it would be constant ?
it is good to hear people have the same glands as me just out of interest how many of you can feel glands in your neck ??
like i said previously im in the best shape ive been in, in ages im training for a half marathon.....sure im tired but i feel ok
I can certainly feel the swollen gland in my neck! Waiting to hear result of ultra sound - blood test was ok. From reading your posts I would say you have not got to worry - it appears that all checks have been made.:)
BMTHDAhliaMUrDEr
22-05-09, 10:49
Hey guys...its the newb lol
A few days ago i felt a lymph node in my neck..well more like 4-6 ( the ''-'' is because i think one of them has shrinked or i cant find it) anyway im am extremely freaked out coz ive had Hodgkins disease when i was younger.
But the thing is i dont know if its that or becuase i have a pimple on my neck which is kinda of directly in the surrounding area of the nodes......and also the other thing that has happened is that my cat scratched me when i was playing with her....So idk if its cancer returning or becuase of the other two reasons. I dont have any symtoms like night sweats or itchy skin but sometimes i feel tirred but i think thats from getting up for school so early and going to bed so late. Also the nodes are all pea-sized or smaller.
off the back of this post
http://www.nomorepanic.co.uk/showthread.php?t=49912&page=2
it shows that most people can feel 1 or multiple lymph nodes - this had made me feel much better, i still get hives worse sometimes than others but i think this is due to stress and the itching associated with lymphoma is supposedly very severe with no rash.
I had the doctor check my lymph nodes again he said im worrying myself sick and they are fine i also asked is it normal to feel them he said in some people yes this made my feel better im really trying hard to put this behind me i have a few good days then i start worrying again is anyone else like this there fears go away then come back?
anyways thanks for all of the support thought id check in as i havent been on in a while
Mac
Dear Mac,
I am exactly like you, One moment all is fine and im not worried at all, then all of the sudden I am terrified that I have somekind of disease. It is very hard to cope with, and the main cause of my fears? Lymph Nodes. I got several big ones (Marble sized) slightly hard and they do not hurt at all. on my jaw line. They terrify me, and I wish they would just go away. My doctor told me they feel fine and that I should not worry, but im finding it very hard to believe him. I've made several posts about Lymph Nodes on this forum, everytime I finally cool down, but its nearly unavoidable that my fears return, And when they do, the best thing I can do is either make an appointment with my doctor, or seek for reassurance here, which has helped me alot these past month's.
Kind regards,
Kraggy
its still an ongoing struggle for me this worry i think its going ok no symptoms, then i stop taking anti histamines and my hives return until i start taking them again this shows im allergic to something right? as the hodgkins itch cant be treated with anti histamines.
Also i have really spotty kind of cut painful underarms however yesterday i put my deodorant on to close and it burned a bit a reaction to the deodorant?
i thought i was getting over this i still check the glands n there still there no bigger no smaller this has been going on 4 a year and is getting me down
replies would be appreciated
Mac
LittleMac and Kraggy, all 3 of us are too alike it is scary! lol:blush:
Maybe we can help each other tackle this once and for all!!! I feel like you, Kraggy, just thinking why cant they just go down or go away, then I wont worry! :wacko:
And LittleMac...the hives can be hard to handle. I had a bout with them for 3 weeks constant last year. Even while taking Benadryl the hives came and went. It was finally when I started taking Zyrtec every day and bumpedup my Lexapro...that the hives stopped.
I had idiopathic hives...could never find a cause for them. I worried the same. Lost sleep so many nights thinking it was a symptom. They finally went away and *knock on wood* lol I havent had them since (and I am only on Zyrtec daily, no Lexapro).
I think, and so do my docs (hence the increase in Lexapro), that it was just stress causing it and my anxiety...I was told by my doctor and chiropractor, and a Hodgkins survivor herself, with the "itch" symptom you get, there are no hives, just a constant can't tolerate itch that feels like it is in your blood. She said she would scratch her legs until they bled and they would still itch....that tells you how severe that kind of itch is that is associated with *H*.
Has anyone ever tried a body detox or lymph cleanse before? I am wondering how these products work, and if they would be of benefit to us with our permanent nodes:shrug:
Also, with yalls nodes, how do they feel...some pages say buckshot nodes are normal from past viruses...and some say you shouldnt be able to feel them...and some say thin people feel theirs...and then there are the sites that say movable, rubbery, less than 1cm are okay, and others that say rubbery are lymphoma.
I know DR GOOGLE isn't good for my mind...its just that sometimes I get a bit of reassurance finding those few lines saying its normal....and most are not malignant....then I see the bad stuff and the worry starts again! :weep:
the only health site i trust is patient.co.uk
others claim hives is a symptom of lymphoma however i have done research and it would appear that it isnt a symptom my doctor agrees with this and he said sites like webmd are rubbish.
do you think from the work-up ive had bloodwork for example that ive been throughly tested? i havent had any scans. also the timeframe over a year id expect if there was something wrong id have more symptoms and problems a year down the line would you agree??
It still really stresses me out this health anxiety started a year ago when i started my job
Mac
I do agree. I have been told with mine, that as long as there is no increase in size, matting, or HUGE nodes...it is fine. that some people have an overreactive immune system and some have nodes that wont go away...The only reason I had the Ultrasound was because I INSISTED lol I dont think they would have just sent me...
I woke this morning thinking, IM NOT GOING TO WORRY! These last few days/week has been a nightmare for me. Not sleeping, worrying and constantly touching and checking the lump...Im just going to try and relax. TRY I said lol I really have to start blocking out all the bad and stuff I find online...and listen to my doctors...they are the ones that know bow to diagnose these things...and we should really put our trust in them more.
After thinking of all of this for the last week and worrying, I have got some great help and POSITIVE encouragement from others on here and they are right...I cant continue to worry like this, my daughter is picking up on my stress and anxiety, and Im really just tired of worrying :(( I am going to STOP feeling, stop checking and STOP googling. I have made an appointment with my GYN in a couple of weeks, and Im just going to wait.
Im thinking of it this way...there is nothing I can do about my nodes. I have a symptom, NOT the disease. They are there, and aren't going away. I have had them checked, and checked, and checked lol and they are fine. No change. And the new one, it will be checked too. In a couple of weeks. If it is something, I will take care of it, like anyone would....and if it is not...I will relax. And mean it this time. Enjoy my life and stop the worry. Worrying like this cannot be good for me and stress can affect the immune system very negatively....
So I dont know how long this will last, but IM GOING TO TRY! And to tell ya the truth, I feel good this morning. Im going to keep my mind off of it and keep busy today.
Everyone, enjoy your day!!!!!! LittleMac...try and set your mind at ease. Know you have been examined and you are A-ok.
thanks for the advice especially about the hives as they concern me, but the fact they go away with benedryl is promising and displaying that it is allergy related.
also as we have expressed this has been going on for awhile and over a year i would expect further symptoms weight loss, night sweats etc.... if anything im putting on weight due to my office job lol.
i go to the gym n cycle often, when i have bad days it gets me down as i think what if its been missed etc, but then i calm down n i realize im being daft
but it is very hard to get over
my nodes are under 1cm fairly firm n both move although one moves alot more than the other, im always checking lymphoma sites and checking myself i really need to get a grip or il go mad......
im feeling really anxious again,
i felt my glands today and they started m,me worrying again i also read a website which stated a guy died with glands around 1cm and he had no other symptoms.....
i thought id cracked this its really getting me down but i dont know why i did a 10km race on sunday in 1 hour so im clearly quite fit and most people according to this post (http://www.nomorepanic.co.uk/showthread.php?t=49912) can feel glands of around 1cm in there necks so i dont see why im worrying my hives hardly ever happen now im feeling tired but thats just to not being able to sleep at the moment.
id appreciate some re-assurance guys.....
Thanks Mac
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