View Full Version : please help - really need advice!!??
Hi I have posted on here previously re Lymph nodes...
I have had two lumps lumps in my neck (right and left side) for around 6 years now. I visited my gp when i first found them, and he said they were lymph nodes and nothing to worry about.
I forgot about them and have recently found that they are still there and am really really really worried.
I have been back to my gp who has felt them and said they are "normal" i was still very worried so he sent me for blood tests which all came back normal (not sure what he tested)
He said to go back in 6 weeks just to make sure there have been no changes.. I really am so worried to the point where i have been physically sick.
The lumps are around the size of a pea maybe a little bigger and they move around when i press them - i've been feeling them that much recently that they've started to feel really tender.
Does anyone else have these lumps that they can feel in their neck? If it was something serious would the blood tests have detected this??
Please guys any advice would be really really appreciated - Im going out of my mind with worry :(
nomorepanic
03-12-09, 22:59
I have had mine over 20 years and I am fine so they are harmless I guess!
Hey, can you feel yours quite well though - as my partner has a few in his neck but his seem small and hard to find. mine are very easy to find.. the left one is at the bottom of my neck and the right one is in the middle.. I cant even leave my house anymore as i feel so exhausted with this worry :(
hey - dont fret. If you can move them its a good thing! I had a similar lump like that at the beginning of the year which went away by itself, but still have one on my jaw. They are absolutely nothing to worry about.
You may find stress may cause them to grow slightly like mine - which doesnt help. Try to stay calm, promise you'll be fine :)
Thank you Lauren - my partner tells me the fact its been there 6 years and hasnt caused any problems is a good sign and the fact i've seen more than one gp who say they are normal, but i just worry sooo much - i've googled it loads and everything i find is something serious. Would the blood tests have detected something serious?
Hi lou, your partner is right but it doesnt help us fearing for our lives at the time hey?
If the doc was worried he would of had it scanned etc. I dont think blood test show cancerous cells or anything as such (but I could be completely wrong here!). Live in the assurance that he hasnt sent you for more tests.
Its all fun and games in the life of a HA sufferer!!
Thanks so much for your adivce - but if the bloodtests wouldnt detect anything why would i be sent for them? Im confused i think :/
I also have Psoriasis and my friend said that this can cause your lymph nodes to swell - does anyone know if this is true?
Can anyone else please offer some advice / reassurance? :)
Hi Lou
You and I could be the same person! I responded to your last post as well, but reading this one I realise just how similar our situations are...
Firstly, the doctor ran the blood tests to allay your fears - anything that would cause your glands to rise over six years (this is a long time - a teenager goes through high school in that time - think about how long THAT took!) would definitely show in your blood work - it would show in a number of ways, including an abnormal white blood cell count, and in things like thyroid functioning and liver functioning. See, after six years, all the baddies that you've been reading up with on Google have a tendency to either kill you, or become systemic. As we can assume the former has not happened, let's consider the latter...
Now, until you remembered you had the gland, you felt absolutely fine. Quite a coincidence, that.
Your blood work didn't show any abnormalities.
Your glands have not swelled further or changed.
We can rule the latter out.
The reason you can so easily feel your glands is because YOU KNOW WHERE THEY ARE, AND YOU ARE ACCUSTOMED TO FEELING THEM. The reason the GP's you have been to have said yours are small and normal, is because after feeling yours (and they feel thousands of the things!) as an IMPARTIAL judge, they are able to state that they're in the normal range.
Have you ever seen a doctor touch their own glands to compare with yours as a gauge for normality? I didn't think so. That would be absurd.
If it makes you feel at all better, I have the exact same glands permanently swollen. Same sides and all. I also have psoriasis (on the scalp). I have had dental problems since I was a child. It's like spinning an internal roulette wheel - which guy is the bad guy who has caused this.
The answer... for both you and I? Stop Googling. Stop comparing. We are not doctors.
Marley
Marley .. Thankyou :) I really appreciate you responding to my post..
I realise i have posted on this before but i really cant seem to shake off this fear about my "lumps".. you are right for a long time i did forget them and during that time i felt fine. It really is a shame that i spend most of my time worrying over things.. Im currently having CBT and im hoping this will help.
Once again thanks for your response.
Lou -
I can definitely understand your worry - in fact, I share it in regard to my own body. It's just so much easier to detach and understand when it's happening to someone else.
Lymph nodes are such... b@stards! They're b@stards because so many sites and articles talk about them being (and I quote!) harbingers of doom!
Realistically, we both know that they're not. Medical articles, like the ones found online, are written about abnormal cases. I should know this, I'm a research student myself (not medicine... maybe I should change for all the time I've spent reading up on it!). The most strange, and rare conditions are the ones which attract publication. No medical journal or scientific community wants to publish an article where the premise is something like "reactive lymph nodes present as normal 99.9 percent of the time".
No one makes a name from stating the obvious. Pity!
And yet, I still fixate. I'm 24 years old, a month shy of 25. Otherwise quite intelligent. I eat healthy - haven't eaten meat since I was 10 and count my favourite food as spinach. I walk everywhere. The last time I went to the doctor for something other than my lymph nodes was for shin splints from walking so much! Of course, with fixation, this counts for nothing.
My doctor actually yelled at me a couple of months ago. He told me I was incredibly anxious and my panic attacks (and underlying anxiety) were what needed to be treated. That helped a bit. He could recognise my fixation.
Marley.
Its a releif to know that im not the only person who worries about their lymph nodes (not just lymph nodes in my case) It is true that when searching on the net all thats ever found are negative articles.
It will be my 24th in nearly two months time and i have booked a weekend away with my partner - lets hope I start to feel better soon..
Thanks again
Claire
See, we're both too young to be feeling like this about imaginary problems.
Have a great time on your holiday - I'm going away soon too!
Marley
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