Found a lump under my armpit... Help!

[Jsp]

I found a lump a little under my armpit about a week ago. I dismissed it as a gnat bite as I got a few around that day. Well now, upon examining it, I know for a fact its not one! It is not red or on the surface, but it under the skin. It feels really tender to the touch and aches for a little while after poking it around.

Well obviously, the first thing that comes into my head is cancer :( I have a doctors appointment on Monday, so I will mention it to him then along with several other things wrong with me! I hope its nothing serious, just a swollen lymph node or a cyst :(

[chanebehanan]

if its tender its nothing to worry about. id give it 2 weeks maybe less and I about guarantee itll be gone.

[Jsp]

Ahh that's reassuring. Why do you think its ok if its tender?

[chanebehanan]

tender/sore lymph nodes are NOT a sign of "bad" ones. "Bad" ones will be bigger, fixed in place, extremely hard, and won't hurt at all.

[Jsp]

Ahh I see. Mine is kinda big, little over the size of a pea and is quite hard, and only moves slightly when I push it hard (try not to do this as it hurts). Still I hope its nothing. I'm only 17 can't see it being much else, but I still panic :( thanks for all your advice!

[.Poppy.]

I have two lumps under the skin that I've had for years - one is somewhat soft and under my chin, the other is harder and behind my ear. I showed both to a doctor (finally mustered up the courage) and he said they were both fine - ran a test just in case, but it came back great.

My doc says that you'll know if something's up - it would be harder, pretty much unmovable, and irregular in shape. Swollen nodes like that are common, and you can get it from even something as simple as a bug bite that you didn't notice, but the node swelled anyway. My doc also says that sometimes they can "float" to certain places, namely the groin, neck, or armpit, so if you had a problem somewhere else the lymph from other parts of your body can end up there.

I'm no doctor, but I'm sure it's fine. It's good to get it checked out and it's good to know your body. I suffer form HA too, so I know this can fall on deaf ears, but try not to worry

[Jsp]

That's great to hear that yours were not anything serious. This is reassuring, so thank you. Mine move very slightly when I poke them and are kind of soft, but also quite hard. I also was bit a few times the other night (I'm allergic to gnat bites), so I brushed this lump off as a gnat bite as I didn't really feel it properly!

I have a doctors appointment tomorrow so I will tell him about it then thanks for your reply.

[Jsp]

Well my doctor said that it is not a swollen lymph node, but it's a nodule under my skin. I'm not entirely sure what this is, but he said it seems fine as you can move it around when you poke it. He told me to monitor it and come back if it starts growing more, becomes red or very sore.

Is this anything to worry about? I can't find much about armpit nodules on the internet :S (although I really shouldn't be googling!)

[nervousmummytobe]

nodules under the skin become inflamed after pressing and poking (which im sure you are doing a lot of) so stop! and it will go away x

[Jsp]

Yeah I'm tying to avoid poking it first time I poked it since this morning and it still feels sore. Hoping it doesn't grow or go hard though!