Painful lymph nodes in groin

[Turquoise]

Hello, I'm a 36 yr old female. I have two very tender lymph nodes in my groin on the right, I can feel another on the left, but it is not painful. They've been palpable for 5 weeks, painful for 10 days.

I visited my doctor today, she took me seriously and referred me for bloodwork and an ultrasound. I hoped going to the GP would make me feel less anxious but I've gone into full blown panic mode. The scan won't be until end of feb, which seems an eternity away.

There's no obvious reason for the swelling - I've just had a series of colds since Xmas - but why would these make the glands in my groin come up? I know it's not impossible. My worst fear is some sort of cancer in the nodes - in fact the GP said she had to rule this out. I know she's being a good dr but please somebody reason with me about the likelihood of this being something so serious. TIA.

[popejoan]

Hello Turquoise,

I have swollen lymph nodes in my groin as well. They are not painful but they're there for almost a month now. My GP also said if they don't go down she will send me for further tests. This is the protocol, it doesn't mean you have some sort of cancer. My GP said even shaving can cause them to swell up.

[Turquoise]

Thank you PJ - I need to hear that sort of reasoning right now. I have battled with terrible HA since having my children (I have 3) and seem to lurch from one cancer crisis to another. In the midst of this I lost my beloved Dad very suddenly from lung cancer, he died within 10 days of becoming ill, this has fuelled my fears further. I hate feeling like this, it's so destructive. I'm such a logical person when it comes to everything else in life! I'm sorry to hear your glands are troubling you too.

[popejoan]

Oh I'm so sorry to hear about your Dad and your battle with HA. Mine started with a routine smear test when my results were abnormal 5 months ago, at the same time I found out my mum had breast cancer 15 years ago but they never told me this. Since then I convinced myself I had many cancers but my current fear is ALS and it's ruining my life. I don't even care about the lymph nodes anymore, ironically ALS fears make me stop being scared of cancer.

Is it possible that your lymph nodes are tender because you feel them all the time? Tender lymph nodes also can indicate there is an inflammation going on. I understand that your doctor is doing what she/he needs to do. Mine wanted to wait for a month before sending me for tests because she could see I always shave down there

[Turquoise]

More good advice thank you - yes, I do feel them all the time. I shave there too - maybe I've done some damage to the follicles I didn't realise. What makes you worry about ALS?

[popejoan]

Try not to feel them all the time, I do it maybe once every 3-4 days to see if they're still there and try to shave less. My doctor also told me that lymph nodes can be more prominent in thin people and sometimes when they swell up due to an infection they never go down to their normal size. Also, mobile, soft lymph nodes are almost always benign.
Well, I've been experiencing a lot of muscle weakness lately. I felt like I have to drag my right leg sometimes and my left hand is weaker than the right. Sometimes all my limbs are weak. I also have a lot of muscle twitches and lump in throat feeling. I'm scared I'm at the very beginning of the disease. I've never been this scared before, yesterday I cried in my boyfriend's arms like a baby :(