My Lymph Node story!! still enlarged 3 years on and still here :)

[AnxietySufferer]

Hello.

It has been a while since my last post. Coming up to two years in fact.

I hope to bring some reassurance regarding lymph node anxiety, and also I hope that we can all help each other.

I have two lymph nodes in my neck. My health anxiety has been pretty poor with the announcement of another lockdown, my last post was actually 2 years ago about the exact same lymph nodes. Both are small in size, They are on either side of my neck just above my collar bone one higher up than the other (I think they are call them deep cervical nodes). Recently I haven't been able to stop messing with them (something I always do when my anxiety is bad) and obsessing over the fact that they never went away (Im pretty certain I first noticed them in December 2017 - so coming up to 3 years now!!).

I went to the doctors at the time, after leaving them for 6 weeks to see if they would go away. They didn't think it was worth sending for scans as it was moveable, near the surface and I didn't have any 'B symptoms'. They said to keep an eye on it and see if it got any bigger. They also mentioned that it may never have fully went down after an infection.

Anyway, my anxiety says this is slow growing lymphoma, but realistically, if a lymph node hasn't changed within a year its unlikely to be cancerous. The other thing. It is easy to convince yourself the node is bigger than you think. For example, when it is measured on an ultrasound, they measure the short axis (diameter), not the length, this makes a huge difference, because what you think is 2cm in length might only be 0.5cm in diameter.

Anyway. All of this said I haven't been able to stop obsessing over it hence my recent post.

I hope that my nodes not changing for 3 years will provide some reassurance that a sinister diagnosis is not around the corner just because you can feel the lymph nodes in your neck. Although i have been aware of the nodes that entire time, its not until now that I have started obsessing over them again to the point of doing another post - I try to steer clear because I realised the hard way that these forums only provide short term relief and that ultimately, the only way to rule things out is through making a doctors appointment.

As this is a common health anxiety trigger, I was hoping we could share our experience and some positivity

[NancyW]

Lumps and bumps are horrid for HA, I know that for sure.

My youngest son's Dr told me lymph nodes can enlarge and never go away. He explained that they can actually scar and permanently stay enlarged.

My son was just a few years old when I went through a horrific spiral over lymph nodes in his neck. He's going to be 27 next week and if he turns his head a certain way, I can still see them.

[AnxietySufferer]

Thank you for sharing your story!!

My doctor said a similar thing, that sometimes they enlarge and will never fully go away, yet if you put it into google it says this is 'occasional', which has led to me spiralling. I guess it is better for google to push you into getting them looked at by a doctor but for people with health anxiety it can cause a lot of stress.

[NancyW]

Who do you think is more qualified to give you medical advice?

[Worrywart84]

Fellow lymph node worrier here, among other things. I have had one on the left side of my neck for 5 years—5 years ago I had it checked via ultrasound and was told it was nothing sinister and was likely a shoddy node that may never go down. I “rediscovered” it this summer and have had bouts of poking and prodding it endlessly, then finding another one near by, then going back to the same doctor who was like “um didn’t we look at this 5 years ago?” And then agreed to do another ultrasound solely for my reassurance. That also was deemed to be nothing sinister and yet I STILL struggle with occasionally playing with it just to see if it’s changed or feels different. I even asked my OBGYN to check it out at a recent appointment just to have another doctor’s hands on it. I keep reminding myself this is HA and not lymphoma and that I have done my due diligence getting it checked and I need to stop entertaining the beast. But it’s not easy. Pandemic has definitely weakened my rational mind.

[AnxietySufferer]

Hiya,

Thank you for your response. Was really nice to hear some positivity

I also cannot stop prodding it and was debating going back to the doctors so this was reassuring.

I hope you are doing ok.