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Thread: Persistent Swollen Lymph Node

  1. #1
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    Nov 2017
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    Persistent Swollen Lymph Node

    I will preface by saying I have been dealing with ear/sinus issues for almost a year. My ears, especially my right one get very full and sore.

    In the first week of April I noticed when wearing over-ear headphones that there was a spot in front of my right earlobe that was sore. I thought it was from the headphones.

    The next day it was more tender and continued to become more and more uncomfortable to the point where just turning my head made the area really uncomfortable. I felt a lump in the area, too.

    I went to my doctor and she felt the area and said she didn't feel any lump but that where I was feeling the pain was my TMJ area. I didn't think that was right because the pain was right in front of my earlobe.

    Still, I left it alone. The pain subsided after a few days but left behind was a small, pea sized lump that to me feels like a pearl. I don't find it mobile or soft.

    I made an appointment with my dentist for a filling this last week (about a month past the initial pain) and he felt it and said it's not the right area for TMJ and, to him, felt like a lymph node. When he felt it he said "you mean this rubbery pea?" I haven't found it to be rubbery feeling, it feels very hard to me but I've also never felt lymph nodes before to know the difference. He told me to follow up with my doctor (and recommended I have my wisdom teeth removed :( )

    So I call my doctor and they schedule me in for that night. A few hours later I get a call and the secretary says my doctor wants to do a phone consultation first. It has been incredibly difficult to actually see my doctor in person and this frustrated me because his is she meant to feel it over the phone?

    Anyway, she calls me and I explain the location and what I feel. She says it's fine. That the lymph nodes there are typically linked to skin issues (acne, eczema), scalp issues (dandruff, eczema), and ear issues. And that was all she said. The phone call was maybe 5 minutes.

    That was a few days ago. The lump is still there. Sometimes it feels tender, I think, but I don't know if that is just from me prodding it. If I push it really hard it feels like it squishes, but mostly it feels very hard and immobile to me.

    Of course my anxiety is telling me it's something terrible. And that my doctor is missing something because she isn't seeing me in person.

    I got my Covid vaccine almost two weeks ago and for a few days after had some more swollen nodes but I no longer feel those. The one right in front of my earlobe is still there and still scaring me so much, though.

    Has anyone had similar? Or can just give me a virtual pat on the back to let me know it's ok?

  2. #2

    Re: Persistent Swollen Lymph Node

    Hi!!!

    I have the exact same node. It came about from constantly massaging the area from tmj. I also have ear issues and eczema issues. Mine has been palpable for 4months now . I had it ultrasounded cuz I had a few other palpable ones as well. Turns out it's actually a normal size lymph node. If yours is around pea size it isn't technically swollen ! Sometimes nodes stay palpable after enlarging. The more you poke it the more it may stick around. Many many people on these forums have palpable nodes, and most people I know have some as well. They just don't worry and poke them like health anxiety sufferers do!

  3. #3
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    Nov 2017
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    Re: Persistent Swollen Lymph Node

    Thank you, it is nice to hear that someone has had something similar and it is ok!

    I say it is the size of a pea but sometimes it also seems larger. It's really hard for me to quantify what size it is because I've never felt around my lymph nodes before so don't know what normal and not normal feels like! It feels both like a pea but also larger. Almost like there is a small pea-sized lump on top of a flat and larger something.

    I am trying to get in to a walk in clinic since my doctor is refusing to see patients in person.

  4. #4
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    Re: Persistent Swollen Lymph Node

    Well have not been able to get an appointment at a walk-in clinic. Spot near my ear is still there. I have been very good about not poking and prodding it over much.

    However, today I was doing my monthly breast exam and felt a lump. Instant panic. It is, I would say, at the top of my breast sort of in line with my armpit, and in the middle or maybe a bit more toward the armpit than the centre of my chest.

    I believe I feel the same thing or similar on the right side.

    Of course my mind is spinning and I am thinking of the worst case scenarios. I have looked on here for any information about pectoral lymph nodes but haven't found anything.

    I rattled off an email to my doctor and hopefully she will see me because I feel terrified and have spent most of the day crying now.

  5. #5

    Re: Persistent Swollen Lymph Node

    Hi Punky,

    Are you sure what you're feeling isn't just normal lumpy breast tissue? I can feel the same lumpiness above my breasts especially since I am post ovulation and well endowed. If there is something similar on the right side that is a very good sign!
    There is also the possibility of the covid vaccine bringing up nodes in the axillary region. In that case they are completely harmless as well.

    I do think you should see your doctor just so you can hear from them what they think but please try and believe them if they do tell you it's nothing to worry about. I've been through the lymph node downward spiral and you don't want to end up there. I've had them for nearly a year now and I'm still okay! Please keep us updated!

  6. #6
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    Re: Persistent Swollen Lymph Node

    Quote Originally Posted by Littlemisswitch View Post
    Hi Punky,

    Are you sure what you're feeling isn't just normal lumpy breast tissue? I can feel the same lumpiness above my breasts especially since I am post ovulation and well endowed. If there is something similar on the right side that is a very good sign!
    There is also the possibility of the covid vaccine bringing up nodes in the axillary region. In that case they are completely harmless as well.

    I do think you should see your doctor just so you can hear from them what they think but please try and believe them if they do tell you it's nothing to worry about. I've been through the lymph node downward spiral and you don't want to end up there. I've had them for nearly a year now and I'm still okay! Please keep us updated!
    Honestly, I'm not sure. I know I have fibrous tissue there, per my doctor. I am breastfeeding, too, and rather well endowed so maybe it's a combination of all of those things and something I've just never noticed before. I hope it's that. Thank you for taking the time to reply, it really means a lot!

  7. #7
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    Re: Persistent Swollen Lymph Node

    Hi all,

    Following up with this post of mine. As you can read above, I have been having issues with what is believed to be a lymph node in front of my ear. It started in early April and has persisted since then.

    I have seen and talked to my doctor several times and every time she says it's from my TMJ. I have been to my dentist who said absolutely not, it's not the right area. Thought maybe it was issues from my wisdom teeth on that side, so three weeks ago I had them removed. Still no change.

    Today, I went to see a nurse practitioner. She listened to my whole saga and then felt the area. She said she definitely feels it, too. She said it is quite firm but mobile and feels to her to be about 1cm and more oval shaped.

    She is not entirely sure what is causing it. She said an infection would have shown other symptoms in the nearly three months.

    So she says the next step is an ultrasound to see what exactly is going on there. She said after that, she would think a surgical referral (plastic surgery) is more appropriate than an ENT since it is located more toward my lower jaw and not so much about the ear.

    I had a CT scan of my sinuses done March 11th. She pulled up those results and said they actually scanned most of my face, including ear area. She said that nothing was noted in that area on the CT scan, so that should be reassuring. She said the odds of it being something bad and appearing only between March 11 and April 6th is not likely. But, of course in my mind all I can think of is it being an uncontrollable and fast growing something bad.

    I feel very anxious. I feel like I've been ignored for so long about this from my doctor and told that it's fine, its nothing. And now someone is finally listening and saying, well it might be nothing or it might be something and I'm not really sure.

    I feel very scared.

    The lump is just slightly beneath my earlobe on the right side. My dentist had said maybe salivary gland stone but was just throwing out ideas at the time. My lower jaw on the right is tender today. I can't tell why but of course that is making me feel anxious too.

    I just feel so lost and scared and so, so worried.

  8. #8
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    Re: Persistent Swollen Lymph Node

    Replying more to myself than anything since I don't think anyone is reading.

    I had the ultrasound done on my lump and they called me today with the results.

    The radiologist wrote in the report that they weren't entirely sure what it was. They said it was either a "complex situation" or a "complex cystic situation", I couldnt make it out on the phone and was too shocked after to clarify.

    The nurse relaying the message said she was going to be honest with me and that worst case, it could be a cancerous mass.

    Of course those words are now swirling around in my mind over and over. It's all I can hear pounding in my head.

    They are going to refer me for a biopsy.

    Cancerous mass.

    I know there could be several other things it might be, the nurse even said that. Before I got the call I had been doing some reading and found something called a branchial cleft cyst. I had half convinced myself that that is what it would end up being. But they didn't say that. They said they weren't sure and that the worst case might be my worst nightmare.

    I have three children. My youngest turns one this month. I feel like my world is collapsing.

    I am so ****ing scared.

  9. #9
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    Nov 2017
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    Re: Persistent Swollen Lymph Node

    Just another note to myself since I am feeling very alone and scared.

    Was laying in bed nursing my baby and rubbed my neck since it felt stiff and sore. And noticed a small lump. Told myself I would check it more when baby was done and I could roll over properly.

    Of course I've just done that and did a little exam of my neck and feel what I am assuming is a lymph node. Same side as the lump on the side of my face. It is, I think, a posterior cervical lymph node. It is on the right side but nearer the back without actually being at the back. I do not feel the same thing on the left side at all.

    I feel so hopeless and scared and feel like this obviously means the worst case scenarios.

    I wish I could just go to the doctor now to have everything checked over but I am waiting on a referral.

    I am so scared.

  10. #10
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    Re: Persistent Swollen Lymph Node

    I am so terribly sorry that you are going through this (((hugs))) it’s hard having to wait for tests and results especially when your already prone to anxiety.
    It’s difficult to hear that you have something there that needs further testing but the good news is that the odds that it’s something benign are greater then the odds of it being something sinister and that’s what you have to keep reminding yourself while you wait on the results of your biopsy.

    Years ago I felt a lump on my face in front of my ear. It was hard, it didn’t move and it worried me. I went to my regular ENT who said yea feels like you have a little Parotid gland tumor growing there, we will keep our eye on it. What? You can’t tell someone like me something like that. I went home and learned all I could on Parotid gland tumors and freaked myself out good. I decided to get an appointment with another ENT even though I mostly trusted my ENT I couldn’t believe he said we would just watch it. The new ENT ordered a ct scan and I bout fell out of the chair when I went in for my follow up and she read the results. There is a 9mm left contrast enhancing tumor Parotid gland tumor. I started crying uncontrollably. The doctor told me tumors grow rather slowly in this area and (I guess that’s why my other ENT wanted to watch and wait) and she presented me with two options. I could either have my gland removed and have it checked for cancer apparently biopsies in this area are not reliable and so the entire gland needs to be removed or I could wait, have s cat scan in 6 months to check on it and go from there.
    I decided I didn’t want to remove my gland just yet and so I would watch and wait. Oddly enough on the drive home this calm washed over me and I was at peace with this thing. I really didn’t think about it, I wasn’t worried. It was weird for me. About 5 or so months later I was eating and the left side of my face swelled up like a balloon. I went to the ER but they had no idea what was going on but it wasn’t life threatening so follow up with your doctor but the swelling was gone by the next morning. Days later I am not sure why but I was feeling around the area checking on that lump cause I would need to go in for ct scan soon and it was GONE. I got an appointment with that ENT to have her check and she agreed yes it was gone. She said it must have been a saliva stone and not a tumor. It’s what caused the swelling in my face and all the back up off saliva must have pushed it out. I was sooo glad I decided not to remove my gland even though the radiologist that read my scan said he was positive it was not a saliva stone.

    See? Everything is not always black and white. It’s okay to be worried, it’s okay to be afraid. You are justified in your feelings but don’t just focus on the possibility of something bad because it’s not the only possibility. I know it’s hard but try your best to distract yourself. Keep your mind busy on other things and when bad thoughts try to take up all the space in your mind, keep reminding yourself that the odds are in your favor because they are.

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