Thanks for the replies. I’m starting to spiral with this one unfortunately. I’ve moved from thinking it might be HPV to lymphoma; apparently what I have is something called
cobble stone throat. The spots look very much like
this. It’s apparently swollen lymphatic tissue, and coupled with the swollen nodes in my neck, perhaps this is some spreading from that. I saw a picture of someone with lymphoma who had something that looked similar. It was redder and there were more of them, but maybe this particular form doesn’t grow like the usual form — and so I might be able to have had this for a year without noticing change.
Then there’s the possibility of the chronic inflammation raising my risk of throat cancer, as apparently can be the case with chronic granular pharyngitis which also causes the cobble stone throat thing.
It can apparently be harmless, and is most often caused by post nasal drip and seasonal allergies, but I don’t really know whether I have anything like that. I don’t have the classic hay fever symptoms of blocked nose and sneezing, but I do often have some mucus issues at the back of my throat, but I don’t know how likely the link is.
I’ve also noticed either side of my throat some elongated yellowish, mottled tissue, which I presume is related. I’m also starting to convince myself there
are in fact
new lumps even if the main two haven’t grown.
I just can’t seem to keep my thoughts under control. Every time I have a few days that I manage to resit my checking compulsions, it all comes to a head and bubbles over, and I end up convincing myself that I have a plethora of terrible illnesses and can’t pull myself away from researching online.