Anyone ever had a lymph node remain swollen but benign?
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im a 23 year old male. about 5 months ago i had a pretty sever case of laryngitis and got on anti biotics to clear it. it worked however shortly after stopping the anti biotics my lymph nodes on the left side of my neck swelled. they were not painful even at first, they are only about the size of a pea to a bean. i must emphasize they were not there prior to the illness as im very body conscious and i also have none of them on the right side. my doctor agreed it was odd so ordered a chest x ray, that showed very minor fluid so they did a Ct scan which was clear (the fluid was from my body fighting off the remnant of the infection they assumed since it was gone) after this i was told to wait a few weeks and the nodes should shrink however they didnt, my doctor then checked me for mono, Tb, HiV AND EVERYTHING under the sun in my blood work, the only oddity was my B12 was very minutely low which was assumed because i had hardly been eating. The doctor then ordered an ultrasound of the nodes, it showed nothing out of the ordinary besides stating they were slightly enlarged with the largest being just under a centimeter and i had a 5mm cyst on my thyroid. I was sent to a thyroid specialist who was unconcerned about that. I also seen an ENT who said my nodes didnt worry him at all however he abd my doctor disagree on them going away; my PcP said my nodes are most likely 'scarred' or nodes that respond to infection and dont ever return to normal size while the ENT said they probably will go down someday.
my concern is if they missed something, I know the nodes arent big but there are 5-7 of them in my neck that size asymetrically just on one side. they have been there for 4 months now (nearly 5) with no change and i have read about slow growing lymphomas like Hodgkins etc that can take years to fully manifest. i really want a biopsy but they all say my nodes dont 'meet the criteria' but i know that ultrasound is not the definitive test here. Has anyone else had nodes that never quiet returned to normal size? several doctors seem sure they are of no concern but since none can explain them, or even agree if i should expect them to stay, should i be concerned?
0 likes, 2 replies
diane53336 jacob33618
Posted
Years ago I was told by a specialist who did his own Ultra Sound - this was abroad- that he saw nothing of a lump on my breast. As I got him to feel the lump he then explained that the ultrasound would show no fluid filled cysts, only solid lumps therefore my lump was not cancer and in my case was a fluid filled cyst . The cyst was later drained of yellowish fluid.
But it was larger than a pea.
It is most unlikely that your nodes are cancer. Could you not go privately and pay for the biopsies to put your mind at rest?
Good luck
jacob33618 diane53336
Posted
that must have been a different ultrasound or something to do with the area it was looking. the nodes were clearly visible as all are under US however mine did note the enlarged ones. Also they did note a fluid filled cyst as well. maybe the machines are more advanced or perhaps just being on the neck reveals more.