Feel out of options - Brain fog and lump in neck for 9 years, 27 year old female

Hi,

I am feeling a bit at the end of my rope. I feel this issue has impacted every facet of my life. I'm a 27 year old female and for about 9 years now I have had a hard lump in my neck (started around the size of a pea and has grown into now around the width of a U.S. quarter, not protruding from my neck but felt within the tissue) and progressively worse brain fog. Recently I had an ultrasound on my neck. Whilst my doctor could feel the lump I was referring to and said "I don't know what that is", the ultrasound showed normal lymphnodes within the area. Accompanying that, I have severe brain fog. I feel like everything is so mentally exhausting. Occasionally reading is difficult and deciphering the meaning/ value of numbers; I get dizzy when turning and sometimes standing; when I'm in crowds or areas with lots of audio and visual stimulation, I feel mentally exhausted and unable to process it; my short term memory is abysmal; processing what others say is difficult and concentrating is difficult as well. I feel like I am half alive and just trying not to seem like anything is wrong with me. A zombie, basically.

I have had a head ct scan a few years back that was normal. As mentioned above, the recent ultrasound on my neck is normal with regards to the lymphnodes in that area, but the doctor did feel that there was a mass there. I have mild thrombocytopenia, but my platelets hover in range of 85,000 (so not requiring treatment at this point). My doctor ran some vitamin and blood work up on me. Everything was in a healthy range except for my ferritin levels, so I was prescribed iron which I now take, but, unfortunately, it hasn't alleviated anything. I thought this could be hashimoto's but my thyroid testing all showed normal ranges.

I have tried so many alternative "protocols" and extremely healthy eating in the hopes something will give and help me to no avail. I did want to ask my doctor for a second opinion but I don't want to seem like a hypochondriac because this isn't what that is.... With the life I'm living now, dying doesn't scare me and being ill doesn't scare me. The not knowing, however, is absolutely terrifying because I feel so alone dealing with this day in and day out, and, more importantly, I don't want my partner to ever think I am making this up or this is an attention ploy. I try to keep quiet and just carry on but it is now so colossally impacting my mental health and skewing my perception of is there any point in a life like this?

I have scheduled an appointment with another doctor in a few weeks to ask if the lump can be removed. Does anyone know what this could be? Also, can you ask to have a mass removed if benign?

Edit: Think it is worth noting the area of this mass looks closest to the parotid gland/salivary gland at the angle of my jaw, beneath the ear lobe, so not a lymhpnode.

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