Swollen gland after 2 months.

Hey Dan,

It's nice to hear from you, and so sorry to hear you've had this problem with your lymph node and it's caused so much stress and worry. It's so draining I know. I do want to reassure you in this respect, I'm not sure if it's the same kind of thing but I had a swollen and painful gland under my jaw in my neck during the course of the virus, they did a scan thing and it was just a reactive gland, which is perfectly normal when going through and even after recovery from something like glandular fever.

You've done the right thing by going to see the doctor about it, but honestly something like a reactive gland like that is very common during and after glandular fever, and it is nothing serious to worry about - just your body's immune system fighting against infection. It's much more likely to be that than anything serious, truly, but you've done the right thing going to see the doc and the fact your other symptoms have faded is a very encourgaging sign.

Thinking of you and try not to worry - you're doing the right thing and being sensible by seeing the doc, hoping the blood test and doctors can put your mind at ease.

Craig

Sympathies, this illness is a right royal pain in the rear eh!

I first got it when 18 and am now 53 and still have recurrent symptoms.

On the question of the gland under the jaw, my latest recurrence of symptoms started 8 weeks back and saw a gland under my jaw on both sides swell up and then a gland on the lower right of my neck swell up. 2 of the 3 are now back to normal but the one under my jaw on the left side hasn't, just like yours.

I've learnt that if someone had told me not to exercise back when I first had it, I would not have re-triggered things a month later and then 5 months later again. 3 times in the first year was enough to make me have recurrent symptoms ever since. But I only get it now if (i) my system is low and (ii) I exercise. My system being low can mean while having a cold or within a week or recovering from a cold, also when recovering from an operation. It rarely triggered until I bought a mountain bike in my mid forties and I have been overdoing it physically ever since lol.

To get over it I have realised that I need to do my absolute utmost to not pump my lymphatic system. So if you exercise it gets pumped in a sympathetic manner with your blood being pumped. If you breathe deeply during exercise that also does it because there are glands that get pumped in a way related to your diaphragm moving. It also gets pumped if I have a warm to hot bath as that dilates the vessels.

If I keep the lymphatic system as calm as possible and not being drained quickly then the symptoms slowly disappear over a month or so and then I can start slow walking and build that up over a month to quicker walking followed by the mountain bike 6 weeks after my symptoms have gone. I have repeated this pattern for the past decade and get it every 2-3 years because I badly time some exercise time wise related to being ill!

So yes, the glands that suddenly swell up and hang around for a while are all part and parcel of the glandular fever experience I'm afraid.

The one thing I try and do is just be patient, get on with other things but keep that lymphatic system on a go slow!

Hi everyone. I just wanted to come by and say hi. My swollen gland is back to normal. It's been almost three months since I got glandular fever. I don't know whether I've made a full recovery because I still have some of the problems I used to have before I got  glandular fever (gastritis/GERD, colitis, depression, anxiety and a mild throat infection that resembles the one I'd had in July.)

Tomorrow I'm going to see my dr about the throat infection (they ran some tests on me two weeks ago so I hope it's nothing serious.)

I hope everyone is doing fine and I know that recovery is a very long process, but it's possible. I still feel tired every once in a while, but I know that worrying about it is not going to help. 

If someone is suffering from glandular fever, don't take a lot of medicines! The first weeks I took a lot of nsaids, antibiotics, syrups, etc and I'm still struggling with the damage they did to my stomach. So take it easy, drink lots of water and have plenty of rest.