…on the right side of my neck, about an inch and a half above my clavicle, a direct line down from my earlobe. I first noticed it in earnest a few days ago, though I’m pretty sure it was there earlier. It’s about the size of a pea, hard, moves around but more easily up and down. It hurts like hell. The other side of my neck hurts in the same spot but there’s no lump there. It first started going crazy a couple of nights ago, when I was rubbing my neck with Ben Gay for soreness. Big old lump, sore the next day. Weird.
I’ve looked around the Web and it might be the supraclavicular lymph node (IANAD, so this is just a guess). I have no idea what could be going on in there, but it’s bugging me. Unfortunately, it’s Friday night and I wouldn’t be able to see my doctor until Monday to find out, and it’s not bad enough to go to the ER for or anything like that. I’m just a little freaking out about it, is all. It’s not even that I’m so worried that it’s cancer and I’m going to die (my mom died of breast cancer, so I’ve seen it-- no party, I know). I just want to know what the hell it is and make it stop hurting.
Anyone in the know about lymph nodes? Could it even possibly be a muscle knot, or something else? Sorry for asking for free medical advice. It’s not even that I want advice so much is that I hate no knowing what’s going on and it’s a little scary. Thanks for listening.
Is it halfway up the side of your neck, like where Frankenstein put the bolts on the monster? About the size of a shooter marble and you can palpate it under the skin?
I’ve had an enlarged lymph node there since childhood, first sprung up after I was exposed to TB. Had to take prophylactic drugs for a few months, never actually contracted the disease but I was carrying it apparently. Doc’s checked out the lump, figured it was a swollen lymph node but sent me to a few specialists to make sure, and that’s all it was.
Ever since then, it’s like my own personal viral meter. Swells up and becomes tender whenever I’m sick, sticks out wicked fierce if I cock my head to the side and display it, shrinks back down when the infection’s over. Every new doc I’ve ever had has to poke at it, run some blood tests and then announce it’s still the same non-issue of a lymph node.
duffer: It’s not a goiter-- it’s pea sized and it’s off to the side, definitely not the thyroid.
Yeah, sort of. It’s a couple of inches above my clavicle, but the weird thing is, [Twilight Zone theme] I described it as being where the bolts are on Frankenstein’s neck earlier today. [/theme] So OK, it’s a lymph node. Chances are, it’s nothing major then, I guess. Whew. Thanks, QT. Gonna get it checked out anyway, though, b/c it hurts, I’m a wimp, and its presence still freaks me out.
Do get it checked, of course, but yeah, don’t fret until you get there. I’d guess that it’s sore because your immune system is kicking some random infection, if it’s the first time it’s swelled up stands to reason it’d be extra tender.
To take your mind off the discomfort, go stand in the bathroom mirror and practice your head tilting until you discover the exact right angle for maximum visual freakiness. Mary Shelley would approve!
I very much doubt that it’s anything cancerous, since cancerous lumps are supposed to be painless. It’s probably something muscle, tendon or lymph-node related.
You’re probably right that it’s not cancer, but cancerous lumps can and do hurt sometimes. Also, I was rubbing this one with Ben Gay, thinking it was a muscle knot, so it’s really aggravated at me right now. I’m sure that’s why it hurts, the bastard.
Hey, I just had this! Of course, IANAD and all that stuff, but here’s what my illness was: mononucleosis. Wooohooo! Four weeks in bed with leg cramps!
They thought it had to be a bacterial infection, because all of my right-side nodes eventually flared up (even those behind my knee), but bloodwork revealed a perfect white count. They started me on antibiotics before getting a good look at the bloodwork (miscommunication between the emergency room and my new doctor), which I had to finish (no fun). At first I felt fine save the lumps in my neck and the pain associated with them, but within a week I was out of commission. Sleeping like crazy, leg cramps, body aches, headache. . .never got the sore throat or other symptoms associated with mono though. Never figured out who I got it from either. No one I know has it and I haven’t been sucking face with anyone other than the s.o. So I’m left with the option that someone hocked a big mono-loogey in a drink during my recent plane trip, or someone spit in my mouth without my knowledge. Mmmmmmm. . . mono-loogey. . .
My doctor told me that in most cases, its a sign of an infection. In some cases its a viral thing, like mono or something more exotic. Then there’s the rare case of cancer. Keep in mind its more common to have a common illness that presents like an rare one than to have a rare one.
Before the mono spot test, he told me that no matter what I have, rest and plenty of fluids would help. So my advice to you is: get to your doctor on Monday, and rest this weekend! Really! Even if you don’t think you need to rest, do it anyway. If its something like mono you don’t want to fool around with having an enlarged spleen, etc.
Good luck, and get better soon. AND REST. And when you’re done resting, REST SOME MORE!