Susannah

From everything I've researched, it really seems like if they're cancer, at some point they wouldn't fluctuate up and down, but just continue to grow. Also, if none of them are over 2 cm in diameter, it is very unlikely to be cancer (my ENT doctor's advice). My ENT doctor says that he can give me a little outpatient surgery to remove one if I stayed concerned about them. However, I know that removing lymph nodes can cause lymphadema (swelling in that area due to lymph fluid that no longer has a proper path), so I am hesitant to just have one removed. They can also do something called a needle core biopsy, where they stick a needle in there and take a look at the cell sample that comes out. The problems with that are that it's not always accurate (there's just not a lot for a pathologist to look at), and I've heard it's painful. I have a feeling, too, that if you do have an infection that would be likely to make it spread (although totally REMOVING the lymph node would probably make it more likely to spread, also).

If you have candida and the diet is helping, that's almost undoubtedly what it's from, and I would just keep working toward healing that. I've been experimenting with different herbal things and have found several things that help, so I'm trying to be patient. I've read that touching them can keep them swollen, but I'm not sure I believe it, because occassionally when I try a new herbal treatment that seems to work particularly well the first time I use it (I'm really praying that whatever I've got, I'm not making it resistive to everything by trying these remedies, since they all seem to work better at the beginning), I sometimes wake up and they are REALLY tiny. It seems like if my touching them was causing them to stay swollen, it wouldn't fluctuate quite so much.

Sorry the post got so long.