I have had a bad cold or sinus infection for a week now and one side of my throat hurts.I have a swollen lymphnode on that side of my neck.Its a little towards the front below my chin.I have not been to the doc yet cause I thought I just had a cold,now im thinking its sinus infection or I have throat cancer.Its probably silly but I do smoke and feel that lump on my neck.I am 26 year old female.My question,Could it be throat cancer or just from being sick?I tend to worry alot that I have somthing serious.It drives everybody nuts,but I cant help it,thats how I am.I would appreciate any info.Thanks!

It could be a goiter which is causes by Thyroid imbalance. Ask your doc to ck your thyroid. Hope this is helpful, I have had that before.

I really would not worry about it. Both my son and I have sinus infections( I also smoke) and our lymph nodes are swollen in the same spot. Also my son has a swollen node behind his ear. I think you are fine.

I agree, dosent sound like anything serious

Mariea,
It most likely is nothing more than part of the cold you are currently fighting. However, I noticed that you mentioned that you smoke. Maybe this would be a good time to plan to quit? After all, there's no question that smoking will make it much more likely for you to develop lung cancer, bladder cancer, and emphesyma. Sicne you already worry, why give yourself something else to worry about? It's a new year...maybe it's time for a new, non-smoking you?

Ruth

I don't think at this time it would be anything to worry about. I do think you should get it looked at because if you are ever not sure, you should at least check. If it doesn't go away or grows larger, then you should be concerned and be sure to follow up with a doctor. Try not to worry in the meantime, because it only makes things worse. Good luck.

Mariea,

I had a swollen gland for 6 weeks. I was so scared. I finally went to an ent and it was nothing. Glands can be swollen for a long time after infection. Hope everything works out.

Jennifer

I hope you have been to the doctor and everything is ok. If you havent I would suggest you do it asap!!

Your scenario sounds hauntingly familiar.

In January I had a sinus infection that spread to my throat . Like everyone else with a sore throat , I was always feeling around it. One day I discovered a lump on the left side of throat.

I went to my gen pract. he prescribed antibiotic for the infection and also thought the lump was probably swollen lymph node. Infection went away but lump remained. He put me on a stronger antibiotic and after 10 day course the lump still remained. Was then referred to an ENT.

She did a FNA(fine needle aspiration). What she got in the syringe was cystic in nature , with no cancer cells visible ,according to pathologist. But she still recommended it be removed because of its location.

I put off the surgery because I thought it was just a cyst that could have possibly been there for some time.

Over the course of the next month the cyst never changed in size or shape nor caused me any discomfort at all.

I'm not sure what made me change my mind about removing it but I decided in late March to have it removed.

When I woke up from surgery she dropped the bomb that I had a malignant cancer. It was a cyst that we were feeling but it was attached to a lymph node that was cancerous.

After 3 days of waiting for the path report I recieved as good of news as I hoped for. It is thyroid cancer(papillary) which is highly responsive to treatment.

I've now had a total thyroidectomy and a neck dissection in which she removed 30 some lymph nodes in the surrounding area(4 of them came back positive for cancer) and am waiting for RAI treatments to start next week to finish this stuff off.

I don't want to freak you out and scare you out of your wits but I do want to scare you enough to get it checked out. I had friends telling me "I know lots of people that have lumps like that and that they are nothing to worry about" and most of them ARE nothing to worry about. But your health is nothing to gamble on or to just hope its nothing.

If you havent had it checked out please get to a doctor ASAP and get it looked into. If they decide surgery is the thing to do it is a relatively minor in and out surgery. If its nothing all you have lost is a few days at work if it is something bad then you can get after it . With cancer its always better the earlier you can start fighting it.

Hopefully it is just a swollen node and will go away on its own but dont just sit around and hope that it does.

Good luck!!!