Swollen lymph nodes... read on. - General Health Message Board

GateKeepeR · 07-12-2003, 07:08 PM

I have had swollen lymph nodes for about a month and a half now on the left side of my neck, I went to the doctor, have been going every week or so to get them checked out, well its come down to within 3 weeks, if they arent gone, then I have to have surgery to get one of them removed to check it out and see whats wrong, does anyone know anything about this, if it does come down to him dissecting it, what happens if he finds something, does that mean that it could possibly be very bad (like cancer), etc. or what, please help, btw im 13 years old, so im gettin kinda worried ;D

klayr · 07-13-2003, 11:37 PM

Hey, try not to panic. Has anyone suggested mono? Do you have any other symptoms, like slight fever, excessive tiredness, headaches? Didn't they try to give you antibiotics or anything? You should definitely have them checked out. What does your mother say about all of this?

GateKeepeR · 07-15-2003, 04:29 PM

Yes, Ive taken tons of antibiotics, they have suggested mono, have had about 3 blood tests done in the course of 1 1/2 months, the only thing I think it can be is a sinus infection, which I have right now, and im taking antibiotics and nasal spray for, I am hoping that after i get done with these antibiotics, etc and the sinus infection goes away maybe the lymph nodes will go, the lymph nodes swell when there is INFECTIONS, and i have a sinus INFECTION ;D.. but any ideas what it could possibly be if they dotn go away and I ahve to get one removed for testing and what I might have to do to make the doc's leave me alone?

GateKeepeR · 07-29-2003, 09:58 PM

bump =(

projapoti · 07-30-2003, 09:15 AM

Mono is one of the things that it could be, though usually that's diagnosed with a blood screen. What they are doing to you is something called an excisional biopsy. They're going to take the lymph node out, and the pathologist will look under the microscope to see what is actually wrong with the tissue. Some encouragine news, head and neck cancers are pretty rare in people under 40 years of age. I forgot how long you said that the bump has been there, but two very possible things are:

it's big due to an ongoing infection (you did say you have a sinus infection which can linger for weeks actually!)

you have something called a branchial cleft cyst...it's a small pocket left over from when you were developing as an embryo. Sometimes, if one has a branchial cleft cyst, it could be indicative of a birth defect--but these things are usually find within the first few years of life (i.e. the kid is deaf, or he keeps getting bad neck space infections). A small branchial cleft cyst can go unnoticed for years until one day, it happens to fill with fluid and cause trouble.

Now here's my disclaimer: I haven't seen you or been able to feel the lump in your neck, so what I say about the branchial cleft cyst may be totally wrong, but as far as possibilties go for a one sided lump in the neck, a b. cleft cyst is up there.

Side note question: have you been experiencing any of the following?

unexplained weight loss?
fever/chills/sweats?
sweating at nighttime?
neck pain?
ear pain?
trouble swallowing?
hoarseness of the voice?