Hello all, help needed about mass above collar bone - Lymphomas Message Board

Tehhet · 02-13-2005, 03:40 AM

First, hello to all of you.
Now, I have something that concerns me a lot lately...for last couple of months I feel some kind of mass above my collar bones. I've seen couple of doctors (two general practice doctors, and also asked some friends that work in Health area) and nobody seems to be concerned about it, although opinions are different (my doc told me that it feel like a vein that might contract some fat tissue around because of my pressing, other one told me that it's either "joint" /not sure about english word, sorry

/, and one actually told me that it is lymph node although he barely felt it and didn't actually waited me to show what it feels like when I am relaxed - he was also not concerned because of its size and shape).

Now, of course, I am mostly scared that it is lymph node, although I must say that from what I read here it doesn't feel like that. It's a soft moveable mass (sometimes it does feel just a little bit harder, but generally it's soft), but it's not like lump...actually, while I'm sitting straight or standing it can appear as a lump, but when I am relaxed or in many other positions you can feel that it's actually very very long thing (starting from just above collar bone from the back side, and then going above collar bone and then bit up on front side - like some kind of vein - also when I strain my neck, like when I am breathing in, that thing/lump goes to more vertical position). It's much much longer then thick.

So, it's soft, it's movable, it's long, and it's, well, my completely wild guess is that it's something like fattened vein or artery could feel. Just under that you can feel some kind of "lump" although I think it's normal mass (probably carotid bulb that sometimes can be felt).
Now, fact is also (which, I believe, is good news considering usual pattern of malignancy) that I have exactly same things (this long soft movable mass, as well as that "lump" beneath) on both sides - whatever I feel on one side I also feel on another. Also, I have scoliosis and some back problems, so I am kinda assymetric, so that may also have some kind of significance (one of my collar bones is lower then other).
Also, important thing to mention is that thing on my left side was at first a bit more palpable and more obvius, while one on the right side was much thiner, however, being hypochondriac I was touching both obsessively and now they are both about same size. One doctor told me that this can be lymph node enlarged by pressing, because of fat tissue, and just to stop messing with it, which I am trying to do

Otherwise, I don't have any health problems nor any symptoms that might be related with HD or some other forms of cancer. My blood count is okay, and I am regular blood donor (every three months). Only abnormality I have is r**** heart beat - about 90 in average, but I have that all my life without any problems - I don't "feel" my heart running or "jumping" or anything, it's simply fast, and it has been like that forever. And, yes, I am also under lot of stress, because of my anxiety (in last year I "had" melanoma, testicle cancer, colon cancer, and some other jolly diseases - all of them never existed of course).

So, basically, my question is what this thing can be - can lymph node be in that shape? I have a friend that had HD and he told me that his nodes were nothing like that. Oh, btw, I am 29.

Thank you all for your answers

Marimac · 02-13-2005, 06:10 AM

I believe you have received good information from others regarding your health. However, you might want to look at why you are so anxious about your health. Sometimes when people do not have adequate social support, the caring and attention that they get from the medical field feels so good, it causes more "medical problems" than would ordinarily exist. I would like to suggest that you find a support group that does not cost money that you can go and find social support in. This would go a long way towards relieving non -existent medical symptoms. It would also give you an objective perspective if something medical really did occur. I know that psychogenic pain is just as painful as some one stabbing you with a blunt instrument, but the cure is going to come from social support rather than medical, it will be much longer lasting, and you won't have to be placed in compromising positions to be told you matter.

Tehhet · 02-13-2005, 09:40 AM

Thanks for your response, and, of course, you are absolutely right that I should seek help for my hypochondria. Problem is that I am in constant circles of it - I never had such problems until April last year when I found mole that I was sure is melanoma - I was completely out of myself, freaked unbeliavably - and it turned out to be dermatofibroma. But, from then on, I don't seem to back in normal tracks. I feel fine for a week then I have testicle pain so I have testicle cancer for a week or so, and later "symptoms" never come back because I am fixed on something else. This all "lymph node" thing also started with enlarged node under my jaw (which actually had no indication of malignancy, it was painfull, very round and mobile and today is almost completely shrinked) which was followed by obsessive touching and pressing my neck on all areas.

So, I know that I am too obssesed, actually at the moment one day I am freaking out that I have lymphoma, and other day that it's some kind of "destroyed" vein and then other day I found something new....

Anyway, thanks a lot for your response

Tehhet · 02-13-2005, 09:44 AM

as for your question - why am I having those problem, well, I might be able to identify some reasons myself. First of all, there is some kind of "genetic" worry for children in my family - my mother was first child that lived after few that died, so everybody was worried about her and constantly around her - she followed that pattern with me (also first child, and she was told before that she will not be able to have kids) and I followed that patter with my daughter. So, my freaking began when my daughter was born (5 years ago) but until recently was fixated to others, not to myself. Finally, my mother died of cancer - it all went pretty fast, and it's quite possible that I supressed that loss deep in myself.

vs1988 · 02-19-2005, 07:24 AM

Hey Tehhet

I seem to have the same exact thing as you do in regards to the soft mass on the collarbone. Mine is on both sides as well, though its more apparent on the left. Its not like a node that is sphere shaped; its long, and starts from the back of my collarbone, over the top, and then to the front. I was scared at first because I read about supraclavicular nodes, but I'm not sure if this is a node or, like you said, some fatty tissue. Did you ever find out what yours was, or did you shrug it off?

Vince