Any ideas as to what might be wrong with me?

[CarrieMayBe]

Been having night sweats for last couple of months, sometimes they are completely drenching, others are milder. Feel utterly exhausted all the time, regardless of how much sleep I have I never wake feeling refreshed and rarely make it through the day without a nap.
Saw gp who suggested anaemia, ordered thorough blood tests. Everything came back fine apart from I had a level of lymphocytes above the normal range and my cholesterol is high. Gp wanted to repeat bloods in a few weeks. He also took me off the anti depressants I was on as a side effect of them is night sweats and raised cholesterol. They were replaced with a different sort.
2wks later, I am still having night sweats (gp agreed that previous anti depressants would be out of my system by now). I have some enlarged lymph nodes in my groin which have come up in the last week. They are quite small and painless. I also have a lump under my earlobe, on my neck, which again is painless and around 1cm in diameter and a couple of smaller swellings down the sides of my neck.
Gp doesn't think there's anything to be concerned about although agrees the night sweats aren't normal, neither is the tiredness. Didn't think the lumps are particularly significant either. Has said he will discuss with his colleague as a second opinion and would like to repeat bloods but didn't say when.
We spoke about lymphoma, he said if he thought it was that he would refer me immediately but doesn't feel it's necessary.
Any ideas what any of this could be? I'm starting to feel it's all in my head which scares me

[CarrieMayBe]

Meant to say that apart from the sweats and exhaustion I actually feel well in myself. No signs of any infection - no sore throat/ear ache/cold symptoms etc that may explain the swollen lymph nodes.

[Danglyweed]

Re the tiredness were your folic acid levels checked?

[snowymountaintops]

Could you be menopausal? Sorry couldn't see if you had mentioned your age.

[CarrieMayBe]

Folic acid was checked, within normal range. Same with hormone levels.

I'm 37.

[nosupport]

It actually sounds like CMV (cytomegalovirus)

It doesn't normally cause symptoms but night sweats and lymph nodes enlarged are symptoms it can cause when it does...

I doubt your dr will test for it though as its assumed most people have already had it by adulthood but if nothing else gets found as the cause could be worth asking them to check

[CarrieMayBe]

I had to google CMV as I've never heard of it. I agree some of the symptoms fit, however it says it should only last a couple of weeks - I've had the night sweats for a couple of months now and the tiredness for much longer

[nashley]

Have you had any unexplained weight gain or loss?

[CarrieMayBe]

No I haven't.

[nashley]

My dad had a form of lymphoma and significant unexplained weight loss was one of the first red flags then night sweats so hopefully that's reassuring for you that you haven't.
Keep on at your gp though, dad didn't and it wasn't diagnosed early enough. The squeaky wheel gets the grease!
Hope you get a diagnosis soon

[nosupport]

It should only last a few weeks, but can last much longer although rare. It's probably not at all, I bought it up as its something iv excessively googled recently and the symptoms rang a bell when I clicked on your post

If you find no other explanation id be tempted to get that ruled out

[MissSmiley]

Sarcoidosis?
Or menopause? How old are you?

[CarrieMayBe]

Will definitely mention CMV to the dr, thank you.

Sorry to hear about your dad nashley

[CarrieMayBe]

Not menopause, hormones all within normal range. I'm 37.

Not heard of sarcoidosis, will google thanks.

[CarrieMayBe]

Had a look, some of the symptoms definitely fit.

As an aside, I just checked Nice guidelines for lymphadenopathy (enlarged lymph glands), it pretty much says that if accompanied by other symptoms such as night sweats/fatigue then a referral should be made. I'm so upset that I'm being made to feel this is all in my head - it's not at all. I'd be delighted if there turns out to be nothing wrong but I feel so rubbish that I need the serious stuff ruling out!

[nosupport]

Go back and show the dr the guidelines (or rather refer to them) and if they're still not accommodating I would ask to be offered a second opinion.

I feel you often have to fight to be heard in the overstretched NHS x

[CarrieMayBe]

I find it so hard to be forceful when I'm being made to feel like I'm over reacting. How do I do that without coming across as a hypochondriac?

[Diggum]

Here's another useful little referral pathway for raised lymphocytes. Hope it works. I'm not good at linking.

www.derbyhospitals.nhs.uk/easysiteweb/getresource.axd?assetid=38335&type=0&servicetype=1

This does depend on the level of your bloods but I would be looking at other possibilities too- glandular fever, TB. Presume you got an abdominal examination to check your liver and spleen?

I think you're right to push a bit more. Even if you do come across as a hypochondriac, who cares- say you're worried, it's not getting better, you're having new symptoms etc. Just stress your concern and how unwell you're feeling.

[outputgap]

Just say that you now want a referral and show the Nice guidelines. Don't apologise, don't dance around it with maybes etc. And persist at the appointment. I did this when I wanted a referral and on another occasion when I wanted a particular prescription for my DC (backed in that case by nice guidelines). Both times the gps started off by refusing me, but I pointed out the guidelines/added further details/politely didn't take no for an answer. You can be politely assertive. I left both appointments on good terms.

[Daisyandbabies]

Glandular fever? X

[CarrieMayBe]

Lymphocytes were 5.58.

No physical examination apart from lump in neck and those in groin. The biggest lump in groin he discovered was pulsating so he thinks that one could be a swollen blood vessel??

[Diggum]

The pulsating one could be your femoral artery.

Your lymphocytes are mildly elevated so not a big alarm sign, but with the nodes and night sweats I'd be looking at checking your abdomen for enlarged liver or spleen and running some more blood tests.

But look, the best thing to do here is talk to your GP again and push for repeat bloods now. They may have come up with other ideas having spoken to colleague anyway so hopefully you can bring this to the next step together.

[Musicaltheatremum]

I'd probably be referring now with this history and nodes

[RichardHead]

My GP referred me for an ultrasound scan of my neck due to a swollen node. It did turn out to be just that thankfully but my GP took it very seriously and I had no other symptoms. It sounds as if you should at least get a scan.