I am 19 and think I have cancer

[Missveryworried]

I’m so scared. I had glandular fever in November confirmed by a blood test. Was really unwell. Still don’t feel great 9 months on. My neck glands are swollen I’m tired all the time, had tonsillitis 3 times.

Had to beg GP to refer me for ultrasound of my neck. He refused first time. Have checked my NHS app and results are on there saying I need further assessment. Have googled results and it sounds like I have lymphoma. But GP surgery texted me to say to book routine telephone appointment. I just rang and offered telephone appointment on 1 September.

Surely I should have an appointment sooner or do they just not care?

Will try and post picture of what scan says.

I am frightened. My mum is on holiday so don’t want to bother her.

firstly, never google anything. It will always show you the worst case scenario. Neck glands take a long time to go down after glandular fever, but then throw in 3 lots of tonsilitis and there is no wonder they are still swollen. If you've been given a routine appointment for over 2 weeks time i doubt it is anything like cancer.
How long ago was the last time you had tonsilitis?

You won’t be bothering your mum if you contact her on holiday. Get in touch and get some reassurance. ❤️

What do I know, but my feeling is that if the GP has said you need a routine appt then this is a sign that they have ruled out cancer as if they hadn’t, they would want to see you with more urgency.

Op, it's easy to let your imagination run away with you. If I was your mum I would 100% want you to tell me how scared you are so I could reassure you.

Please don't Google anymore. The cicadas are is just that you have a weakened immune system and are struggling to fully recover.

My DD had something similar and I also worried about a lymphoma. Turned out she'd had glandular fever and had then had another virus as a result of which her lymph nodes had remained inflamed. She got better eventually. Try not to worry.

So it says enlarged heterogeneous lymph node, necrotic. Further assessment needed. I googled that necrotic is cancerous. If I need treatment how will a telephone appointment help??

I feel sick with worry ☹️

@Missveryworried Doctor Google needs sacked!!! he is not a good doctor. please wait till you speak to your doctor before worrying/

Sounds like you need your tonsils taking out if you've had tonsillitis so many times in a short space of time.

Try not to worry and don’t google. If they were super concerned they would contact you for urgent assessment. Don’t google, it’s no replacement for proper medical assessment.

You are worried and you are 19, call your mum and tell her so you can get some support, she would want you to.

Glandular fever can be problematic for some time and recurring so it may well be that it’s causing you some problems.

Stop googling!
Wait for the appointment. As previous poster have said- lymph nodes in the neck may take weeks/months to go down, especially if you've had reoccurring bouts of tonsillitis.

I had about 5 inflamed lymph nodes for over 4 months that worried me, but they were just lymph nodes as the doctor said. But googling will only make you more paranoid.

Don't Google! If it was that easy to diagnose, then doctors wouldn't run tests or scans would they?

After googling, I've managed to diagnose myself with multiple sclerosis, a brain tumour, chronic fatigue syndrome, anaemia, various cancers, various vitamin deficiencies.... I'm actually perfectly fine! But no, you really can't diagnose yourself...if you could we wouldn't need doctors.

Your appointment is not far away... only a couple of weeks. In the meantime, try to distract yourself, read a good book, watch a film, go for a walk...

I'm 52 and have had cancer about 10 times according to Dr. Google. Fingers crossed I actually don't have cancer.

Do you typically suffer with anxiety or is it solely this situation?

Necrotic doesn't mean cancer. It means dead tissue. Please contact your mum to tell her your concerns and stop googling, because you're jumping to worst case scenarios based on Dr Google which is never a good idea.

Necrotic doesn't mean cancerous. It means that some of the tissue in the lymph node is dead. I don't know why that would happen, but it doesn't mean cancer.
If your lymph nodes had looked cancerous on the scan you would have been sent an urgent appointment for it checking.

Op if they suspected cancer you’d be referred under a 2 week wait for a hospital appointment. You’d receive a letter in the post with information. Your body is run down and they need to check you over - during a routine appointment by the sounds of it. If I were you I’d call and ask for a telephone consultation beforehand because you’re feeling extremely anxious. I don’t think it matters how many people tell you over the internet, anxiety is a nasty mean ole thing, you won’t be able to listen to us and with respect, you really shouldn’t as we aren’t medically trained. Stop reading ♥️

Stop googling. It's really not helpful.

If they suspected cancer, you'd be on the two-week pathway. As it is, you've had glandular fever and three lots of tonsillitis in nine months - it's no wonder your lymph nodes are all swollen still. It can take a long time for them to go back to normal after so many back-to-back issues.

It is normal to feel rubbish for a long time after glandular fever, and for your immune system to be playing up.

Stay off Google - it will always tell you that you have cancer. Since you are worried, call the GP surgery and ask if a doctor can call you to reassure you that they are aware you need follow up, and confirm that the appointment booked for September is taking this into account. It may well be that you need review in 4 or 6 or 8 weeks to see if symptoms have resolved, so an earlier appointment would be pointless.

Hi sweetheart. I had glandular fever almost ten years ago and used to worry about this. A hell of a lot of quite legitimate seeming online resources site that for swollen glands, anything longer than a week or two is a cause for concern, so I understand your worries if they're up for longer than this, especially when you feel like your life is being drained out of you when you're having a flare up. I've mentioned this to my drs a few times and I believe them when they say it's no cause for concern.

My advice is just to bear in mind that you've got EBV for the rest of your life now which will cause you flare ups which share symptoms with much more sinister conditions. Don't fall down a Google rabbit hole! Learn to know your own body and consider how familiar your symptoms are when you're feeling rough.

I also find that booze and (shame on me) cigarettes are almost guaranteed to make my glands swell, so it might be worth considering this too!

Please stay away from Google! I have actually had cancer and the first thing the oncologist said to me is "don't Google, it's nearly always outdated and none of it applies to you, all it does is give you anxiety". That was very good advice that I lived by.

You've clearly been very unwell, but lymph nodes can remain enlarged for a long time after glandular fever, sometimes years. Necrotic doesn't mean cancer and I'm another one, with lived experience, saying that if there was any suspicion of cancer, you'd be on the two week referral pathway. Your appointment isn't too far away, not great I know, but not a long way off. You clearly need some further checks but they are not treating it as urgent. Talk to your mum, I've got a 26 year old who has left home but I'd be so upset if she felt she couldn't turn to me. You'll be ok

Oh sweetpea, it sounds like you have health anxiety. If you have also lost weight without trying recently and/or have night sweats, the doctor needs to know about those urgently, and is likely to see you sooner than 1st September.

Outside of those symptoms, it is far less urgent. Dr Google is notoriously unreliable, and you're frightening yourself with terms you don't really understand - and this ramps up your anxiety, which also leads to poorer decision making and poorer understanding and information processing.

I think your first port of call should be a mental health service like Mind or the NHS, which has some useful information about health anxiety and pointers for next steps: https://www.nhs.uk/mental-health/conditions/health-anxiety/

I hope you feel better soon, physically and mentally. PPs are right, though - stop Googling, it doesn't hold special secrets that doctors have missed. All it does is confuse and frighten you further.

Meanwhile, unmumsnetty hugs for you x

Can you email your surgery?I did that, when I had a similar confused test result issue, and they were lovely.

Email, say you are afraid the results mean you have cancer, and someone may well be able to give you a quick reassurance ring. Mine was from a receptionist who’d checked with a GP that the issue I was scared about wasn’t a factor.

Necrosis is simply dead cells/tissues likely caused by infection and inflammation.

Carcinoma or lymphoma would likely be used if you cancer was detected in a lymph node, and as per pps you wouldn't have been told to book a routine telephone appointment. No one is told they have cancer over the phone.

Call your mum for reassurance. Could you call your GP and explain your concern to a receptionist? They might be able to get a GP to give you a quick call to reassure you you don't have cancer.

This isn't correct. Most often necrosis in a lymph node is not related to cancer. It can be, but that does not mean it always is.

You should be getting it ruled out, but given the history you have this is more likely to do with infections.

My dh had glandular fever. It left him feeling drained for months, and affected his health for years. He couldn’t tolerate alcohol, and his blood sugar would suddenly drop. He had to carry glucose tablets around him for years. Actually, thirty years on, I say his health is still not right and can pinpoint it to the glandular fever.

Necrotic lymph nodes can be caused by many things including infection, the majority of cases will not be cancer.

This could be worrying for the OP to read. I reckon because she is young, she will make a full recovery from this and it’ll be a thing of the past in no time.

@Missveryworried Have you contacted your mum yet? ❤️