Swollen lymph nodes for no reason

[CatherineCawood]

I'm a mess. Health anxiety has gone bonkers.

My general anxiety is high. I don't know why. Ive convinced myself I have a dreadful disease as my lymph nodes keep coming up in my neck for no reason. I dont have a cold or sore throat. My neck aches. I have read that anxiety can make your lymph nodes play up. But I think I have lymphoma which makes my anxiety even worse. Vicious circle.

Anyone else had lymph nodes for no apparent reason? I have 4 on the same side and one on the other side. All round my neck/jaw. They make my neck ache a bit. I have a frozen shoulder on the same side and I wonder if that would make my nodes come up.

No other symptoms like weigh loss (really struggling to keep weight off atm) or night sweats.

This has been going on for a few weeks. I went to the gp about something else and was going to mention it but bottled it when i was there.

Help me I'm a crying snotty mess.

Please try not to panic - I’ve had swollen glands in my neck for 18 years and I’m still here xx

Have you any symptoms of underactive thyroid? The frozen shoulder, weight issues and anxiety, along with swollen glands, could all point there.

Not wishing to give you another thing to worry about, but that’s when my glands first came up, when I was diagnosed with Hashimotos after DS1 was born.

Please just make a list of your symptoms, get an appointment and push for some blood tests - they will quickly be able to rule out anything sinister for you, and if there’s anything to treat you’ll be in the best place for it once you know.

I know it’s scary but be proactive, don’t be fobbed off (take someone with you if you’re worried you’ll bottle it again!) and hopefully you’ll get it sorted ASAP.

Thank you for replying. I have an underactive thyroid and have taken thyroxine for about 13 years.

Maybe I should make a docs appt.

Yes do - it might be that you need to change your meds if you’re still suffering - try and get the results of your blood tests and post them on here and someone can help interpret them for you - what they call “in the normal range” can still make you feel like shit if its not YOUR normal.

If possible ask them to do a full thyroid panel, not just TSH.

Knowing that you already have a thyroid issue, I’m sure that’s the root of the glandular trouble so I hope it’s put your mind at rest a little xx

Are yoir glands swollen or do you just keep poking them? Thats a sure fire way of getting them inflammed. If you poke around you will feel them. If you keep poking they will hurt. I speak from experience.

You have my sympathy though. Health anxiety sucks - fuck you dr google. Fuck you to hell

Also just wondering if you had glandular fever/mononucleosis/Epstein Barr Virus as teen? That quite common for people with thyroid probs and it can flare up again in later life so it could be that causing your glands to swell.

Mine are swolen. 3 of them I can feel still and I am fine

P.s I have also had a scan/bloods last year and all was fine

No glandular fever or epstein barr. Yes to plenty of poking thrm though .

I will go this week to Dr and ask for full thyroid panel.

I have had my neck ultrasounded before because of node worry.

Thank you all for being here for me. And yes a massive FUCK YOU to Dr Google.

Got a GP appt this morning. I now have lymph nodes up in neck armpit and groin

Glad you’ve got an appointment so that you can put your mind at rest, or find out what’s causing it. Thinking of you

GP was fab. Thinks its from a small skin infection on my face. Thinks its nothing untoward. Sending me for blood tests just for peace of mind. Said she really isn't concerned at all. So feeling much better now. Thanks everyone x

That’s great to hear. Make sure you ask for the results of your blood tests. Often they will just tell you if they’re ‘in range’ but you might benefit from a tweak to your medication or some extra vitamins etc.

@RagingWhoreBag how do I get them to do a full thyroid panel? The blood test the GP has ordered is for white blood cells to look at the lymph nodes. I'm having this test onThursday.

However, I got a text this morning telling me that I am due for my thyroid annual review so will ask them to do it at the same time. I know the nurse will just say that she can only do the "usual" thyroid test as I've asked before. So, how do I get a full panel and what does it consist of?

I had (still have) a swollen node on my neck. That and night sweats and I was fearing lymphoma.

It's been investigated and it's nothing (night sweats because I'm just of that age).

I was v stressed with work though so maybe that's why.

@CatherineCawood I would call the GP and ask them to confirm which blood tests you’re booked for. If it’s just TSH ask them if they can do Free T4 and Free T3 too. TSH on its own isn’t a great measure of thyroid function and their ‘normal range’ is very wide. If you can get a better idea of how your thyroid is working, you can then get some more advice on treating it optimally. TSH under 2 and T3/T4 in the top 1/4 of the normal range is ideal for most of us, but GPs seem happy with TSH under 5 and anywhere for the other two, even if it’s at the bottom of the normal range.

There are other things like B12 and iron that can also have similar symptoms to thyroid issues so just try and push for as many tests as they will do. If you haven’t had full bloods for a while they should be willing- my GP does if I ask

Glad you are having blood tests. Hopefully they will pick something up. This happened to me some years back. I had 4 lymph nodes come up one side of my neck. About 6 weeks later I suffered a blood clot to my eye the same side the nodes came up. I am now visually impaired in the left eye. This is when I first got health anxiety and it’s ruined my life ever since.

@raging thank you that is very helpful.

@apple sorry you've had such a crap time. Did you see there was a HA thread? I just posted on it. I couldn't read it it was making me tearful. I'm at work so that is no good. I'm the boss so have to keep it together!!!

Catherine- hope I didn’t frighten you too much!! Hope u managed to get through work! Health anxiety is the pits. I didn’t see your post on the HA thread. Will have another look.

Don't worry nobody frightens me quite like I manage to frighten myself! I've self referred tonight to the local psychology service - again. Bet they are sick of me!

OK, so the bloods are in. I've phoned up and was told all OK no further action required.

I asked for the thyroid results and she told me:

T4 = 16.6 (range is 12-22)
TSH = 3.3 (range is 0.27 - 4.2)

I'm not happy about the TSH I thought that if I was medicated it should be much lower than that?

The white blood cell count is fine so there is no reason for my lymph nodes being swollen, I think it might be stress...? Apparently it can make your glands swell.

I think i will make another appt to check because they have been up 6 weeks now and no sign of them going down at all. Plus the ones in my neck are painful.

What dose of Levothyroxine are you currently on? It does sound like you could do with a bit of a boost with those levels. Did you get B12 and iron checked? My anxiety goes sky high when B12 is low.

If they won’t do more tests you might benefit from getting some done privately, just to get a better idea of where you can supplement. There’s a place called Blue Horizons which is often recommended - I’ve used them for other tests but they do full thyroid, iron etc They don’t advise after they send you the results but there are plenty of online resources that could help you once you have the numbers in front of you.

Lots of people swear by going gluten free to improve thyroid health but I’m too addicted to cake to contemplate it! The AIP (autoimmune protocol) diet is supposed to be helpful.

However i do take various vitamins etc after reading up a bit about it.

In the US they seem to have many more options open to them regarding meds than we get, with T3 only meds and NDT (natural pigs thyroid) - (my GP wouldn’t even consider giving me a prescription for more than 2 months at a time, despite me having this illness for the rest of my life! I asked why they can do 6 months for birth control and not thyroxine but he just said budgets. So annoying!)

Anyway, if you feel like doing some reading you might find some things that could help you get your anxiety, swollen glands, weight etc managed better - at least you’ll feel better being proactive.