Low grade lymphoma fears

[Estella45]

Firstly I am not looking for a diagnosis, just peeps with similar experience or more sense than me, to talk me down! I do have HA which is making this worse.

I've had bloods (normal) and waiting on a biopsy now. Here's the story

2003 felt flu-ey for 3 weeks, night sweats, node in armpit, never really went down. Saw GP who put it down to a virus as I'd just started uni.
2005 felt flu-ey again, night sweats, low grade fever and dry cough for 2/3 weeks. Node in neck. Symptoms then went away, node stayed but smaller. Still at uni at this point.
2011- period of night sweats, stomach pains, although I was diagnosed with gallstones at this point too

In between these periods and since 2011, I have had no issues. However the node under my armpit and neck never went down and after speaking to a friend, her story of lymphoma in her dad suddenly sounded like me! I've heard some lymphomas don't cause symptoms, just occasionally flare ups which is what I had. I've never experienced itching and I can't remember weight loss, I've always been the same weight.

Does this sound like lymphoma? Gp ordered bloods and biopsy as he saw how panicked I was.

Anyone?

Bumping. Anyone?

Bumping again

I don't know if it's lymphoma or not but I was diagnosed with lymphoma a couple of years ago. I was always shattered and ended up with lymph nodes. I didn't have any of the usual symptoms- weight loss etc.

it was a massive shock and I did have to have chemo and immunotherapy. It wasn't pleasant but also, it is thankfully one of the easiest to treat cancers and once treatment finished, I have felt completely normal.

During treatment, I continued to work throughout, apart from on chemo days.

Waiting for results is the worst. It may well not be lymphoma but if it is , it is treatable.

Surely it can't be a "bad" one if it's been waxing and waning untreated for over 20 years

@Bigminnie1 glad you're doing better. I feel tired after lunch most days and could have a nap, but generally fine and don't fall alseep until 10-11 everyday.

@Borris I would like to think that but not sure if I have bad HA or if there's really something wrong...

It would be good to know if others have anything similar...

Have you had your vitamin D and stuff like that checked out?

@Bigminnie1 , what's the link with Vit D and other stuff? Can they cause the symptoms I had including swollen nodes? I will go and rummage through my last blood tests now

Just thinking that may be the problem and not lymphoma! If your vitamin D or something like that is low, it can cause a whole host of issues that are easily resolved.

Don't know about swollen lymph nodes but you can get them from an infection that isn't lymphoma. Good luck and try not to stress- easier said than done, I know.
Do you have private health or is that on the NHS?

@Bigminnie1 I've just checked and my vit D is extremely low, so that could explain the fatigue but not the swollen nodes and night sweats/fever episodes which I had in 2003, 2005 and 2011...

I had the exact same symptoms as you 15 or so years ago. I had a very swollen node in my neck. In the end they removed the whole node in my neck in a biopsy. It showed no lymphoma in the node at all. I also had an MRI and that showed no swollen nodes anywhere else in the body. Blood tests were all OK and they tested for a lot of things. It was put down to one of those things. If you have had this swollen node and other symptoms for over 20 years it is very unlikely to be lymphoma. The node normally grows very quickly (mine did) and keeps growing with lymphoma. And to be honest if you had lymphoma for 20 years with no treatment in all likelihood you would have probably died by now.

Go and see your GP and get some blood tests and if they are all clear it is likely just one of those things.

@LuckysDadsHat thank you, this gives me some reassurance. When you say you had the exact same symptoms as me 15 years ago, does that include night sweats and a fever too? I am following up with my GP but its good to hear stories like yours and I'm glad it turned out to be ok for you

Yes fever, sweats so bad that I had to change pjs in the night, exhaustion that I could have 2 or 3 naps in the day and still sleep all night. The node grew very quickly and I was seen on a 2 week wait as GP was so concerned. I had so many blood tests, MRI, surgery to remove the bode etc...... all came back clear and the haematologist said it was likely caused by an illness that had resolved and she was right. All the symptoms went eventually. Now I have the sweats again from menopause.

OP, you’ve had these nodes for years and years with no issues. I also have swollen lymph nodes, two in my neck that have been there for about the same length of time actually.

all of my bloods have always been normal and I’ve had them scanned and told they’re normal.

they dont always go back down after being swollen.

Could Glandular fever be a possibility? The original infection seems to have been while you were at university which is a common time for that. I believe in some cases the infection can stay in your body and reactivate when you are run down.

I very, very much doubt you have lymphoma. All kinds of minor conditions and deficiencies can cause the symptoms you describe.