need reassurance ... little lump on side of neck ...

[anotherbadnight]

I've had this little lump on the side of my neck (kinda straight down from ear lobe) for about 4 months, it moves up and down when you press on it. I'm also 10 weeks pregnant with number 3. I've seen the practice nurse had a blood test today for it but the results won't be back for over a week. I'm really, really worrying. Google is a terrible thing and all I can find are scary sites (never, ever google a symptom!). It hasn't grown or changed, I have been well. Any less scary thoughts? Please?!

Did the nurse give any indication/ideas about possible outcomes?

Could it be some kind of fatty cyst?

I'm no expert but my DS (4) has had a lump on his neck that sounds exactly the same as yours, i.e. hasn't grown and moves around when pressed! 3 different doctors have all told me that it is a lymph node and nothing to worry about!

It sounds to me like a raised lymph node. These fight infection, I have had two such raised nodes and have felt completely well in the meantime.

I would resist touching it and leave it well alone. I had this sort of thing for a couple of months and my blood test came back as normal. Please try not to unduly worry about it, you've done the right thing in having a blood test done.

I have a little lump on my neck just as you describe for about 30 years .

When my ds got one on the back of his neck aged 3ish I took him to the GP who said it was lymph node but offered to let us have blood tests at hospital (because, he said, "I know you'll just worry otherwise") - which we did, and all is fine. DS still has his. He's now 6.

thanks so much all of you.

really?? 30 years? makes me feel better. it's kind of gristly rather than feeling like a swollen gland. It's not visible and I had to find it to show the nurse.

The nurse didn't say anything explicit, she just said "if it was something sinister ..." by which I assume she meant the big C. (that's what all my stupid google searching points to) I said I'd assumed she would just say it was nothing and send me home, and she said it probably was nothing but she worried. I am a worrier anyway so this is just the kind of thing my brain goes crazy over.

A had a lump when i was a teen, after a few months my mum took me to the gp and he arranged for a biopsy, by the time the appointment came through the lump had gone.

ABN - I know where you are coming from I am off to see GP about a lump in my breast tomorrow so I have lots of empathy with your worries. Have purposely not googled though!

you are a better woman than me! can't help myself, even though I know I'll just scare myself. good luck tomorrow

I have one of these, but more like above my adam's apple. Moves just as you describe. Everyone thought it was a lymph node. My blood tests and chest x-ray were clear so the GP basically told me to go away. My dentist referred me to a maxilofacial surgeon on Harley St who has said that apparently a raised node can be caused by having had various conditions (toxoplasmosis, mono, or CMV) at one stage in your life (not now but before you got the lump) - or merely left over by an infection (a reactive node). None serious at all. Apparently these together are overwhelming majority of causes of these sorts of lumps. None harmful. Actual sinister causes (lymphoma etc) very very rare indeed (even if you can self-diagnose the worst quite easily...).
Mine has turned out to be none of those things and after an ultrasound-guided biopsy appears to be a small cyst, though still by all indications totally benign. Nothing sinister found.
I found mine by accident and it is not visible so it could have been there all my life to be honest!! I have given you all the info in the hope that you will be reassured, as I was that "common things have common causes" and it is most likely nothing at all. Good luck with your tests.

I had a swollen lymph node in my neck for over 6 months . I was also feeling tired and having night sweats. I was pretty worried about it and had blood tests taken twice , and a hospital referral .It turned out to be fine , just a swollen lymph node with no cause. It took a long time to go down .

thanks again - this is all reassuring! i'm not sure either that mine hasn't been there for a long time

hello thanks again for all of this - my blood count came back normal so I am less worried now!