Do you have any lymph nodes behind your ears that have been there for years?

[keepsmiling25]

Right, I’m having a health anxiety moment… I’ll feel rational again in a few days probably when I’m not so tired 😆

Ive been able to feel little lymph nodes on the bony part behind my ears since probably noticing them when I was in my teens ( thought they were normal anatomy!) I’m now 46. I’ve had glandular fever, tonsillitis so many times that prob swelled and never went away, or repeat use of sun-in with the hair dryer ruining my scalp in the 90’s!
Anyway, after visiting a dr walk in centre 16 years ago she felt my neck as I’d got tonsillitis again and said your lymph nodes behind your ears are up, go visit your dr if they don’t go down in two weeks. I said they won’t?! They’ve been there most my life, and I never knew the were lymph nodes! Anyway, went to my doc to find out why they hadn’t disappeared and he said they probably swelled after numerous ENT infections and never went down. So fast forward SIXTEEN years later, they are still the same, not grown, identical on both sides. But for some reason ive started to overthink things!

anyone else have similar findings!?

Exactly the same here and have them in my neck too, I’m late 30s and had them forever! I’ve had tonsillitis numerous times when in late teens too.

Had them since I was about 14. I'm 44!

Yeah, all my life. DS has them too.

No way guys?!!!!

Really?! Like behind the ear on the bone feel like little roundish slightly moveable bumps?! Both ears?

I just used to assume they were part of me! When the doc from the walk in centre said visit your doc if not disappeared in two weeks I was like huh?! I knew I could bet my house that they wouldn’t! I think a friend may have one slightly smaller than mine behind one ear, that I found out about when I first found out what they were! But my partner hasn’t got them.

Mine are both ears and not small - if I get an infection they become so big I can't comfortably wear my specs! I have a diagnosis of 'over active immune system ' which means I heal quickly but have huge reactions to tiny bites etc. At this stage I'd be more worried if they disappeared 😂 Oh and I'm not far off 60 and these have been raised since I was in my teens....

Yep,and they are especially prominent one one side.

having known someone with cancer in their lymph nodes, mine don’t concern me tbh. Theirs got bigger and bigger until removal, and felt different.

Doc never sent me for tests or anything, just had a little feel and looked a little perplexed as to why I was worried. I was persistently saying, when will they go away and he stated that as I’d had them so long how long is a piece of string? Prob never will. So I went on my way. I just read a scary article and it mentioned enlargement of lymph nodes being bad… so spiked my anxiety!

Are all you guys’s on the bone behind the ear? Ever had a doctor check them out?

Thank you all for taking the time to answer, it’s good having real conversations about a concern. I don’t tend to google. I have literally not thought about them since leaving the docs 16 years ago, feeling that I should trust him. Just feel overly anxious after reading the article.

Yeah on the bone, mine get bigger when I’m under the weather too. Did have them checked out years ago and GP said they were just nodes and no concerns!

Yes. Doctor wasn’t worried. Can’t remember exactly what was said but not a cause for concern.

I’ve had them on the neck swell and disappear completely. I think that’s usually the case. But obviously, from all your answers, some never disappear completely. I can’t actually remember never having them. Like I said, I just thought they were part of my anatomy, like my nose 😆

Not behind my ears, but I have had enlarged lymph nodes down one side of my neck that have been there for at least 40 years. I gave up worrying about them a very long time ago though I do check that they haven't changed every so often.

@MrsAvocet did you ever get them checked?

@DarkEyedSailor @Nevermind17can you remember them appearing or have you just lived with them? Had them checked out? Ever caused you worry?

I've got one behind my right ear that comes and goes. It always feels like a spot forming but I know it's a node because I've had it checked often since my teens. It got bigger when I had tonsillitis in my 30s. At the moment it's not there but it could appear at any moment!

Mine never change. Since noticing them many moons back, ( think I used to fiddle with them in school!) they have stayed the same, never any change in size, no pain. They move a bit.

I can't remember to be honest, it's been so long! I probably mentioned them to the GP at some point. I had trouble with my tonsils in my teens/early 20s and I think they appeared then and just never fully disappeared even after my bouts of tonsillitis stopped. But they've not changed for decades so I haven't really worried.

Yeah, that’s probably why I’m not running back to the docs and know I’m just having a bit of irrational anxiety, the fact that they don’t change. The article basically said any nodes that don’t disappear are a cause for concern. My original doc appointment said nothing of the sort.

Mine are there, just checking yours all are! (Not an actual photo of me) you can only slightly see them when I look with a mirror.

Yes I have little pea sized lumps behind my ears and one in my neck (at the front) that never ever go down. They’ve been there since I was about 15. I have eczema and a GP once said it might be that that’s making them stay so swollen but my eczema is controlled now and they’re still there.

As I understand it they are part of your anatomy, they swell up when you’re fighting an infection, then usually go back down again (my mum would always feel the ones behind my ears whenever I was ill to see if they were swollen), for whatever reason some people’s are more prominent.

I can feel mine behind the ears they def flare up when unwell etc. always been that way