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!?

@SnaccidentsHappencan you feel them when they arnt swollen? Mine never disappear

Ye I can feel them, not noticeable to look at I don’t think but I can feel the all the time

@SnaccidentsHappenthank you for answering, I feel less anxious now

I have nodes all over my body that have never gone down since glandular fever in my teens. I totally recognise the health anxiety OP having been a sufferer myself for many decades ( since the glandular fever actually) and I totally get it. They are not an issue if you've had them all these years, hope some of the reassurance can land and find a foothold. Night times are worse because we are tired. X

@Hillsmakeyoustrongah thank you. Yes, I have been quite ‘glandy’ I had glandular fever when I was 16 and I’ve had tonsillitis too many times to count. Think I have a small raised gland back of my head as well, but it’s quite small. It’s like one part of me is saying you know you’ve had them most your life! But another part is saying… but have you!!?! I’ve had too much time off for Xmas and too much time to think isn’t good for me!

Yep glandular fever at 16 and multiple bouts of tonsillitis here as well. I've got raised nodes in my neck, under my arm, in my groin, and side of my body (just around from my breast) I had a fatigue reoccurrence that they suspected was lymphoma and I had all the big scary scans, in 2013, so 20 years later, and none of them got a mention. I ended up with a chronic fatigue diagnosis instead. I think being glandy is normal if you've gone through these things. I hate the hypervigilant conversation that goes on in my head sometimes and I ended up on sertraline when the intrusive thoughts got too much. It was a game changer. I'm off them now but I would be straight back on them if it became unmanageable again.

I have never had mine scanned or had a test to rule anything out, but considering how non plussed the doc was I have to take from that that he had no cause for concern whatsoever. It was so long ago, and like I said I’d had them most my life previous to that doc visit anyway. Back in tut’day you couldn’t google lumps and bumps! You just had to take docs word for it. I don’t like to google anyway, have only done so a little bit, always scary answers so I stop.

Yes, I have one or two behind my ears and I have lots in the front of my hips that have been like that for years if not decades. In the absence of any other symptoms, no Dr has ever been worried about them. One GP told me that some people just have ‘shotty’ glands there.

My DS has some in his neck that have never gone down after a few bouts of tonsillitis in childhood. I got a referral to paediatrician for that when he was younger and he had blood tests but again, it was eventually concluded that it is ‘just one of those things’.

Thank you for answering, made me feel a lot better. When I feel them with my finger they feel like a baked bean, but looking in a mirror they seem a lot smaller. Flatter. But have never grown. When I say I thought they were anatomy, I mean as in little gristle or something. Not something that flared up during an infection. Although, maybe I was born with them. I can’t ever remember them not being there. Like one person said in an answer, if I ever felt and the wernt there, that would be a big surprise!!

As a fellow health anxiety sufferer (I do sympathise)... you've had them for 30 years. If this was going to kill you, it would have done so by now. You're fine. Don't keep fiddling with them or you might just make them swell up more.

One ear, since I had glandular fever in 1983…

@YourZippyHarecool user name! Love it! Yeah, thank you. I know, it was the trigger of reading an article. But then I remember once reading an article saying salt and vinegar crisps can give you cancer! I’m thinking more rationally now, especially as it actually seems to be a thing. Thank you for responding 😀

@EyeLevelStickyes, glandular fever reason seems to be common answer. All a bit glandy Mandy after that!

You could try lymphatic drainage. There are plenty of videos on YouTube that show you how. I had an enlarged lymph node in my neck for over thirty years that went away after I followed the method and massaged a few times.

I was reassured by a doctor at one point that there was zero chance of it turning cancerous.

Glandy Mandy 😆 why can't we be Bendy Wendys or Slim Jims!

@Hillsmakeyoustrong😆