SCARED TO DEATH PLEASE HELP ME!!!

Understandable
But I wouldn't worry until you know to worry. Have the drs considered a pet scan? They started with a ct and MRI with me, neither of which led to consider cancer. It wasn't until surgery and a pet scan that I found out. Likely your age has them optimistic. That being said, if I had it to do over again, and timing being invaluable, I'd request a pet scan if for piece of mind than nothing else. Good luck.

Brian

My opinion
I had tonsil cancer in the right tonsil and mine never did swell up much I did have enlarged lymph nodes. If ENT isn't concerned then I don't think I would be. Sounds like an infection to this layman.

SCARED TO DEATH PLEASE HELP ME
has anyone considered you might have lymphoma. I have lymphoma and and scc left side of tongue. I don't want to scare you more but now is a time to attack. put fear aside for now and go totally pro active. go to another doctor. a good internist and discuss what and when you have done for this condition.

Daddisgrl said:

Have you been sexually
Have you been sexually active?

If you are in the US; you should find a large university teaching hospital; see the ENT department there. It's amazing how knowledgeable they are; the one we saw could see the tonsil had cancer. They can give an ultrasound of the nodes or do needle biopsy. While you are young; there was a male member at another board that was your age & he was HPV positive for tonsil cancer; so you never know.

Good luck

advocate for yourself.
In my opinion you should not panic and jump to " i might have cancer". . . however as cancer can be a difficult diagnosis to come to you should advocate for yourself and insist on a second opinion..3rd opinion .. or more testing.

chronic unilateral tonisillits is often also overlooked and this should be treated as well

unfortunately our regular family ENT and moms primary care doctor did seem to "miss" my moms tonsil cancer. however at times i can understand why they did not jump to the diagnosis and insist on testing as hindsight is 20/20.

find a specialist who SPECIALIZES in tonsils, not a general ENT... being associated with a teaching hospital like Daddisgirl recommended would be my recommendation as well .. and an ENT who operates.

just my opinion. good luck to you

Same Answer as Greend
I had tonsil cancer and HPV+ and I'm 57..

I only had an irritation that wouldn't go away for a few months, never became swollen or spit blood...and I had STGIII SCC HPV+ right tonsils and a lymhpnode.

I personally don't think that you need to go to any special facility to be diagnosed for HPV. Most ENT's are familiar and aware. HPV is very much on the rise and is presumed to actually over take tobacco related dervied H&N Cancer in the near future years...

HPV is a real concern as many of us,especially 20 - 50+ have been exposed one time or another.. But that also goes for cancer...we are all exposed, usually your body's immune system gets rid of it, sometimes for what ever reason it doesn't or can't.

Stay persistant and diligent, with your ENT or two or three more opinions and examinations.

Has anyone performed any cultures or swabs, CT, etc.... actually to me it sounds like it could even just be your tonsils...my daughter is 25 and just had her tonsils out a year ago,.

Stay concerned and have it checked out , but don't get too worried just yet.

Best,
John

My son had an enlarged tonsil.
My son had an enlarged tonsil. While it's not normal, sometimes it's nothing other than an enlarged tonsil. His was huge and took up over half his throat. They removed it and he's fine. Now as for the smoking cig's and weed, QUIT WHILE YOUR AHEAD!!! You don't want to end up like us! Hope everything works out well and I'll send positive thoughts your way. Take Care,Shelly

Scared to Death
Hey there,

First, you need to take a deep breath. Inhale, exhale. Repeat as often as necessary to calm down. Don't jump to conclusions about what is going on. Get some facts.

Now, you need a plan of attack. First thing to do is to get a 2nd, 3rd or 4th opinion. I would ask for a CT Scan, PET Scan and/or an MRI. I would also ask for a CBC Blood Count (Complete Blood Count) to see if anything in your blood work is off-kilter. Next thing you need to do is to keep a ver explicit journal (if you don't already) to document what is going on, when new symptoms show up, how long these symptoms last, etc. Put it in writing. #1 - It is not near as frightening on paper as it is floating around your head and #2 - you have something tangible to show the doctors.

I also agree that you should try to find a teaching hospital if possible. Many times, they are better equipped with newer technology, young eager residents and interns just waiting to show their knowledge and more importantly, most, if not all, the the departments you will need are all located on the same campus (ENT, Endocrinologist, Hematologist, etc.)

You are doing well to listen to your body. I have 8 doctors of record (Primary Care Physician - PCP and 7 specialists). They all have said they wished all their patients listened to their body and paid attention to what was going on like I do. They believe me when I say something is wrong. But it wasn't always like that. It was only after proving what I had written in my journals and showing them did they start to believe that I knew what I was talking about. I wasn't making anything up and they could see that.

There are other things that could be going on as well. So make sure you have a good internist who can do all the preliminary med work on you to rule stuff out. Then ask for the tests and/or recommendations from your PCP/Internist to doctors that they like, recommend and trust to help you.

Good luck and keep us posted.

Teresa