Worried

karrenn18
karrenn18 Member Posts: 12
edited September 2014 in Head and Neck Cancer #1

Hi. For 1 month, I have swollen lymph nodes on my left neck under the jaw, they are not painful. I also noticed pimple like bumps on my left tonsils (bumps with white spots inside), it is not painful. Whenever I swallow there is something itchy inside my left ear and when I burp, a muscle on my back neck aches. I have taken doxycycline for 7 days but it never worked.

Here is the link for the picture of my tonsil. I have circled the pimple like bumps.
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/53681366/sef.jpg

I am really worried on what it is...

I am 20 years old female. Never smoked, Never drinked.

Comments

  • jackflash22
    jackflash22 Member Posts: 524 Member
    #2
    Doctors

    you must go to your doctor, it looks as if you may have tonsillitus but to be safe go to the doctor and get referred to a ENT specialist. 

  • KTeacher
    KTeacher Member Posts: 1,103 Member
    #3
    Agree

    I agree, get to a doctor.  ENT would be the best.  Ask for a biopsy.

  • phrannie51
    phrannie51 Member Posts: 4,716
    #4
    Get thee to an ENT....

    and get checked out.  Worry sucks the air out of a room and the joy out of life.

    p

  • karrenn18
    karrenn18 Member Posts: 12
    #5
    jackflash22 said:

    Doctors

    you must go to your doctor, it looks as if you may have tonsillitus but to be safe go to the doctor and get referred to a ENT specialist. 

    Thanks

    Thanks for the advice...:)

    my mother is a doctor, a general practitioner...she looked at my mouth, and she said that i have nothing to worry about...

    she told me that next month I will have a PPD test...my mother thinks that i have primary complex/TB....

    hoping that it is just primary complex...

    my mother is the one who prescribed me doxycycline...I asked her to have me checked by an ENT

    today, i am having a cold...and more swollen lymph nodes appeared...

  • karrenn18
    karrenn18 Member Posts: 12
    #6
    KTeacher said:

    Agree

    I agree, get to a doctor.  ENT would be the best.  Ask for a biopsy.

    Thanks for the advice :)
    I

    Thanks for the advice :)

    I asked my mother if she could bring me to an ENT...but she said that i have nothing to worry about my tonsil...

    My mother is a doctor, a general practitioner. She thinks that i might have primary complex/TB...

    I wish these swollen lymph nodes would just go away...they're the ones that are making me worry...

    right know, i am having a cold, but it feels that only the left side of my head is not feeling well...

  • karrenn18
    karrenn18 Member Posts: 12
    #7
    phrannie51 said:

    Get thee to an ENT....

    and get checked out.  Worry sucks the air out of a room and the joy out of life.

    p

    Thanks for the advice :)

    I want to be checked by ent but my mother said that i have nothing to worry about....

    my mother is a doctor, a general practitioner and i have complained to her what i am feeling....

    she looked at my tonsils and said that i have nothing to worry about...

    but my swollen lymph nodes really worries me...

    a few weeks ago there were only three swollen lymph nodes...about the size of a pea...and now there a total of 5 swollen lymph nodes...

  • longtermsurvivor
    longtermsurvivor Member Posts: 1,842 Member
    #8
    karrenn18 said:

    Thanks for the advice :)

    I want to be checked by ent but my mother said that i have nothing to worry about....

    my mother is a doctor, a general practitioner and i have complained to her what i am feeling....

    she looked at my tonsils and said that i have nothing to worry about...

    but my swollen lymph nodes really worries me...

    a few weeks ago there were only three swollen lymph nodes...about the size of a pea...and now there a total of 5 swollen lymph nodes...

    No disrespect to you or your mother

    But ANY type of TB in your age group in middleAmerica would be rare.   Unless you are from a part of the world where it is endemic, this is also quickly ruled out.  Has your mom done the testing?   Have you had a simple CXR?

    Then, too, you are concerned about your lymph nodes, apparently, while your mom, you say, is addressing your tonsillar appearance.  Again respectfully, the advice you are getting here is to see an ENT physician.  Not a GP, a doctor who specializes in diseases of the throat.  That's your quickest way to get out from under the bind you find yourself in.

     

    Pat

  • wmc
    wmc Member Posts: 1,804
    #9
    Welcome to the HNC group

    If you have an infection your lymph glands will get larger because they are doing what they are suposed to do, fight the infection. You said your mother is a doctor. You should be seen by an ENT to be safe.

  • karrenn18
    karrenn18 Member Posts: 12
    #10
    longtermsurvivor said:

    No disrespect to you or your mother

    But ANY type of TB in your age group in middleAmerica would be rare.   Unless you are from a part of the world where it is endemic, this is also quickly ruled out.  Has your mom done the testing?   Have you had a simple CXR?

    Then, too, you are concerned about your lymph nodes, apparently, while your mom, you say, is addressing your tonsillar appearance.  Again respectfully, the advice you are getting here is to see an ENT physician.  Not a GP, a doctor who specializes in diseases of the throat.  That's your quickest way to get out from under the bind you find yourself in.

     

    Pat

    thanks for the advice :) 
    I

    thanks for the advice :) 

    I live in the Philippines and I don't know if TB is endemic in our country. My mom is planning to have me do a PPD test next month after my review (currently reviewing for Pharmacy Licensure exam). When I was 12 years old I took drugs for TB but I did not finish it. My mom thinks that maybe it reoccured.

    I am just searching the net, just diagnosing myself...I feel terrified every night because of the things that I have read. 

    We have a family history of cancers and I am so scared to have one.

  • karrenn18
    karrenn18 Member Posts: 12
    #11
    wmc said:

    Welcome to the HNC group

    If you have an infection your lymph glands will get larger because they are doing what they are suposed to do, fight the infection. You said your mother is a doctor. You should be seen by an ENT to be safe.

    Thank you for welcoming me to

    Thank you for welcoming me to the group :)

    the lymph nodes started when my left tonsil increased in size. Then my mom prescribed me doxycycline but after 7 days the swollen lymph nodes did not go away, my enlarged tonsil went back to its original size. 

    I think that the antibiotic did not do well in fighting the infection. 

    I want to go to an ENT but the consultation fee is so expensive...my mother said that I am just hypochondriac on whats happening to my body.

  • Anonymous7/6/2023
    Anonymous7/6/2023 Member Posts: 176
    #12
    karrenn18 said:

    Thank you for welcoming me to

    Thank you for welcoming me to the group :)

    the lymph nodes started when my left tonsil increased in size. Then my mom prescribed me doxycycline but after 7 days the swollen lymph nodes did not go away, my enlarged tonsil went back to its original size. 

    I think that the antibiotic did not do well in fighting the infection. 

    I want to go to an ENT but the consultation fee is so expensive...my mother said that I am just hypochondriac on whats happening to my body.

    Your mother has diagnosed you

    Your mother has diagnosed you with tuberculosis by looking at your throat?

  • karrenn18
    karrenn18 Member Posts: 12
    #13
    Estelle_H said:

    Your mother has diagnosed you

    Your mother has diagnosed you with tuberculosis by looking at your throat?

    no....
    my mother located my

    no....

    my mother located my swollen lymph nodes...and she said i will have a PPD test next month...

  • longtermsurvivor
    longtermsurvivor Member Posts: 1,842 Member
    #14
    karrenn18 said:

    thanks for the advice :) 
    I

    thanks for the advice :) 

    I live in the Philippines and I don't know if TB is endemic in our country. My mom is planning to have me do a PPD test next month after my review (currently reviewing for Pharmacy Licensure exam). When I was 12 years old I took drugs for TB but I did not finish it. My mom thinks that maybe it reoccured.

    I am just searching the net, just diagnosing myself...I feel terrified every night because of the things that I have read. 

    We have a family history of cancers and I am so scared to have one.

    if you live in the Philippines

    and your Mom practices in the Philippines, then I would be tempted to follow her advice explicitly.  The incidence of TB is very high in the Phillippines, not like here in the states.  Also, if you were subject to previous incomplete treatment your risks or recurrence are clearly higher.  There is nothing in the picture you posted that suggests throat cancer, and honestly since nodes are "reactive" only, in your situation cancer is WAY down the list of possible causes.   I would encourage you to use your mom as a resource. she likely has more experience than all of us put together at this.

     

     

    Pat

  • karrenn18
    karrenn18 Member Posts: 12
    #15
    longtermsurvivor said:

    if you live in the Philippines

    and your Mom practices in the Philippines, then I would be tempted to follow her advice explicitly.  The incidence of TB is very high in the Phillippines, not like here in the states.  Also, if you were subject to previous incomplete treatment your risks or recurrence are clearly higher.  There is nothing in the picture you posted that suggests throat cancer, and honestly since nodes are "reactive" only, in your situation cancer is WAY down the list of possible causes.   I would encourage you to use your mom as a resource. she likely has more experience than all of us put together at this.

     

     

    Pat

    thank you very much for your

    thank you very much for your advice...

    your advice made me feel ok...it encouraged me not to worry too much on what i am feeling...

    thank you :) i will just follow my mother

  • Anonymous7/6/2023
    Anonymous7/6/2023 Member Posts: 176
    #16
    karrenn18 said:

    no....
    my mother located my

    no....

    my mother located my swollen lymph nodes...and she said i will have a PPD test next month...

    I hope you feel better soon,

    I hope you feel better soon, but please do get tested. Your mother, if she is a GP, cannot diagnose, nor rule out, cancer. She will not be specialised nor qualified to enable her to do this reliably.

  • karrenn18
    karrenn18 Member Posts: 12
    #17
    Estelle_H said:

    I hope you feel better soon,

    I hope you feel better soon, but please do get tested. Your mother, if she is a GP, cannot diagnose, nor rule out, cancer. She will not be specialised nor qualified to enable her to do this reliably.

    Thank you :) Maybe i will get

    Thank you :) Maybe i will get checked next month...hehe 

    hoping that its not the big C. 

    We have a family history of cancers...and im afraid to have one

    the father of my mother (my gradfather) died from buccal cancer...he did not tried any treatments only maintenance for his illness.

  • polystone2014
    polystone2014 Member Posts: 59
    #18
    best to see an ent doctor

    i understand you have worry. Maybe your mother is correct, nothing. But it is only "maybe". You can see ENT doc to figure out.

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