Lumps under armpits, feel like I’m not being taken seriously

About 2 and a half weeks ago I felt an achy pain under my right armpit, a few days after the pain begain I decided to feel around and found a new, quite large, square flat lump. I mention the square feeling lump because I can't find anything online about anybody else feeling a lump of this shape. The lump / surrounding area was tender, I can move the lump though,  I rang the doctors and got an appointment 2 days after. The doctor didn't seem too concerned but did do a really thorough check and sent a referral to the hospital for an ultrasound. 

I still haven't had my appointment for the ultrasound, to be honest this has ruined Christmas for me and I have spent almost every day crying and it's affecting my relationship because I am so stressed every day and don't have many people to turn to. 2 days ago I went for a private scan to try and elieviate my worries but was made to feel quite stupid and was told the lump was due to shaving or a swollen lymph node? I get shaving lumps every now and then but NEVER has it felt anything like the lump that's been under my armpit for 2 and a half weeks, and usually is more like a squeezey spot sort of thing. I haven't been ill or had any infections recently so I am struggling to understand why I would have such a massively inflamed lymph node for no reason for over 2 weeks now. The dr who did the private ultrasound said that the only thing she saw on the scan was a 0.4mm lymph node that wasn't anything to worry about, the lump I can feel is most definitely at least a 1cm if not more. Is it possible it wouldn't have shown up on the scan? Is a lump different to a lymph node ? To add to this I now have a new lump under my opposite armpit which hurts just like the original one. The pain in the original lump has now completely gone but the lump is still there. 

I am young, 22, I understand that it's not as common for lumps to be sinister at this age but I am starting to become seriously emotionally unwell because of the anxiety and stress waiting around for appointments is causing me. I rang my doctors today just to be made to feel like my concern wasn't worth it, even to the point that my doctor told me I needed to cancel my appointment if the lump went away, I'm 100% certain the lump isn't going to go away and I am absolutely terrified. 
 

I'm not sure if I wrote this for advice or just for an outlet to somebody other than my boyfriend. I just don't know what to do , I don't know if I should be worried or if this is common. I just know I'm really struggling to cope. 

  • I'm not underplaying your fears at all, because if it's making you feel the way it is, you at least need to be put at ease by those checking you over. However, to be fair to the person doing the US, just like lumps can be more widespread than they feel, lumps can also be smaller than they actually feel for a variety of reasons (other tissue, normal structures magnifying them etc etc).

    You don't/won't know the actual size until they're scanned.

  • Hi 

    I'm going through a similar thing at the moment. I had a long standing cyst in my armpit for 10yrs+ had it checked at the GP when it first developed and was told nothing to worry about they won't remove unless it causes a problem. Over the year the lump became slightly bigger but again never caused an issue until xmas Eve, I felt a swelling in my armpit and this became huge and inflamed over Christmas, resulting in me attending urgent.care where I was given antibiotics for an abscess, following a full week of antibiotics the swelling and redness has reduced but not gone, still very painful and the original cyst lump is probably 4x the size now, so went back to urgent care and was referred for a surgical opinion, the surgeon requested an ultrasound which was done that day, now I'm a nurse and was at work in uniform, the person doing the ultrasound said that's an enlarged lymph node, I'm not sure they would have said anything if I wasn't in uniform, then I went back to see the referring surgeon, he said it was not an abscess but an enlarged lymph node and mass, now the terror really set in, I was on my own and had no idea what to think. He referred me to the breast team, which has terrifies me! So I know exactly how your are feeling, I just feel sick with fear, I don't know if my medical knowledge has made me even more paranoid, I normally only see really sick people, I cannot make myself think anything positive, it's like a big grey cloud hanging over me. 
    I have seen the breast consultant on the side who said he would have thought it was an inflamed cyst, and hoped he had put my mind at rest until my appointment, they plan to do a full ultrasound tomorrow at the appointment and I've been given another 2 weeks of antibiotics too so to me suggests infection but my brain keeps thinking it's something sinister 

    I really hope you get an answer soon and it puts your mind at ease