Hi everyone,

I’m sharing my story as I’m hoping it will provide some comfort to people who are struggling. 

I want to say up top that I’m an extremely health-anxious person – I have colonic polyps for which I need 6 monthly colonoscopies to check/remove (I’m only 28) and I’ve also been referred for a genetic test for Lynch Syndrome. 

In August, I found two lumps around my left collar bone.  At the time, there was very little information about Covid-vaccine side effects (especially in the UK on moderna), so I was relying on Dr Google and was convinced I had lymphoma.  The more anxious I got, the more symptoms I had like itchy skin/night sweats.  Anyway, I made an appointment with my GP but it was over video call.  My left collar bone looked swollen but you couldn’t really tell where the lymph nodes were so my GP told me to wait 8 weeks to see if they went down.  This didn’t fill me with confidence as I kept thinking if my GP had felt them then maybe he would have referred me or something.  My mum is a doctor and she didn’t seem worried, and there were more articles about swollen lymph nodes being related to the vaccines so I took comfort in that.

October came round and I’d noticed another swelling behind my right ear (the opposite side to the others) and the original swollen lymph nodes still hadn’t gone down so I made another GP appointment and this time they told me to come in.  The GP felt my neck and collarbone and said the lymph nodes felt reactive and I should give it another 8 weeks, he also said the one behind my ear looked like a benign cyst.  I was referred for a blood test, which came back normal.  I waited the 8 weeks and during that time the lymph nodes got bigger (biggest feels 1.5cm) and I also started feeling the ones on the right-hand collarbone as well (all my vaccines have been in the left arm).  Panic stations!  I made another GP appointment and she referred me for an urgent ultrasound at the hospital.  This took two weeks and I was a nervous wreck – crying all the time, not sleeping, loss of appetite, constantly prodding away at myself or googling things.   The anxiety was making me feel like there was a lump in my throat, which only fuelled my fears that something was wrong. 

I had my ultrasound yesterday and had them all checked – the consultant said yes, some are a bit swollen but they don’t look sinister and the most likely cause is three doses of the vaccine.  He told me the one behind my ear is not a cyst, it is a lymph node but it was only 4mm (feels bigger) and could be a reaction to something viral that I didn’t know I had.  He also told me that Dr Google will ALWAYS tell you lumps in the neck are cancer but they rarely are.

The bottom line is everyone should get their lumps checked and don’t be fobbed off by GPs – if you feel something is wrong, advocate for yourself and get scanned/tested.  But don’t get yourself into a total tizz like I did!  There’s a fine line between being aware and being a paranoid, nervous wreck.  Health anxiety is a horrible spiral to be in and my heart goes out to anyone who’s in the thick of it right now.  Some things that have helped me over the last 2 weeks:

- Instead of googling your symptoms/the disease you think you have when you feel triggered, google the symptoms of health-anxiety.  I ticked all of these!  Being aware of what was going on in my head really helped me calm down.

- Try not to obsess over your physical symptoms.  Tell yourself you can review them again in 24 hrs, 12 hrs, 6 hrs, whatever works for you.

All the best to everyone x