Hi there,

I have a palpable lump on the back of my neck, in the cervical spine area. I first noticed this around 3 years ago. I was referred for an ultrasound and the results came back as fine. As far as I remember the lump was not even seen on the scan. I left it at that, which in retrospect I don't know how I did, considering I do have anxiety.

Fast forward to last year. I started having neck pain. It feels like muscle stiffness. I found PT neck exercises on Youtube to do, and have been doing them on and off for months now. The pain comes and goes. A few months ago I also switched to a new pillow, hoping that would help, and changing my sleep positions, but no relief. I still didn't tie the two things together until a couple of weeks ago I started to feel pins and needles in my arm/hand and leg/foot. I was then reminded of the lump on the back of my neck and I've been obsessing over it ever since. 

The lump is hard and immoveable. It is to the right side of the spine. Looking at images online, it's probably the C1 or "Atlas" area, or maybe C2. The left side feels almost hollow by comparison. I don't know if it has grown in size or not. Due to my anxiety, when I was told the U/S was clear I tried to forget about it and not touch the area.

I am now completely freaking out. After googling, I feel stupid for accepting that nothing showed up on a U/S and not pushing for further testing.

I have a GP appointment for next week. Can anyone shed any light on this for me?