Hi all
I recently got very worried that I had lymphoma and spent a lot of time stressing out and reading this forum and others on the web. I told myself that once I was sure I was OK I would post a message on these forums to try and help people in the same position I was in, and because so many people who are worried about having lymphoma never post again once they're all clear. So here is my little story!
At the start of September 2017 I got a nasty cold which turned into laryngitis and a chest infection. Had a week of antibiotics and got 'better' but it took me well over a month to stop feeling exhausted and the niggling cough never went away. At the end of November I got another virus, just a sore throat and hoarseness for a few days but again it utterly wiped me out and for much of the next month I had days where I felt really terrible and struggled with energy levels. And all the time there was this irritating little cough.
I started to panic when I noticed a lump in my neck on the left side kind of above my collarbone around the time I had the sore throat. I'd noticed 'puffiness' in this area since September but just thought it was fat! Now I started to wonder... I visited my Dr who thought maybe I had glandular fever or something else was going on and he was great and sent me for a chest XRay and blood tests. All came back clear except very slightly raised inflammatory markers.
I was still worried though - since visiting him I'd noticed two more larger lumps in the same sort of area of my neck. My anxiety was extra as my sister had had Hodgkin's Lymphoma years ago which was discovered by a neck lump and I knew this could raise my chances of having it. He understood my concerns and arranged an ultrasound. Christmas was coming however and it would be at least a month before I could have the scan.
The lumps didn't go away, I didn't feel any better, and prodding the lumps and googling my symptoms started to become a bit of an obsession. Added to this I started to have mild night sweats a couple of times a week. Great! My partner became equally worried and we started actually putting plans on hold in case I was diagnosed and had to have chemo. So we decided to pay for a private scan to put our minds at rest. The private hospital wouldn't do a CT scan for just my neck (we wanted this as I'd read it was more reliable than ultrasound) so we went ahead with an ultrasound which I managed to get a couple of weeks quicker than the NHS one. For info for people who are wondering this cost about £285 and we claimed 75% of the cost back on our private health insurance, so it wasn't too much to pay in the end for some peace of mind.
At the scan I saw the very senior radiologist looking at the screen and taking screengrabs and wondered what he was seeing. At the end of the scan I asked him and he said "You're absolutely fine. There are several reactive nodes but nothing that shows any signs of Hodgkin's or any other malignancy and as you've got a thin neck they're easier to feel. You've got nothing to worry about."
It felt like a weight off, I was so relieved. However, that night I had the worst night sweat yet and my partner and I woke feeling very deflated. I also couldn't stop wondering 'what exactly are these nodes reacting to?'. So I spoke to my Dr again, who was a little surprised I had gone private, but talked it all through with me. Essentially he told me to stop worrying, there was nothing of any concern. If it would put my mind at rest he would arrange some more blood tests to double check the inflammatory markers and everything else.
So here I am a week or so later - the blood test is tomorrow and I don't even feel like there is much point going! Since the private ultrasound I have tried to make some changes to improve my health. I'm a fairly healthy person but was obviously struggling to fight off those viruses in autumn/winter so decided my immune system must need a boost.
I've started taking multivitamins and echinacea, exercising more, eating better and drinking less alcohol. Crucially, I've also started taking antihistamines as one of the other things that popped up in my endless Google searches was allergies. I didn't think that could be it but it seems that perhaps it was a factor as my lumps have finally started to get smaller and the never ending cough has cleared up.
To do a little summary for anyone in my position, the things that I think have helped me to feel better are:
1. Distraction - the Christmas break spending time with friends and family stopped me focusing on my health so much. The brain is SO significant in all this and I don't think my anxiety was doing me any good at all.
2. The ultrasound - despite the fear the morning after the bad night sweat, overall the ultrasound really helped to settle my mind and I would certainly consider paying privately again in the same situation.
3. Antihistamines - obviously I'm not a medical professional but I would suggest that anyone struggling with raised nodes and an irritating cough or nose/throat symptoms should give this a whirl - the positive effects on my symptoms have been obvious within a week and I wish I had thought to try it sooner, if my mind hadn't been so clouded by thoughts of lymphoma!!
I'm not sure about the night sweats but they could be anxiety, hormones or even the temperature of my bedroom - either way I'm no longer worried that they are a 'b symptom' of lymphoma!
I hope this helps and good luck to everyone going through what I went through, I hope you get some peace of mind soon.
Anne
