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What does a lymph node feel like?

mattman1
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Hi everyone,

I've noticed a few marble sized lumps under my chin in the submental region which my doctors keep saying is normal.  These lumps have been there for over a year.

 

but now I am very nervous as I noticed a tiny pea sized movable lump/thing at the bottom of my neck above the collarbone in the supraclavicular region.  Having a node swollen in this region shows up in a lot of literature and online as being malignant.  My question is, would a lymph node that's swollen and potentially malignant feel that small and movable?  It's maybe around 2mm at the most.  Thanks

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    HI,

    A soft, tender and moveable lymph node usually indicates that it's fighting infection (not surprising at this time of the year). Nodes containing a spread of cancer are usually hard, painless and don't move. Nodes are found in many different parts of the body & any of them can swell if dealing with an infection.

    I hope this helps to calm your fears but if you are still worried & the node doesn't go down after a week or two go see your GP.

    Angie

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    Hi mattman1.

    I'm not a doctor and I have no medical qualifications.   The thing about Googling your symptoms is that they always take you to cancer!   

    The question about lymph nodes occurs quite regularly on this forum, so some time ago I tried to find a general answer.  Lymph nodes pop up quite quickly, stay swollen and painful for as long as they're fighting the infection, and then mostly go back to normal.  However some nodes don't go down at all, and remain harmlessly swollen.  I'm not sure why this is.  

    The time to worry about a swollen node is after 4 weeks.  If, after 4 weeks, it's still swollen, then show it to your GP.  Even then, it's still unlikely to be cancer but at least a medical eye can check it and reassure you.  If there's even a trace of doubt, the GP will order an ultrasound just to be sure. 

    It's also worth remembering that lymphoma is nearly always accompanied by certain symptoms; some of these are a little vague and can occur with a simple virus, but drenching night sweats are very common.  So drenching that you probably need to change the sheets.  Swollen nodes without any of these symptoms are very unlikely to be cancer, but if you follow the four week rule then you won't go wrong. 

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