Swollen lymph nodes in neck - lymphoma?

So, for the past 5 days I've had a couple of swollen painless lymph nodes in my neck (one on both sides) and I thought one of them was solid so I went to the gp today where a nurse checked them and said that they feel like the textbook example of swollen glands that are fighting infection and described them as movable and spongy and said there are no hard lumps. The thing is though that I have had no symptoms of any infection or cold or viral illness since August when I had a slightly stuffy nose for a few days. I've also had a corona test in the beginning of the month which was negative . The only things I can think of are that I have had a wisdom tooth that has just poked through last month but its not swollen or painful or infected so I don't think its that and I do have autoimmune thyroid disease but again, never had anything like this before with it. I started university 3 weeks ago so they took bloods just to check for glandular fever which she thinks is unlikely but just to cover all bases. She told me to go back when any new symptoms like fever, night sweats or stuff shows up or if they haven't gone down in 4 weeks. I feel a bit more relaxed but I am still terrified that I might have lymphoma and that if I leave this for 4 weeks it will mean it will be incurable, especially reading stories here where almost everyone was reassured it was just an infection and yet for some it turned out to be something worrying. 

I'm 22 years old and I don't smoke or drink or anything and have, to my knowledge, never had any issues with swollen nodes. Should I trust the nurses observations and wait it out for that long or should I try to ask for more tests if nothing improves in a couple of weeks? This is driving me up the wall with worry to the point that I can't focus on uni work :( The nurse showed me how to check them because she could see I was extremely anxious about it and said that at this appointment at least there was nothing to be concerned about. 

  • Hello there,

     

    I hope you're keeping well. I am in the same position where I have been to the doctors about symptoms and they have told me to see how I am in 2/3 weeks. But it's so hard to just sit and wait because you'll feel like it's time wasted where you could be diagnosed and treated if it were something bad.

     

    You could call and ask for another opinion from someone else?

     

    Jacqueline.

  • Hey!

     

     I am trying to keep calm, thank you. Hope you're well too!

     

    Because it has only been less than a week and my constant prodding to the point where my skin is covered in red spots has certainly not helped things so that's why she thought it was viral. I had full bloods done in August which were fine so again, she wasn't very concerned. Do you reckon its worth waiting 2 weeks or should I be pushing this? I am not a medical professional and I have severe health anxiety so I'm not sure I trust myself to adequately judge the situation.

  • Hey,

     

    I am the same, my anxiety gets me paranoid that I could have all sorts of illnesses. I'm no medical profession either. Perhaps give it a week and see if they change at all? I would say that if they start to hurt or change in size then go back to the drs? But from what I've researched lymph nodes can be infected easily and show symptoms similar to diseases so it is hard not to panic!

  • I think I will do that, I won't touch them for a week and see what happens, I don't want to keep them swollen simply by prodding. If its still not any smaller, I'll go back. I know, its so difficult, there is so much contradictory info online! 'Don't be concerned but be concerned, they are normal but are also not normal, wait 2 weeks but also don't wait 2 weeks, its a symptom of a cold but also cancer'. How am I meant to know what to do?