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Lymph Nodes for 7 months

I am a 25 year old female nonsmoker. I am on Lisinopril and hydroclorthaizie  for BP. Other than that I am in good health (that I know of). For the past 7 months I have had swollen lymph nodes on both sides of my neck right next to the trachea. I went to my GP when I first noticed them. He ran a CBC, which he said was normal and put me on two rounds of antibiotics. When this did not work, he referred my to an ENT. The ENT did an EBV teter which came back positive. He also said that my lymphocytes were slightly elevated, so he diagnosed me with mono. I went back for follow-up appointments because my tonsils were bothering me. They didn't really hurt like a sore throat hurt. It didn't hurt when I swollowed, but they would more ache. I also had a painful lingual tonsil on the left side. He ended up removing my tonsils and my left lingual tonsil, so that is no longer a problem.  It is now 7 months since I first noticed the lymph nodes and they are still there. I can say that at least one of them did get smaller a couple weeks after my first ENT appointment, but has since stayed the same.  Has anyone else had this problem or any information regarding this?

Thanks!
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242516 tn?1368223905
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
A biopsy would show any abnormal tissue in the tonsils, but what about that lymph node?  It sounds like they think the swollen lymph node is due to mono.  If it doesn't go away, ask your doctor (or a different one) again why not?

Dr. Enoch Choi, MD
Palo Alto, CA
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
Hi AJ,

I've had the same issues, except with adenoids. My ENT told me the exact same thing and I asked him directly if I needed a lymph node excision. Your swollen lymph nodes may take a long time to go down because of the inflammation from your tonsils. I'm also guessing you're palpating them every day, which you should NOT be doing. Gently touching once a day is fine and I put emphasis on gently.

I believe I had the same thing as you did (mono), however my monospot test was negative. Unfortunately those tests aren't very reliable and I never did an EBV titer. I freaked out about HIV for 6 months and received test after test and they all came back negative.

Gigantic tonsils and lymph tissue are a common sign of mono, and unfortunately the symptoms of mono can last up to 6 months. So I wouldn't be overly concerned about your node.
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Avatar universal
I went to the ENT again last week and questioned why he doesn't think that a biopsy required.  He advised me that when they removed my tonsils, they were sent for pathology and that Lymphoma would have shown up in my tonsils and it did not. Is this necessarily true?

Thanks!
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
if the lymph nodes are getting bigger in any way, it's worth getting a biopsy or asking your doctor why they're not concerned...
Helpful - 0
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