swollen neck

I am a 39 year old female with controlled asthma. I am currently not on any meds.

My lower neck has been swollen since early fall, pronounced, like a "spare tire" but on the lower neck. I have also had constantly swollen glands at the back left side of the neck and near my left armpit since fall. The upper part of my neck swells up a lot, too, sort of like a huge double-chin running from one end of the jaw to the other. My throat feels tight, like everything inside is swollen and pushing against each other. It doesn't feel like strep and doesn't really hurt. I have been on two different antibiotics -- cephalexin and ??? (might have been doxycycline) for infection, in Oct. and Dec.. I am very fatigued. After eight hours of sleep I feel like I maybe had three or four despite not waking up all night. I have had a ct scan of my neck which was negative, although one gland was borderline in size, appearing on the large side.

My doctor has run blood tests for monospot, cat-scratch fever, cbc w/diff, epstein-barr, and four other tests I no longer recall. A specialist doesn't think the glands are lymphoma, including the borderline one. An ENT advised me my tonsils and adenoids (adenoids) were swollen and blocking 65% of my airway but were just large and did not seem infected. He ordered a series of thyroid tests (tsh, t-3, t-4) but I won't have those results until next week.

The ENT also threw me on a ten-day dose of prednisone to see if the swollen glands were allergy related. The steroid did not seem to take down most of the swelling, although the back of the neck gland did reduce its scale while on it.

I have no idea what's wrong with me but unfortunately no one else does either.

[Eric P Wilkinson, MD]

Difficult to say.  This is an extremely common problem (called "globus sensation") and can be caused by a number of things, including reflux disease.  There is no easy way to go about diagnosing or treating this.  What usually happens is a lot of tests get ordered but at some point you have to realize that there may not be an easy explanation.

Hope this helps.  Good luck!

[laila_gillani]

i have an ear ache going back six weeks, it shifts between the left and right ear and also my left side of the neck is swollen and is hard to swallow sometimes and even though my tonssils look normal but tightnes in the neck and some times in the throat and jaws continue. my left ear has constant burning pain. i've been on cefaxicillin and augmentin. it gets better when i take a dose other wise goes back to being sore tight and painful.
i'll b grateful 4 reply

[laila_gillani]

sorry i forgot to mention my age. i'm 41 yrs old. and my neck is seriously tight and lower end is swollen on the left side with difficulty in moving and swear burning ear pain. plz attach this question to the one above. thanx