How can you tell if your lymph nodes are swollen

[ScaredinUSA]

Does anybody know how to tell if your lymph nodes are swollen?  I have seen this listed as an ARS symptome.  I can't tell if mine are swollen...what does it feel like to touch?  What does it look like?

Thanks

[sparkeler]

Only a doctor can diagnose a swollen lymph node.  You would never be able to tell, especially if your constantly feeling for one.  Anxiety will blind you.

[Am_I_Simply_Making_Myself_Sick]

What about if there's a swollen lump in the back of your throat?

[Xhost]

In general, one cannot self diagnose swollen lymph nodes. I know because I thought I could, and was told emphatically by my doctor to stop feeling for them, stop poking at them and to stop even looking at them crossly. They don't like it. The irony is that you can cause your lymph nodes to swell slightly by continuously aggravating them.

Add to that the fact that most people have no good idea where their lymph nodes are even located, and what you have is literally hours wasted feeling up various parts of your own body for no good reason.

[splashsplash]

I think you would probably know.
You should know that a) you really cant tell if they are swollen, and b) when doctors check you, the (at least in my experience) feel your whole neck, gently, at once with a open shapped hand along your jaw line and front and sides of neck.  I made the mistake of trying to diagnose my own lymps by digging my fingers there, and then freaked out when I felt them--this is not how doctors do it, so if you dont notice it gently feeling (not pressing in to your neck) you probably dont have swollen nodes.  Even if you do, I don't think you could tell for sure.  I'm just saying that most ww will really stick their hands up there and freak when they feel the nodes, like me.  But this is improper.

Basically, :) , you can't, but the doc has said that lymph node swelling with ARS tends to be pretty noticeable.  Other places have said you would even be able to see the swelling in a mirror, without feeling.

Also, with ARS, swelling is in all the nodes of your body.  Now dont go digging around elswhere too, but I think you would notice your arm pit and groin nodes if they were significantly swollen.

Though, I'm no expert, just saying that you probably arent swollen even if you think you are.