Strange sore throat...neck feels swollen on one side

Hi there, I'm 27yrs old and I've been suffering a lot of problems with swallowing. Not so much drink but food.

It started in November last year when I was tested for anaemia. For some reason they tested me for thyroid function and it wasn't until I went back to my doctor in January last year that I was told my TSH was high. The doctor I saw said that although it was high she decided to leave it as it was. The TSH was 5.2 but the free T4 was 16.8, so it was still within the normal range. The free T3 wasn't included in these results and I was not given any medication to lower the TSH.

I get referred for an ultrasound on my thyroid and the sonographer said the thyroid looked "bulky" but did not put this in the report back to my doctor. I also had an MRI that day and although that came back normal they wrote I had "mild lymphadenopathy".

Bearing in mind, this was the first time I had a sore throat and I lost my voice. My neck also swelled up.

So a few more months pass and I start getting more tired, aches and pains in my legs and arms, my periods come and go as they please and I still have these problems swallowing despite the "goitre" had gone down. I did not see my doctor at the time as I simply put it down to a small cold/upper respiratory tract infection.

I go to a nurse practitioner at a walk-in centre and I only had to explain that I've been getting aches in one of my legs and she then suggested I had a small goitre. Of course this nurse practitioner didn't write to my doctor to say I had a goitre/suspected thyroid problem.

I went to my doctor to say what the nurse practitioner at the walk-in centre had said, and she dismissed it after a neck check, saying that nurse practitioners don't see what a doctor can see, so she might have thought she'd *seen* a goitre when in actual fact there might well have been none.

It's very hard for me to eat without experiencing pain on the right side of my throat, and it's really distressing as I used to have such a big appetite. Every time I swallow something I feel the food go down and if it so much as hits the right side of my throat it feels like it gets stuck. I have a hard time finishing my food the same time as everyone else and it puts me off eating so much that I've lost my appetite.

I've tried explaining to my doctor but they keep reassuring me the tests come back normal. Even when I so much as try to explain the first one that had started all this off they don't answer my concerns and I don't know why.

At the end of last week I started to develop a very bad sore throat and I had a constant tickle as if I had to keep clearing my throat. I lost my voice the next day and my neck felt swollen on the right side, is it possible the thyroid problems have come back, and if so should I go back to my doctor? And should my doctor have put me on something when they first discovered the TSH was high?

I feel like a hypochondriac every time I go to the doctors about this and it's really upsetting to have to take about two hours to eat a meal. Is there anyone out there going through the same thing and should I keep on at my doctor to try and help me? I have thought about changing doctors, does anyone think I should?

Thank you

[Lotus266012]

Sorry slight typo. The first blood test was in November 2011 and I went to my doctor in January 2012.