Throat Cancer?

[Oysterr]

Hi, im a 19 old college student and am having extreme concerns about my throat. A couple months back i began experiencing a feeling of something being caught in my throat. I used chewing tobacco up until a few weeks ago. The feeling of something being caught in my throat at first would only appear when i used tobacco. The wierd thing is whenever i was not using it, i would not have the feelings. Eventually it worried me enough to make me quit, and once i did, the feeling just didnt go away at all. I consulted  a doctor several months ago about this and he simply laughed at the thought of cancer and said i was sick. I consulted another. He said the same thing. Now it has been several months with this symptom. Sometimes its not as bad(like when i just wake up or when i eat or drink something the feeling quells for a little bit) but sometimes its almost gagging. I examined my mouth several days ago and noticed a lump below but very close to my tonsil on the right side of my throat. Its the same color as the rest of my mouth and the only thing thats abnormal about it is that i dont have a similiar lump on the other side of my throat. There is some mucus build up in my throat and theres a slight pressure on both of my ears that occurs occassionally. It also seems my breath has been alot worse lately. Another thing i noticed is when my roomate told me it wasnt cancer and actually had a good argument the symptoms seemed to dim a little bit. I would say its paranoia and stress making the symptoms worse, but theres the lump. Any feed-back would be excellent thanks.

[Fernando Roque, MD]

Hi.  I think the best thing to do is to have your throat examined by an ENT specialist (an otorhinolaryngologist) to verify if a lump is really present as you claim.  If a lump is indeed present, the doctor could then decide if it needs to be biopsied or not.  It isn't likely that you have cancer at this point.  Even with heavy tobacco chewing, cancer will take some time (years) to develop.  So the best thing you can do right now is to stop any tobacco consumption, and see an ENT specialist for a second opinion right away.