what is this lump in the lower left side of my neck?

[sherry101]

I have had a small lump in the lower left side of my neck for about 12 years now, it its (kinda between my muscle and collar bone). It used to only bother me when i would go running. Now, twelve years later it hadn't changed till recently, it is still the same size and hasn't bothered me in like 12 years now.  A couple of days ago, it became swollen and hurts? when i first realized it back then, (12yrs ago) i saw a doctor and he just felt it and said it was nothing! .Now i have no health insurance so i wanna make sure its something i should REALLY get checked out before i start racking up the bills. What could this be? How do i know if its serious? Oh and please DON'T correct my spelling, i know i can't spell to save my life! But i don't need a spelling lesson right now, i need some answers if there is any.

[sherry101]

thank you so much for your response! I am currently waiting for blood work to come back to see if its infected. My Dr. said that i don't have to worry about it being cancer because cancer is a different kind of lump then i have, it would be harder and wouldn't move under your finger like mine does... and it has gone down and seems to be getting better on its own anyway, but i am going to wait and see what the blood work says just to be sure there it isn't anything else going on...But thank you again for your response!

[Murr22]

Go to an ENT, you need to have an ultrasound of the neck. It could be your thyroid. I know this because the same thing happened to me 2 years ago and I needed sugeryand it turned out I had MTC.

[margypops]

sounds like a Lymph node all humans have them ...they can get larger if you get an infection ..ask the doc if its a lymph node