Permanently Swollen Lymph Node

[Sucha_Jewel]

I am a twenty year old woman from New York. For at least the last few months I have had an eraser sized bump on the back of my neck down, a little, and to the right of my ear, only on the left side (my GP believes it is a lymph node). Today, I touched under my chin and noticed the lymph nodes there are also eraser sized.  My doctor did not believe the one on the back of my neck was a problem, because it has not grown and is not discolored or sore. It also does not throb or move.

I am beginning to get concerned because while the node on the back of my neck has stayed the same size, it has not gone away.  

I have type one diabetes (my specialist is comfortable with my control; I rarely have a BG  over 225), an anxiety disorder (which I take Paxil CR for), I have had mono, and I am a smoker (about a pack a day). I also get migraines, and lately have been random getting chills. For years, I have also gotten what I call

[positive_thinker_1982]

look just get them checked out! I have constant swollen lymphnodes which are more serious than I thought, I ended up in hospital with a fever and was told I had streptococcus or strep throat which turned out infact a lot more serious for me, my doctor told me it was tonsillitis but I changed doctor and within minutes she asked to do a hiv test on me which turned out to be positive less than 2 weeks ago, now I have to deal with that, but swollen lymph nodes can be a little more dangerous than people realize! all I can say is get them checked and push for tests, read up on the causes of swollen lymphs and you may find the answer you are looking for!
sorry I don't mean to frighten you but this is how it all turned out for me and I had noticed them there for a while thinking they were nothing but harmless glands, how wrong I was! hope it all goes well for you!

[pocahonkey]

I think what everyone had to say is right.  try not touching the site for several days and see if the swelling goes down.  i think that if all lymph nodes stay eraser sized, they're probably ok, but definitely tell your doctor you've noticed others.  i don't want to worry you, but from what i'm learning in physician assistant school, it's the non-sore, immobile lymph nodes that you have to worry about.

[Jordy]

Oh, and yes, I agree with what borninquisitive said; if you press on them too much they WILL stay aggitated.  I got into the habit of pressing and rubbing my prominent one without realizing it, while I would sit rubbing my neck or something like that, and I was really doing it a lot one day and it started to get tender and swollen and a bit sore.  I stopped and within a day or two it had gone completely back to normal.

Just leave them alone for a while and don't rub them so hard TRYING to feel a problem.

[Jordy]

I have a Lymph node that is more prominent than the other, that I can feel (the right one.)  Doctors have always felt it when feeling my nodes and never have said a thing about it.  If your doctors are aware of it, I wouldn't worry about it.  They know what is swollen compared to what is normally just more prominent.  Based on your description it doesn't sound "swollen" to me.

[borninquisitive]

Lymph nodes are present in all of us. The size of them, as you describe, doesn't seem too large. If you keep pressing on them, this can keep them in a state of aggitation.