Hi,
I know I'll have to take it to a doctor soon, but I wanted to ask here first anyway.
I've had a number of symptoms of asymmetrical swelling and small lumps around the tonsils for quite some time, which I've seen a doctor about twice, the last time more than a year ago now, but was sent away with nothing more serious than a 20 second inspection and a quick chat. The swelling and asymmetry is more pronounced than before, and slightly tender on one side. Also discolouration in the same areas and more generally in my mouth, as well as a greatly improved but still persistent cough and some strange hissing noises in my throat, like a release of pressure, these too are slightly less common than a month ago but still present occassionally, particularly just after waking up. I am a regular smoker and something of a hypochondriac but I'd say there were more and more serious symptoms than last time I saw a doctor about it.
These symptoms emerged concurrently with a serious prolonged bout of flu last December. From which I was left with a number of lessened but persistent symptoms which have developed into my current condition, or so it seemed to me anyway.
All of which is largely background, the main reason I'm posting here is this weird new growth I can feel with my tongue at the back of my mouth. As I mentioned I'm a relatively mild hypochondriac but I do obsess very persistently about at least one area of my body at any given time.
For the last couple of months it has been a small lump just behind my right tonsil, which has changed slightly in feel but not size over that period. Whilst feeling that with my tongue for the 1000th time that day about a week ago, I noticed a new growth situated further back still in my mouth, more or less at the very top of my throat, protruding out from the right wall into the area just behind the base of my tongue.
I suppose it might not be a 'new' growth just one I'd not noticed before, but I have been focusing on that area for a couple of months and hadn't noticed it until a few days ago. I can't feel a similar growth on the other side though I can't reach back as far with my tongue on that side, it's only because I have an abnormally large tongue that I can feel that far back on the right side. It's hard to say if it's any bigger than when I first noticed it, I'm increasingly aware of it when I feel in that area, though that might be psychosomatic.
The reason I describe it as a 'strange' growth is its shape. I can't feel to the base of it because it's too far back, but it feels like a hard, very thin, slightly irregular disc shape, attached to the skin by the thin edge like a flap, about 5mm or so in diameter. I can flap it up and down with my tongue, and the flat surface feels completely smooth. To be clear: it's not a disc shape flat against the wall of my mouth, it's like a disc sticking out into my mouth, like gluing a penny to a wall by the thin edge.
I'd like to restate how thin it is, it's hard and moves up and down without flexing, but it is no thicker than a banknote. Very strange, quite unlike anything I've felt in my mouth before.
Of course the answer I'm looking for is that it's a perfectly normal part of my anatomy that I've just never stuck my own tongue far enough down my throat to feel before, though in that case I'd probably have felt it before now with all the probing I do back there.
Could a growth that shape be cancerous? I've always thought of cancerous growths as lumps or sores, not hard thin flaps, but what do I know...
If it helps at all with a diagnosis I do have a fair few other symptoms elsewhere in my body that might best be described as 'extremely premature aging' (I'm 26), due to my highly unhealthy and crappy lifestyle.
Sorry to ramble on so long, thanks for your time and any advice, I guess I'll have to go back to the doctor with these symptoms soon once I've got up the courage ;)