Swollen lymph nodes... jaw/face pain

[chrissyfwb]

I am a 25 year old female--

This all started about a month and a half ago when I went into the ER with chest pains.. The ER did a whole Cardiac work up and a chest CT and xray and decided that I had costochondritis. I belived them until now. All of my other symptoms started within days/weeks of this chest pain.

~About 5 days after the chest pain started I got this feeling like I had a lump in my throat. They said it was from anxiety. But it would come and go through out the day no matter what if I was anxious or not.  

~About a week after the chest pain a muscle on the back of my left shoulder started twitching NON STOP. Even in the middle of the night I would wake up and it would still be twitching. That went on for 3 weeks straight! Then it stopped. And when it stopped shortly after that a muscle in my upper abdomen started twitching and then all muscles all over my body started twitching. That went on for a week or so and at that time the arch of my foot started cramping (it still is cramping). That went on for about another week and then all of a sudden everything stopped twitching.

~Now this is the part that I want you to pay the most attention to, how my face pain/pressure started:

first I got little twinges of pain in my lower jaw and right under my chin every now and then. that went on for a few days and then my whole lower jaw hurt. almost felt like a muscle crampy sort of hurt. but that came and went and only lasted a couple of hours at a time 5 hrs max at a time per day. That went on for a few days and then the crampy/pressure/pain started up by my ears. at that point the  crampy/pressure/pain was much more constant. but still came and went through out the day.

[JDS2805]

I'm sorry to hear you've been feeling poorly. Your bloodwork appears to be within the normal range. Did they do an ANA panel- that would test for the possibility of something autoimmune related. About the lymphnodes- are they tender and do they move- my doctor always said as long as you can move it thats usually not a sign of anything serious but if it becomes hard and firm I would talk to your doctor about it. About the chest pain have you considered having an echocardiagram- there is a condition called pericarditis which is inflammation around the lining of the heart that can cause chest pain and anxiety the condition is rarely serious but it might be worth looking into- in my opinion, I think you should seek a referral to an Internal Medicine Doctor. Hope you feel better soon!

[chrissyfwb]

No I am sorry I can not send you pictures.. but to be more specific it seems like the sterno-cleido mastoideus muscle on my right side is enlarged, and right UNDER my right clavical is enlarged as well.

There is now pain in my right shoulder. And pain in my right knee area. The pain seems to be muscular. not joint. Also I have pain in my right ear. and there is a very sore spot right under my right ear.

Also my menstral cycle is very messed up. It starts right on time now and starts getting lighter around day 5 and acts like its going to be the end and almost stops but then I start getting cramps again and it starts up again and then goes to brownish/red discharge everytime I wipe. Its now day 9 and I am still having this brownish/red discharge and cramps. Also the lymph nodes in my groin are swollen.

I also have a cold sore on my inner right cheek right now.

NOTICE: all my symptoms are on my RIGHT side.

Also it seems like a muscle on right right side of the back of my neck is swollen also.

I am also dizzy at times.

[Jyoti Kalra, MBBS]

Hii Friend,
Can you send me the pics of the spots and swellings?

[chrissyfwb]

Oh also I forgot to mention that on July 4th when I was in the ER they also did a ct scan of my brain and sinuses and found nothing abnormal. I dont have the results from that. but they said there was no sinus infection and my brain looked normal.

[chrissyfwb]

~~~ Update:  I had written this when I left the ER on July 4th and they had given me the 100 mg Doxycycline. I took my first dose at 7 pm on July 4th. By about 4 pm on July 5th I was feeling better, I still had the face pain but I had my appetite back and I was generally feeling better. By the time I woke up on the 6th I thought I was all better and the antibiotic fixed everything. I had no pain, my appetite was back, and I felt great. By that evening i was getting a little face pain back.. also yesterday (the 6th) I noticed that the swelling in my right clavical seemed to have gone down and the swelling in my right side of the neck might have went down a very little. Now today the 7th my face pain is just getting worse and it seems like the swelling in my clavicle has went back up.

This is just so confusing..

[chrissyfwb]

Cont....


That went on for a day or so and then moved up to under my eye, behind my eye. That just feels like so much pressure up there. Like someone is trying to push my eyes out of its socket and blowing up a balloon in my head. Then the pain/pressure has moved into my ears. But most of the pain still stays in my lower jaw area. I think I am now also starting to feel funny around my eyebrow area.

~Then I went back to the ER because of the face pain and I noticed that the right side of my neck is swollen (notice this is the same side that the muscle started twitching).

They did a CT scan and this is what it read:

~
Exam Preformed: CT SOFT TISSUE NECK WITH CONTRAST

Clinical information: Swollen right side of the neck with a palpable abnormality.

Findings: In the area of palpable abnormality, there is a superficial vein detected. The submandibular and the parotid glands appear unremarkable. The airway is widely patent.

Note is make of small lymph nodes in the posterior triangles, these are nonspecific and measure less than a centimeter in size. There are also small lymph nodes in the carotid sheath spaces.

There is no evidence for inflammatory changes or fluid collections.

The lung apices appear clear. The bony structures seem unremarkable.

~They gave me some antibiotics and told my I had an infected lymph node and sent me home with some bactrium.

~Now today I went back because its been 6 days now and my facial/jaw pain has just gotten worse and my neck is more swollen.

~I get there and the Dr. also notices that the area by my right clavical is also swollen.

~They did a full blood work up on me and here are the results:

Blood Count
~WBC Count  5.8
~RBC Count   4.76
~Hemoglobin  14.2
~Hematocrit    43.4
~Platelet Count   195

Indices
~MCV          91.2
~MCH          29.7
~MCHC        L32.6
~RDW         12.9
~Mean Platelet Volume      7.7

Differential %
~Segs  67.6
~Lymphs  22.2
~Monos   7.1
~Eos  2.9
~Basos  0.2

Differential Absolute
~Neutrophils Absolute  3.9
~Lymphs Absolute        1.3
~Monos                       0.4
~Eos Absolute              0.20

Coagulation
~Prothrombin Time       12.3
~INR                            *0.9
~PTT                            28.6
~D-Dimer, QuaNT          0.35

Chemistry Profile
~Sodium 137
~Potassium  3.6
~Chloride 104
~CO2  27
~Glucose level  88
~BUN  7
~Creatinine  0.82
~Calcium       9.3
~GFR (MDRD)            *84.9
~Est CrCI (CG)           *77.7

Common Chemistry
~Albumin            4.4
~Protein Total, Serum   7.3

Enzymes
~Alkaline Phosphatase       74
~AST (SGOT)        22
~ALT (SGPT)     13

Metabolic
~Bilirubin, Total    0.7

Thyroid Function Tests
~TSH 3rd Generation    1.23
~T-4, Total (Thyroxine)      6.9
~T-4, Free     0.90

Immunology/Serology
~NEG for HCG, FLU A & B, MONO, STREP, GROUP STREP A

~Sent me home to take a new antibiotic Doxycycline

Also to just make a note if this has anything to do with it.. about 2 months before the heart pain my period was 10-14 days late (I wasnt pregnant) which has NEVER EVER happened. I am always right on time. And when that happened I started also spotting brown and pink for a week after my period ended. that spotting lasts about 7 days and then stops completely. This has kept on the same every month since that late period.

Ok so a quick summery:

1. strange period and spotting
2. chest pain that still comes and goes
3. Twitching that came and went, shoulder twitching.
3. Facial pain/pressure that is slowing moving up my face..
4. Nausea and decreased appetite
5. cramp in the foot.
6. swollen lymph nodes all over the place (oh I forgot to say that he also found them under my arm) and I feel them in my groin.
7. no sign of viral or bacterial infection
8. not really more tired than usual.
9. also forgot to mention that I woke up this morning and my right side of my face was very puffy especially around my eye.
10. swollen right side of the neck (I guess due to the lymph nodes).


I am starting to get so scared and worried that something is seriously wrong with me and they will never find out. I have two kids that I just want to see grow up and be with them through everything.

Thank you for taking your time to read this long post.

Chrissy