please help sat in tears :( think i have lymphoma..

[crazyhayz]

Please i really need some help/opinions, i cant stop crying right now :(

Im 23 and last september (9months ago) i noticed a couple of swollen nodes in my groin, a month later a couple appeared on the other side of my groin, then 1 came up on the left side of my neck at the same time. i now have about 6 in groin areas and one in neck but think another little one is coming up next to the one in my neck.

i went to hospital last september and they done an ultrasound on my groin and neck and they said they didnt think they were cancer, and the one in my neck was a 'reactive node' meaning due to infection, not cancer.

they said to come back 3months later to see if they had got bigger. i went bk and they hadnt grown atall. i went bk in february and again they havent grown, and when they feel all the nodes they dont think they feel cancerous, even though they dont hurt and are a little bit hard not soft, they feel rubbery a little bit but cant mnove them that much. the one in my neck and i can move around but the new little one i can feel doesnt move atall.

they said to me they would have grown in size if it was cancer, but ive read on the internet that it can take years and grow slowly, and multiplication of nodes (not growth) can also be a sign of lymphoma nodes.. i have had blood tests and they always come back fine, ive had chest xrays and they too are fine.

i dont know what to do, i have another check-up tuesday and im so scared. i really do think something bad is going on, why would i just have all these nodes up for 9 months with no sign of infection anywhere?!!!!! do u all think this is lymphoma?? i dont have any other symptoms, no weight loss, no night sweats (sometimes a bit hot in the night). but i get dizzy spells all the time which i know could just be anxiety cos i used to suffer from really bad anxiety and panic attacks a few months back.

i am so scared, im only 23 :( why arent these nodes going away?? why are more appearing?? a doctortold me that 9months down the line i would have other symptoms of lyphoma, and know for sure something is wrong, but i dont agree. ive heard it can take years and years for nodes to grow and the fact is im getting MORE of them, and i dont have ANY sign of infection ANYWHERE.. i am literally sat here in tears and i dont know what to do.. i really do think this is lymphoma as nodes dont just come up, stay there, and multiply for no reason!! if its not lymphoma then i wanna know what infection i have!! ive had a couple of antibiotics last month for bladder infection so if i had any infection anywhere then those antibiotics would have cleared it up right?? i just want the nodes to go down and go away, i need answers, i cant understand why they are multiplying and the doctors dont seem bothered?!! just cos they arent growing and im not losing weight/sweating at night time!! they refused to biopsy in february cos they said it would be too invasive as they dont think its lymphoma. THEY DONT THINK. doesnt sound very positive if you ask me.,.

im so sorry to everyone to moan like this, i just need to know what you all think, i cant stop crying :(

thanks so much for any replies xxxx

[Mochadelicious]

Hi crazyhayz,
I'm sorry to hear you are going through so much but I do know what you're going through because I have lymphoma and it took 3 years for the doctors to diagnose me correctly.  Although I never suspected Lymphoma during those 3 years, I suspected breast cancer actually as the nodes swelled in my breast).  I am not as young as you, but I was 36 when diagnosed.  

First off, why hasn't a biopsy been done on any of your lymph nodes?  I'm suprised the doctors haven't done one by now.  This really is the only definitive way to diagnose lymphoma.  Have you had any kind of CAT or PET scans?  Although these aren't definative, they can be a good tool for diagnosing and staging lymphoma.  After a biopsy determined that I had lymphoma, I had a CAT/PET scan combination to see if cancer was in other areas of my body (which it was).  

One thing I learned through all of this is you have to be an advocate for yourself and your health care.  I think you should tell your doctor that you would like a biopsy done to rule out lymphoma.  A needle biopsy won't cut it, you need an excissional biopsy (where they take out the whole node and have more tissue to look at under the microscope).  If you live in a small town, I would also highly recommend sending the tissue off to a larger lab out of town.  Not to scare you, but I had an excissional biopsy and the local lab from my small town said it was benign.  A year later I found out they were wrong and the same tissue samples were then sent to a larger lab in Seattle who confirmed the local lab missed the lymphoma diagnosis.  

By the way, the doctors thought I too had some sort of infection going on and finally he put me on strong antibiotics for a couple of weeks.  When the lump didn't go down (it actually got a little bigger), he told me we need to do a biopsy.  I'm not saying I think you have lymphoma, but at this point you need to find out for sure so that you can either deal with it or put it to rest in your mind.  

Please keep me posted after your appointment.  I wish you all the best.

[crazyhayz]

by the way i had no infection or anything wrrong last september, the nodes in groin/neck just came up out of the blue. i was very stressed and suffering from 20-30 panic attacks a day at the time they appeared, but i dont suffer from them now and over the past 9 months ive had about 4 more nodes appear in groin.