I think it was the famous psychologist Karl Jung who said that anxiety is the gateway to genius. If you focus your intensity onto learning and planning and imagining and accomplishing, then you can create and produce a lot of good things.
If your doctor listened and is not alarmed, then you are okay. Just be aware if things get much worse, which they probably will not get worse.
Don't drain all your mental energy with worry.
Maybe you'll be a doctor one day.
Hi, every doctor would likely say the same. They would be more concerned if the nodes were enlarged for several months, rather than just a few weeks.
You can try a new doctor and say that you worry about this all the time and you feel that the worry is ruining your health. Say that you tried very hard to stop the worrying by willpower but that doesn't work. Maybe one out of five doctors would agree and order an ultrasound for you.
If you do get an ultrasound then come back here and post the ultrasound report, and I will tell you with absolute honesty what it means. It would be especially good if the ultrasound report was very every detailed, rather than just brief.
Good luck.
The immune system can do many mysterious things. It communicates with its many parts by using biochemicals.
As the immune system is first starting to fight a cold virus, then yes the immune system is releasing biochemicals and the nodes can react to those biochemicals. Nodes enlarge because they make more and more immune cells to fight the virus. Just like an army base gets bigger in war time.
Btw, immune system chemicals also cause the runny nose to happen.
Thank you. I was worried because they became bigger before i had a cold. But my doctor said sometimes the lymph nodes become larger before or after the symptoms.
Hi, no doctor would be alarmed by this.
It is not very rare for people to get enlarged lymph nodes that don't go down afterwards. The most common reason is that scar tissue (fibrosis) has formed inside. That is often because of an overactive immune system. I have noticed on this forum that people with overactive immune systems tend to also have lots of anxiety.
The scar tissue is not harmful.
You might see the nodes get a little larger every time that you get a common cold.
Good luck to you. I know that you can't help having the anxiety, so I won't say something useless like "stop worrying".
There is a bad virus going around the world called RSV (respiratory syncytial virus). It's usually in kids much younger, but anybody can get it.
About the anxiety: I have seen many people come to this group here that have bad anxiety and worry about lymphoma. It's not something that they can stop. It's natural for them to have more anxiety than the average person. I think the important thing is to realize when the anxiety is not justified. Sometimes it is justified, sometimes not.