Hi everyone. I've been reading around on here a lot, and everyone seems really nice. Please excuse the wall of text - I don't want to leave anything vital out. A summary is at the bottom.
I'm a nineteeen year old male. I don't smoke. I'm a vegetarian, though more the carby-pasta type than the salad-y type.
Two months ago I fainted on the way out of one of my classes. I drove myself to the ER (was feeling fine ten minutes after). They did a brain CT, cbc, EKG, urinalysis, et cetera et cetera...everything came back normal. Fine. I attributed it to standing up too fast.
The next day, I was rubbing my neck and found a BB sized bump on the side of the back of my neck. I googled swollen lymph nodes and had a gay old time terrifying myself with lymphoma, leukemia and cancers ad nauseum. I decided I'd let it ride unless I got any more symptoms.
Three weeks later I felt another one, not too far from the first and about three times as big. I had a cow and went to the ER at three in the morning, convinced I was dying. The doctor laughed it off with me but did another CBC anyway (she said lymphoma would show up - I know now it won't, but I think she was trying to comfort me). Great.
Two weeks later I found two swollen nodes in my groin, one about as big as the end of my thumb. I was reeling with anxiety and met with my regular doctor. He found two more on the other side of my neck, some big ones on both sides under my jaw and a very scary big one deep under my ear. He said they were all "pretty cheap" and, since I wasn't having night sweats or chills or a fever, told me to wait to see what they do. He saw how anxious I was, though, and ordered a chest X-Ray and an absolute smorgasbord of blood tests. Syphillis, HIV, Mono, Rubella, Toxoplasmosis, Dengue fever, cooties..._nothing_ came back positive. The chest X-Ray was clear. The blood tests also showed that I was not anemic and had healthy iron, B12 and folate stores.
Everyone thought I should be relieved, but there's nothing scarier than having symptoms with no explanation.
I took his advice and waited a couple more weeks. I realized that the back pain I'd had for a while might be a symptom, so I kept an eye on it. Then I found some weird red spots on my arms and chest. Petechiae? Further CBCs showed a normal platelet count, slightly low WBC, slightly low RBC and pretty high monocytes (14). The doctor said everything was fine. If only I could be that optimistic. She put me on some antibiotics (bactrim) for two weeks and said she'd refer me to a surgeon for a biopsy. Three weeks later, the surgeon felt my nodes and tittered a little, saying that they didn't feel pathological and "there are lots of delicate parts to your neck - if I were to biopsy any of these, I run the risk of damaging something...which is bad for both of us." He said he would order a CT to see what they looked like. I was worried about the radiation, so I asked for an MRI instead. He agreed.
Before I left, he asked if I was having any strange bowel movements or stomach pain. I said I had been having some weird pinching and cramping pains throughout my abdomen, but my BMs were fine. Problem is, they aren't, and I didn't really notice this until after I left his office. I've got some really malodorous diarrhea and have been pretty gassy over the last few weeks.
I've gone through weeks of worrying about hodgkin's, nonhodgkin's, leukemia, hairy cell leukemia, preleukemia, Celiac disease, Whipple's disease, metastasized cancers of varying types...Pffftt, I wish there was a blood test for hypochondria.
Summary:
19 year old male.
Thanks for reading (and replying),
- Nick
First edit:
Woops, forgot to mention that I have mild psoriasis on my forearms and above my left eye. Only my left eye.
I also have what has been diagnosed as a lipoma on the back of my left thigh, and although it isn't rooted at the base, it is stuck to the skin. It's pretty squishy.
I'm also having some weird instances where a muscle will twinge involuntarily or I'll feel like a shock at the tip of a finger or toe. These come without warning and aren't incredibly prevalent. I just want to make sure I put everything down.
I'm a nineteeen year old male. I don't smoke. I'm a vegetarian, though more the carby-pasta type than the salad-y type.
Two months ago I fainted on the way out of one of my classes. I drove myself to the ER (was feeling fine ten minutes after). They did a brain CT, cbc, EKG, urinalysis, et cetera et cetera...everything came back normal. Fine. I attributed it to standing up too fast.
The next day, I was rubbing my neck and found a BB sized bump on the side of the back of my neck. I googled swollen lymph nodes and had a gay old time terrifying myself with lymphoma, leukemia and cancers ad nauseum. I decided I'd let it ride unless I got any more symptoms.
Three weeks later I felt another one, not too far from the first and about three times as big. I had a cow and went to the ER at three in the morning, convinced I was dying. The doctor laughed it off with me but did another CBC anyway (she said lymphoma would show up - I know now it won't, but I think she was trying to comfort me). Great.
Two weeks later I found two swollen nodes in my groin, one about as big as the end of my thumb. I was reeling with anxiety and met with my regular doctor. He found two more on the other side of my neck, some big ones on both sides under my jaw and a very scary big one deep under my ear. He said they were all "pretty cheap" and, since I wasn't having night sweats or chills or a fever, told me to wait to see what they do. He saw how anxious I was, though, and ordered a chest X-Ray and an absolute smorgasbord of blood tests. Syphillis, HIV, Mono, Rubella, Toxoplasmosis, Dengue fever, cooties..._nothing_ came back positive. The chest X-Ray was clear. The blood tests also showed that I was not anemic and had healthy iron, B12 and folate stores.
Everyone thought I should be relieved, but there's nothing scarier than having symptoms with no explanation.
I took his advice and waited a couple more weeks. I realized that the back pain I'd had for a while might be a symptom, so I kept an eye on it. Then I found some weird red spots on my arms and chest. Petechiae? Further CBCs showed a normal platelet count, slightly low WBC, slightly low RBC and pretty high monocytes (14). The doctor said everything was fine. If only I could be that optimistic. She put me on some antibiotics (bactrim) for two weeks and said she'd refer me to a surgeon for a biopsy. Three weeks later, the surgeon felt my nodes and tittered a little, saying that they didn't feel pathological and "there are lots of delicate parts to your neck - if I were to biopsy any of these, I run the risk of damaging something...which is bad for both of us." He said he would order a CT to see what they looked like. I was worried about the radiation, so I asked for an MRI instead. He agreed.
Before I left, he asked if I was having any strange bowel movements or stomach pain. I said I had been having some weird pinching and cramping pains throughout my abdomen, but my BMs were fine. Problem is, they aren't, and I didn't really notice this until after I left his office. I've got some really malodorous diarrhea and have been pretty gassy over the last few weeks.
I've gone through weeks of worrying about hodgkin's, nonhodgkin's, leukemia, hairy cell leukemia, preleukemia, Celiac disease, Whipple's disease, metastasized cancers of varying types...Pffftt, I wish there was a blood test for hypochondria.
Summary:
19 year old male.
- Persistent Adenopathy for two and a half months in neck and groin. Maybe 12 total nodes. Both sides. None of them hurt when I touch them, but they sometimes ache. They're all movable, and while some are very firm, I'm hesitant to say hard.
- Back pain, stiff when standing and acute sharp pain when sitting in some positions.
- Knee pain, but this has mostly subsided. I think it might have been a shoe issue. My joints also crackle and pop like crazy, something they've never done before.
- Mild, pinching and cramping stomach pains that come and go but are definitely tangible.
- Diarrhea and flatulence.
Thanks for reading (and replying),
- Nick
First edit:
Woops, forgot to mention that I have mild psoriasis on my forearms and above my left eye. Only my left eye.
I also have what has been diagnosed as a lipoma on the back of my left thigh, and although it isn't rooted at the base, it is stuck to the skin. It's pretty squishy.
I'm also having some weird instances where a muscle will twinge involuntarily or I'll feel like a shock at the tip of a finger or toe. These come without warning and aren't incredibly prevalent. I just want to make sure I put everything down.