Advice Request: Swollen lymph nodes, unexplained bruises, etc

Worried you might have a blood cancer?
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Hi! I’m 23F and currently working with my doctor and an ENT for these symptoms, but thought I’d check here for similar experiences or any advice!

• Swollen Lymph Nodes: I started with four hard, painless lymph nodes on the right side of my neck for about a month. Multiple doctors noted that my throat/nodes felt swollen. Now, I have around 7-8 swollen nodes in my neck, plus two above my collarbone, some visible and others just palpable.
• Fatigue & Muscle/Joint Pain: I’ve felt unusually fatigued for months, despite being very active. 3 weeks ago, after a night of drinking alcohol (4-5 shots, average for when I go out), I woke up with intense muscle/joint aches (never happens to me with hangovers). Shortly after, I developed a fever (100-102°F, sorry I am American), cough, painful swallowing, and severe night sweats (waking up drenched 3x/night to the point where I had to change my clothes—this has never happened before no matter how sick I was).
• Tests & Treatment: I was tested for COVID, strep, tonsillitis, mono, and the flu, multiple strains of each, all negative. After a course of two different antibiotics, I’m better but still have joint/back pain, swollen lymph nodes, unexplained bruises, pain at my lower left rib, etc.
• Other Background: I haven’t had my period in 9 months (not pregnant, and gyno doesn’t know why, ruled out all basic hormonal issues/illnesses), had basal cell carcinoma in the past, and I’ve experienced itching similar to eczema in new spots on my body. No extreme weight loss, but a few pounds here and there. I had similar symptoms a couple of months ago too.

The ENT suggested I wait another month unless my lymph nodes get larger, which they have. I’m also dealing with shoulder/neck pain, knee/shin aches, left side rib pain, and some bruises that won’t go away. My latest urine/blood tests showed minor anomalies, but nothing drastic. I can post them here if need be. I don’t want my doctors to think I’m a hypochondriac, but at the same time I don’t feel normal.

Any insights would be appreciated! Thanks so much. :slight_smile:

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Wow, @honeyskies welcome to our forum.
If I may say so I really think that you have written a good factual post, and you say that you do not want your doctors to think that you are a hypochondriac, I think you have shown that you are not by your post.
You are the expert on you.
It also seems that you have had quite a few tests to rule conditions in or out.
And you are working with your ENT.
Please do let us know how you get on, the waiting and not knowing is horrible and personally I do not think stress helps me at all.
Really look after and be kind to yourself and let us know how you get on.

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Hi @honeyskies,

Thanks for posting and reaching out to us on our forum.

I am sorry to hear you have been not been feeling well recently with all the symptoms you have mentioned. It is understandable that you are looking for advice.

Given you have posted here, I suspect that you are worried about blood cancer and in view of your lymph glands getting bigger, I would suggest that you go back to your doctor for further investigations and not wait for another month. I have enclosed a useful link here from our website on the signs and symptoms of Blood Cancer. It includes information on the questions to ask your doctor when you are worried and further tests that might need to be done including a lymph node biopsy. Blood Cancer Signs and Symptoms It is important to remember @honeyskies that most people who have symptoms described on this page won’t have blood cancer. But it’s important to find out what’s causing them.

Your doctors will not think you are a hypochondriac. You have genuine reasons and symptoms that you are concerned about.

If it would be helpful to talk things through in more detail with one of our nurses, please do give our free support line services a call on 0808 2080 888. We would be very happy to talk to you.

Take care and let us know how you get on.
Fiona ( Support Services Nurse)

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There’s lots of reason that the lymph nodes swell up and most of them aren’t anything to do with cancer.With cancer there seems to be two reasons;metastasis to them and reactive.The first speaks for itself but the second is more complex as it is due to an infection caused by the cancer and the nodes react to the infection but are not cancerous.I use to get the second type a lot ,mainly in the groin but under the arms a few times too,due to T Cell Lymphoma breaching the skin barrier.They biopsy them which isn’t very nice to find out which of the two reasons it is.Thinking about it i suppose a combination of the two could be a third reason.

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Thank you! I have a different ENT visit in a few days for a second opinion. I will keep you updated!

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That is why I’m concerned—my lymph nodes seemingly swelled out of nowhere, then I got a fever/night sweats three weeks later that wasn’t attributed to any infection, viral or bacterial. I took two different antibiotics, and they are still swollen ): However, I do understand there are other conditions that can cause them to swell that have similar symptoms! We will just have to wait and see :slight_smile:

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Thank you so much Fiona. I really appreciate the help and advice! I will be sure to bring up my concerns with my doctor. Thank you again, I really do appreciate it.

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I have just had a Stem Cell Transplant and I think that at the moment my nodes aren’t swollen well not that I can feel .I had never really noticed them until I developed T Cell Lymphoma so I can’t say if infections like Flu,Common Cold and COVID cause them to swell?A CT or PET Scan will show swollen ones even doctors miss.

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