Lymph nodes swollen in neck

[Sarah-Ambam]

Me

I’m very worried as I have a large swollen lymph node ( submandular) plus sourtounding lymph nodes can be felt in neck and face, just in front of my left ear. I have also got another on hollow of my collarbones I have itp and had splenectomy 25 years ago. About a month ago the submandular node became large and painful and I had an infection in a graze just inside my ear which caused the ear to become swollen, doctor gave me antibiotics and infection went but node stayed swollen. I have a urgent referral to ENT clinic to investigate possibility of cancer as my blood tests showed no infection or reason for these nodes to be up otherwise. Doctor did mention I may have swollen nodes because of my immune disorder. Has anyone else experienced problematic lymph nodes. 😣

[lc12345]

Hi, I had swollen nodes in my armpit for ages, coinciding with early years of my ITP. They never hurt and never got checked and eventually went away. Worth checking them of course but I believe anything immune-related can get inflamed due to ITP as no one knows why it happens

[Sarah-Ambam in reply to lc12345]

I agree, it’s such a weird condition.

[virginiabranscom]

Get them checked ASAP. Could be leftover from your infection, but could be something more worrisome. Best of luck!

[Sarah-Ambam in reply to virginiabranscom]

Thanks, I will.

[Jud61]

My itp started after having a swollen node in my neck that appeared after a bad flu. I wanted it checked out when it first appeared and after several more were felt in a chain but my gp refused and said it’s normal after a bout of flu. The nodes stayed for a few weeks then went away but in the meantime I demanded a blood test which showed I had glandular fever and a lowered platelet count. Two years later the nodes came back and I panicked. This time they saw me at the haematology clinic but checked me and said just enlarged nodes nothing to worry about as cytomegalovirus showed in my blood test. Again my platelets fell to single figures a few weeks later so I know my itp is somehow related when I get these swollen nodes.

[Sarah-Ambam in reply to Jud61]

Whenever I get infection or colds my platelets drop but mine all started when I caught a virus after going abroad, think it was off the plane air conditioning. A few weeks later I had bad bruising and I was so tired, my platelets were 7.

[Kyriak51 in reply to Jud61]

Hi Jud61, I have weekly platelet counts and can correlate my platelet drops to my emotional and physical wellbeing . For example, when my childhood died last December my platelets dropped from 46k to 14k within seven days. I’m on weekly Nplate injections to maintain my counts 40k-80k however, when platelets drop to the teens it takes weeks to recover to baseline, last week my count was 66k, 7 weeks after the drop”). So yes, depression and infections have a negative effect on your counts. Your swollen glands indicated your immune system is fighting the infection at the expense of platelets. That treatment if any are you receiving? Be well

[alice_sportyauthor]

I have had swollen glands in my neck for about 6 months. GP sent me for a scan. They seem happy that it’s nothing serious!

But they don’t hurt, I’ll go back if they do.

[Sarah-Ambam in reply to alice_sportyauthor]

I went to out of hours doctor at hospital over the weekend as nodes were painful and much bigger and they found ear infection but involving skin just inside ear. Weirdly my white cell count not up. They gave me ear drops and glands have shrunk a little doc said I still should have biopsy at arranged appointment next week. Thanks for your reply it has helped. 👍