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Q: lymphoma or infection ?
asked by: vegagirl08 on November 29th, 2008
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for the past month i've been in and out of the doctors office.

i'm 25 and consider myself in pretty good health. about a month ago i noticed some discomfort in my neck. a day or two later i noticed the lymph nodes in my neck were swollen. the one on the right side was bigger
than the one on the left side. i expected i was going to get the flu or a cold, a week went by and no symptoms.

i go to the doctor and he said my body was fighting off some sort of infection and prescribed me amoxicillian (500mg 3 x's a day for 10 days) i take it for 2 days and noticed at night i got fever, chills, shaking, sweating, puffy eyes, dizziness, blurred vision and extremely lathargic. i left a message for my doc wondering if i was having a reaction. i stopped taking the amox for a day. symptoms were less servere.

he calls back the next day and thinks it's the infection running it's course and tells me to keep taking it. so i listen and continue on with the dose.
over the next 2 days symptoms grew worse and i start to notice i am getting a yeast infection. i call the doctor back and request a 2nd opinion with another doctor.

the other doctor seems to think i had a reaction to the amox and prescribes
me keflex and promethazine. they do a mono test, a blood test for strep and bloodwork. mono and strep came out negative. bloodwork came out normal. they checked lymph nodes under arms and in groin and spleen
no other inflammation is felt. they tell me it could be a virus and to come back if the nodes don't go down in a month.

a few more days go by and i wake up feeling sick. i throw up. later in the evening i feel a mild sore throat but pay no attention to it. i wake up the next morning and it's worse. i look in the mirror and notice white patches
in the back of my throat. at this point i'd say the swelling of my lymph nodes have gone down 50%. the only other symptom i have is sweating at night. i go back to the doctor.

they swab me for strep, and oral thrush both came back negative. i mention that i'm sweating a lot at night. the doctor ordered more bloodwork.

3 days pass and i hear back from the doctor. at this time sore throat is gone and lymph node is down completely and no more night sweats. but she said my LDH came back 'somewhat' abnormal my white blood count was 428...(normal range is from 120-230). she said she thought it was all due to a virus and possiblly the yeast infection and rection to the amox, but wanted me to come back and repeat the test. a ESR test was also done my value was 33 (normal range is from 0-22mm/hr) also, my hemogoblin is within normal range but low. she seemed to think it was all just a virus and it's good news that the nodes went down, because if it were cancer it'd get bigger rather than smaller, is that true?

in the mist of all this my blood pressure has been high between 140 and 214. they seemed to think it's unrealated to this problem. and i have not yet been treated for this. my doctor also wants to test my throid.

if anyone out there has and advice or opinions or experienced something similar i'd appreciate it. i'm freaking out! thanks for taking time to read.

p.s...i've been to the dentist, he x-rayed me and saw no signs of a decayed tooth or abcesses. however i do still have all my wisdom teeth in and they are impacted.
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LymphomaLady
replied on December 30th, 2008
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"she seemed to think it was all just a virus and it's good news that the nodes went down, because if it were cancer it'd get bigger rather than smaller, is that true?"

absolutely not. your Lymphnodes can swell over and above the size of any tumour in them causing them to appear larger at times. I had this experience. Night sweats can come and go, and infections are VERY common with lymphoma. hymogloben being lower than usual is another sign of lymphoma. to be honest with you if I knew what I know now and I was going through what youre going through I would be worried. DEMAND a CT scan and dont take no for an answer! it will tell you what you need to know about your condition and whether it is a serious one or not. As soon as the CT comes back you will know if you need a biopsy or not. (biopsy of a lymphnode is virtually painless and is a joke really.

Im 19 with Hodgkins was diagnosed may/08 and am still fighting. DONT TAKE ANY CHANCES. GET A CT SCAN!
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