Hi,

I am a 23 year old female. My lymph node behind my right ear and above my neck on the right side has been swelling off and on for YEARS now. Even when it's not swollen, it's still prodominately bigger than my left side. It feels like the size of a silver dollar in roundness. Recently, I discovered on my neck where the spine and the base of my head meet on the right side there is a dime sized lump that gets swollen to. It feels sort of seperate from the whole gland behind my ear. When it swells it mostly when I find myself being under stress, on my monthly cycle, or sometimes it just swells for what I recognize as no reason. Or maybe I'm just not acknowledging my stress level? I don't know! But this morning I woke up in a lot of pain back there. It was swollen more than usual and it was running up the right side of my head to my right temple. I had a few dizzy spells to. I took some Excedrin Migrane and it has tampered off some, but my upper neck is just incredibly sore where the dime sized 'knot' is. I've not had any injury to my head in the back where this is located, but in the past I have had head injuries such as hitting my head on something, but it's all been minor. Nothing too serious.

Is this normal for it to occur for years? What could this be? Just an infection that has lasted over time or something else? Could there be something more to this? I just don't know what to do...I just hate visiting the doctor. I'd like to use it as my very very very very last resort.