Help!? I think i may have hodgkins disease!?

Question

i know i should be looking up symptoms and getting myself worried.

My symptoms are;

-Swallon lymph node

-hot flushes

-chest pains

I also have a cold at the moment.

am i just worrying too much? im really worried. I'm 16.

Answer 1

No worries! When you have a cold your body's lymph nodes will swell up to try and fight it. When you touch your single swollen node is it tender to the touch, easy to move, and squishy? If so, you're fine. Cancerous lymph nodes are hard, non-tender to touch, and immovable. Also, Hodgkin's Lymphoma affects a chain of lymph nodes, so you would likely have more than one.

Get a thermometer and check to see if you have an actual fever-- something about 100 degrees or over. Your hot flashes may be caused by anxiety or by your cold.  Here's what you would look for in Hodgkin's: You have something called a "relapsing fever."  Basically that means that you have a fever that is there and goes away and then comes back.

Just to give you some piece of mind, you'd also likely have night sweats, unexplained weight loss, back pain, and a generally crappy, achey, feeling most of the time. You sound ok, though, so try not to worry!! Sometimes when you dwell on symptoms like that you give yourself anxiety and you start imagining/creating problems that you shouldn't be worried about... so be positive! :)

Hodgkin's lymphoma is really easily diagnosed by a doctor-- they look for something called a Reed Sternberg cell.  You can also get an x-ray and they will look for "ivory white vertebrae," which usually indicates the disease. Go tell a doctor about your worries and ask to be tested if you're still a little worried!

Answer 2

Deep breath.  :)  Hodgkin's Disease is a RARE cancer.  There are only about 8,000 cases diagnosed each year.  So the odds are very much in your favor that you don't have Hodgkin's Disease.

Lymph nodes routinely swell up in response to a cold.  If you have only a single swollen node or even if a few nodes swelled up in your neck, it's almost certainly related to the cold.  Hot flushes can be caused by hormonal fluctuations or a variety of other conditions, including a cold virus.  Chest pain could be from bronchitis or from coughing.  I had MASSIVE chest involvement with Hodgkin's and I had no chest pain (until I had chemo and the masses started to shrink, go figure).  Most Hodgkin's patients don't have painful lymph nodes or pain in their chest.

Unless these symptoms don't go away along with the cold, then I wouldn't be worried.

With Hodgkin's Disease, you'd be more worried about painlessly enlarging nodes (especially around the collarbones), drenching night sweats, intense itching, unexplained fevers, a cough that will not go away, and pain when drinking alcohol (which you shouldn't be doing since you're 16 of course!).  These are some of the most common symptoms of Hodgkin's, but a lot of people have some or even all of these symptoms and don't have cancer.

Since you are really worried, I would recommend getting a check up from your doctor.  I think he/she will be able to reassure you this is almost definitely not Hodgkin's Disease.  Good luck.  :)