Okay, my daughter is 15, a runner at school. the other day she showed me a lump in her neck--the nape, not the front. Yesterday it was smaller. This morning, the front was swollen and her throat hurt a bit. She breathes through her mouth though so it is not unusual for her throat to hurt when she awakens. Anyway, tonight, I picked her up from school after a meet and the front is still swollen and the one in back is as well, as well as one behind her ear. Yes, I will call the doc tomorrow. But I am wondering if anyone here has had this experience with their teens, or even themselves. I was told by someone that it can happen to teens and it goes away after a week or month--depending on the person. And I did do a google search and found some entries that this can happen in the teen years. I do not recall having this myself.
The earliest I can get her in to the doc is tomorrow so we will have to wait. She is no more tired than usual--she starts school at 8, and then practice after from 3:15 to 5 and then she walks home, and last night she had a meet. She almost always awakens with a sore throat that goes away within a few hours, after she eats and drinks something so we always wait for that. She has not had any fever recently (had pneumonia in April) or unusual body aches and refused to stay home today. She is my overachiever.
To add, we have NO carpet in my home. I hate carpet. Really hate it. She only has mild allergies to pollen. And she had her adenoids removed when she was 4. The ENT did tell us that if she continuously breathes through her mouth then she may wake up with a slight sore throat due to dryness. but it not something they can really do anything about. Tonight she is saying that under her arms is bothering her. Hopefully it will not get too bad. She refuses to not go to training.
My youngest son has swollen lymph nodes on his neck frequently. I don't get worried anymore unless he has a fever or other symptoms as the pediatrician said this was his body at work fighting off whatever is trying to attack the body.
With the sore throat? I would do as you are doing and get her seen today (since you wrote this last night) to find out if there's something more going on.
Good luck!!
My oldest son has had these when his allergies were really acting up and his poor immune system was just on overdrive. They went away when his congestion and other symptoms subsided.
I have one in the front of my neck that gets swollen with illness or stress and then takes a while to go down in size. It was hanging around for a while, so my doctor did a chest x-ray and mammogram, just to be sure all was clear. It sounds like she might have a virus or something that is causing this. Nothing to worry about. Just keep an eye on it.
My two oldest used to get swollen lymph nodes a lot. Usually when they were younger and fighting off a cold but they even got them when older. It just means they are working hard filtering something out of her system.
Happened to me around the age of 13 and a half, one of the most stressful times of my life.
Yes it went away but for about a week I was sure I had a tumor and was dying.
Couldn't have a doctor look at it even if I wanted to. My mom never took us to the doctor. The term "health care" was a foreign concept to me until I became an adult :-(
I had it throughout my teen years. I recall having the same lump for years and occasionally it was sore.
I had this with mono as a teen, however it could be just an infection like Strep. Especially if her throat hurts. I would get her checked out when you can, but it most likely not anything serious. Good luck!
Is probably mono. Don't send her to school tomorrow, take her to the doc to get tested.
If it is Mono then she's likely to be down for months. One of my friends had it in high school and she was band queen. Right after that crowning night in early September she got sick. She was back to playing in band and marching around the end of November in the Thanksgiving parade. She was still tired all the time and by the end of the school year she was 100%.
Well the swelling wouldn't be minor if it were mumps.
She's fighting off an infection or virus somewhere.
Make sure she gets plenty of rest and keeps her fluids up but there's no reason to stay home sick unless she's feverish.
Keep an eye on her in case other symptoms pop up.
I had this as an adult - scared me until I talked to the doctor and learned that lymph nodes swell as part of the body's immune system. Totally normal and a good sign - the body is fighting something off. No different than a fever - immunity at work. Like a fever, you ignore it if it's low-grade and there are no other problems.
Does she have any other symptoms besides the sore throat? The throat could be due to her breathing but she could be fighting a virus. If she's running a high fever, if she's lethargic, if she's needing a lot more sleep (beyond regular teenager stuff), it COULD be a sign of something else. My son had mononucleosis in high school - sometimes that's a minor thing and sometimes it's major. (Ours was major but we found a way to really turn it around - but of course there is no medication for a virus so we had to do something else.)
I don't think lymph node swelling is more common in teens for any reason other than they get overtired, they go to bed too late, they cram in too many activities, and they are getting up for school way beyond what their body clocks are really set for (there were news reports on this just last week, about how high school ought to start at 8:30 a.m.!). So barring any major symptoms, I'd do what you always do when a kid is fighting something off -more fluids, more rest, better nutrition.
Anytime I'm fighting a cold, I get them. Mine are usually in my armpits, and they get very tender. After a few days, they go away and I either get a cold or don't.
But that's how I know when my body is fighting something off.
It's been that way for as long as I can remember, personally.
Another idea to throw out there: Does she have pierced ears? Any inflammation under the earrings? I used to get swollen lymph nodes when I'd wear cheap earrings and my ears got infected.
I had this happen to me when I was in my early 20s. A lymph node swelled on my neck and was very tender to the touch. I called my doctor's office and spoke to a nurse about it, who urged me to come in. She said you should always have any lump checked out just to be safe. By examination only, they could not diagnose me so I had a serious of blood tests done. My tests came back normal, though, and in fact by the time the office called me with the results, the node was already back to normal. The conclusion was that my body must've been fighting something off. This is the most common reason for lymph nodes to swell, so I'm sure that's the case with your teen. Of course, to be sure, definitely see your GP. You never know when it might be something more serious or even just an infection requiring antibiotics.
My son had this a few months ago. It was mono, but it could be a range of other things.
I get that all the time when I'm sick of getting sick. They always clear with no direct treatment. Once whatever illness runs its course the lymph nodes go back to normal.
That was my first symptom when I had mono. I was 17 or 18. There wasn't anything they could do for me, and I was tired a LOT, but I think I had a pretty mild case. I think you're doing everything you can since you're talking to the dr. I hope it turns out to be nothing!
It's simple. She's fighting off a bug.
I never noticed visible nodules on my kids when they were sick until my son turned 15. Then he had one of those. You should google lymph nodes and look at how many there are in the neck sometime. (They are all over the body, but most people only think of the ones under your arms and behind the ear area...where the doctor feels when you are sick). But there are a lot of them all over the neck area, not just behind the ears.
I'm sure when her body is done with whatever infection she is fighting, the bump/nodule/lumps will go away.
Quite possibly mono. I struggled through mono for weeks when I was in high school until my Mom forced me to go to the doctor. And I didn't get the really bad strep throat and other symptoms until after I went to the doc.
