Hey, this is my first discussion on this site, so I'm not sure if I'll get a response or not.
Let's get this one out of the way; I have a large case of health anxiety, I get it from my family, and for about a week now, I've been feeling relatively sore (or more like irritated, or like I'm being pinched a little bit) in my left side and partially my chest. I'm certain these are lymph nodes, because if I try to feel around in the sore spots, I'll feel a lump and it'll hurt a little bit. These are in places like my direct side, going all the way up to the top of my armpit (Looking at the actual names for the clusters, it's mostly all just sore in the Axillary spots, but partially in the Mediastinal, Mesenteric, and even sometimes the Inguinal spots, too. And these are all on the left side) More recently, the nodes have started to actually sting if I try and touch them (Not all the time, keep in mind, just occasionally and so far only in the Axillary spots).
My main concern is that this could be a sign that I could have cancer. I know you shouldn't do this, but I've tried looking up anything else it could possibly be, the least scary thing was a hand/arm infection or injury, everything else came up with things like AIDS, HIV, and other diseases of the sort. I'm only 17, I haven't actually done any acts that could give me those diseases, and I'm pretty sure my arms are fine.
However, there's another thing that could possibly cause the nodes to flare up, and that's from anxiety and/or stress. I'm not 100% certain on this, and I was hoping one of you guys would know anything. Like I said, I'm a worry-wart, I'll find something wrong with me and lose sleep over the smallest of things. Even now, I'm weak n' shaky from it.
Before it started to actually hurt, every so often I tried to massage it out, but I don't know if that could've irritated the nodes and caused them to hurt
If anyone knows anything on what could cause these lymph nodes to be sore, please let me know, it would be greatly appreciated!