Hi I'm Charlie and I'm 22 been suffering quite bad with health anexity for about 5 months,but I don't know what it is I just don't feel healthy losing abit of weight plus my left side of neck feels heavy and hard makes my think there's a lump there I've seen 5 different doctors which all felt my neck and all said it's a muscle and there's nothing there I'm really scared I have lymphoma but can't keep living my life down a and e do other people suffer with left side neck issue with anexity also my shoulder and top of my peck is hard when touch I don't know what is happening to me I'm scared
Charlie,
first take a deep slow breath in through your nose out through your mouth. What is happening is that you are letting fear take you over. You are the one in control.
When doctors tell you it is not a lymph node but A muscle,you have to trust in that. They definitely know the difference!
millions of people get the tight neck and shoulder and a lot of times it's due to intense anxiety. I have had that for over 20 years on and off and I even get little bumps on the side of my neck. The bumps are nothing more than a muscle that has gotten really tight. My neck and shoulders got so tight and painful that I had to go to physical therapy. All due to anxiety!
I try to get regular massages because they can rub any little bumps out and loosen the muscles. Have you ever tried putting a warm compress around your shoulders and neck? A little heat helps me a lot. For about 20 minutes or so. If you have anybody that can rub your neck and shoulder area that also helps loosen them. Another thing is that poor posture contributes to tightened shoulder and neck muscles. You're supposed to keep your shoulders down and back in your chin tucked in . anything else will cause tight muscles. Shoulder should never be forward.
your doctor could recommend some neck and back exercises to strengthen your muscles. That helped me a lot too.
are you doing anything different with your neck and shoulders?
You do not have lymphoma. You would have many other obvious symptoms if you did.
go to YouTube and search for meditation for anxiety or worrying. There's so many on there and they really help put things in perspective.
remember, your doctor said it's muscle! Try using some heat , keep good posture, get some appropriate exercises for the neck and shoulders and general exercise for the whole body, and listen to the meditations. Anxiety has a way of making us believe the worst. Don't let that control you.You will be just fine!
Hi Charliee You can have all the tests in the world and you won't believe any of them as you have health anxiety and until you address your anxiety the cycle will continue.Please go to the doctor and seek help with your anxiety ask to be referred to therapy.You can also take a bit of control back yourself by practicing relaxation techniques on YouTube, keep your mind occupied and stop googling.lf you feel compelled to Google use it to find self help for health anxiety and keep trying to help yourself.
Hi Charlie, You sound like a classic healthy anxiety sufferer. Several months back I was convinced I had lymphoma as well. I was constantly touching my neck, underarms, and collar bones. I felt little pangs and hurts and was constantly in a state of panic. I went to the doctor twice and she did a physical exam of all my lymph nodes, but there was nothing abnormal. I had blood work done and that was also clear. I was not happy. Why was I having physical symptoms when nothing was wrong physiologically. My doctor told me that my anxiety was making me over-reactive to everything in my body. She called it sensory overload. I would go and read about some symptom reading to a type of cancer and then, bam, I suddenly had the symptom. Our minds are such powerful tools. They will convince you something is happening when there really is nothing going on.
That was when I decided to take control back. I got in to see a therapist, started writing in a journal, and became active on anxiety forums. It took a few months to get past all the worry, but slowly my life became my own again. Unfortunately, anxiety is always going to cycle for us. I even had a slip up recently that I am trying to overcome. But now I look back at what happened in the past year and realize my body is doing the same things now that it was before when my anxiety was bad. This has really helped me to connect the dots and acknowledge that this is still my anxiety. I also got an anxiety and phobia workbook that I am working through. For me, taking steps to improve my mental state really helps.
So---stop touching all over your neck and pec. You are prodding the area that is already tight and tense, and this is making the symptoms worse (I speak from experience). Start writing a journal. Everyday or multiple times a day, write down what you are feeling (what caused you to feel that way, what you are doing, why you think you are upset). The journal is good because it actually feels good to write out your thoughts, but you can look back later and read through what you have written.
Thankyou Jan,Marlene and cfiddy for those comments my neck I'm done areas feels like hard balls but everybody saying it's muscle I'm trying and I went YouTube and It calmed my down really got myself worked up guys and thankyou for your support does mean a lot, just so weird to think that your brain can trigger these things really hope that I'm okay I really don't want to die I live my life and the people around me just very scary ❤️