Can someone sensible google for me?

I had to have an ultrasound on a lymph gland in my neck last year and made the stupid mistake of googling it! Don't do it because the first things that come up are things you don't want to read!

It turned out there's nothing wrong with the gland and it's just lying nearer the surface than they normally do (probably due to enlarging when I had a cold). Hopefully your doctors is being over cautious - has he said what test they want to do?

He thinks he might have an underlying infection/inflammation and wants to see if they have gone down/softened after a short period of time.

But some people have naturally palpable lymph nodes - I am a bobbly person all over.

No. But I really appreciate this thank you. He felt my sons neck for absolutely ages. They were enlargened the last time he went and are still. Quite often you can see that standing out from his groin. The first time I saw it I was extremely worried by the Dr wasn't worried then.

Although this the Dr last week who thought B might have meningitutus and sent me home to keep an eye on him for rashes... I did end up in hospital with B and when I told him that he said he was really glad as that was the best place for him? He kept asking me what I thought and I said I didn't know. He then said did I want ABs for B. I returned didn't you say you thought it was viral? He replied yes. Well then he doesn't need ABs then does he?? He is a lovely guy but not... well inspiring?

But thank you all, it is sad but I come here for medical reassurance rather than the Drs.

Get a different GP. It's clear that you don't trust this one's judgement, so having a useful therapeutic relationship with him is going to be very difficult now. You shouldn't have to come on here and get advice from non-medical professionals about diagnostics/therapeutics (as opposed to just sharing experiences, which Hitched is great for). While Hitched is a fantastic resource with a lot of very smart people, most of them are not doctors, and those of us who are, are unable to give particularly accurate advice without seeing you properly.

There are some scary things which swollen lymph nodes can indicate, like lymphoma and so on, which is no doubt what you'll find if you start googling. But in most kids, swollen nodes are just a sign of infection/inflammation and nothing much to worry about. It's good that they're being taken seriously and reviewed again, but in the long run I think you need to find a doctor who you can get on better with and who you trust more.

Which is EXACTLY why I didn't want to google and asked other people to google and tell me the reassuring bits.

Unfortunately you see the GP you see, unless you book the appointment two weeks in advance which you don't get the ability to do if your child is ill there and then. My son however trusts him which is extremely important when dealing with a four year old.

I wanted people who were sensible and could google and come back with the least worrying bits. I wasn't coming for a diagnoises. But continued waffling on because I am a single parent with no family and Hitched is my offload point.

Absolutely zero need for this.

But it's true? I don't see why there was no need for it and was my explanation fo why I have turned to here. I don't have an OH or family that I can ring up and say this happened at the GPs what do you think? Your answer was the sort of thing I was expecting/hoping for -' Some people are naturally bobbly'. If I had a sister I could ring up and waffle on at, she might then have said I know X whom is naturally bobbly as well.

After we saw him last time he seemed to be a worse case scenario and I think I just wanted to hear people say it's just going to be swollen lymph loads because they are near the surface, or he is naturally bobbly. I would rather live in la-la comfort land for a fortnight. If I now end up over-worrying I'll ring him later.

P - my full apologies. I read your post as an instruction to Helenia to "continue waffling on" and thought you were dismissing her excellent point out of hand. Sorry.

It doesn't sound like you particularly trust him though - and that's a problem. Is there another practice you can register with? You don't have to change doctors if you're not that fussed, but it's twice that I've seen you say that it's a shame you have to get information from Hitched rather than your GP, which is very concerning. Firstly because it suggests you don't have a good relationship with your GP, and secondly because however intelligent and well-meaning Hitchers are, I'd be pretty wary of getting too much advice from a forum as a substitute for medical professionals. If you don't understand what your GP's doing or why they're making certain decisions, don't be afraid to ask! The train of thought and management plans are not always immediately obvious or logical if you're not familiar with GPs' way of thinking, so if you're nervous, they should explain things to you.

Coming here for reassurance, no problem! It's very unlikely that your son has anything serious or nasty going on, and your GP knows this, but on the very small chance it is something less nice, they're doing the right thing by following him up properly. Most kids will have swollen nodes at some point or another, and most of the time they will go away by themselves. It would be very unwise to worst-case-scenario all of them and do lots of investigations immediately, but you don't want to miss the one that isn't just an infection, so watchful waiting and monitoring is very sensible.

Helenia - sorry to take ages to get back to you.

The surgeries round here are hideoulsy over subscribed so we can't change GP surgery unfortunately. Luckily if I book in advance I can see a GP I do trust but the day appointments are the ones that haven't been booked up in advance and this chap hasn't been booked by anyone so always seems to be free for emergency/that day apointments. The GP that I have booked in advance to see if the one that has referred him to hospital for his bowel issues.

I have a long history with being incorrectly diagnoised and being shipped from department to department and it left me distrustful of the whole system, rather than just my GP. I won't bore you with the whole story but if you ever fancy cake and you are in the north east and you have six hours spare I'll tell you the whole long story?

I've calmed down today as I did have a bit of a panic last night about him but today feel less panicy about his health. I find it all too easy to get massively over stressed about my children's health and just need reassurance that nothing seems wrong as I can ALWAYS imagine the worst without trying?

Dear Lord, I would hope never to be that rude, but I do phrase things appallingly poorly and know I waffle on too much without getting to any real point.

I wanted people to hear horses not zebras if you get my analogy??