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--- home:symptoms:lymph [01.03.2012] – external edit 127.0.0.1
+++ home:symptoms:lymph [01.11.2019] – [Lymphatic system diagram] sallieq
@@ Line 20: / Line 20: @@
-===== Advice to a sarcoidosis patient with swollen lymph glands =====
-<blockquote>No one can measure many granulomas you had a few months ago to compare with how many you might have now. It's only upon autopsy that pathologists can get a small idea of the granuloma load.
-As we've explained, lymph nodes enlarge due to infection, inflammation or cancer. You already have biopsy-verified sarcoidosis, which is the gold standard for diagnosing sarcoidosis. Try to understand that most physicians do not believe sarcoidosis can cause the damage it makes in reality. Most patients look pretty good and the internal damage is not visible. And most doctors have not dealt with sarcoidosis patients who are very ill.
-Because of that, good, well-meaning doctors look for other explanations for sarcoidosis symptoms such as your inflammed lymph nodes. Add to that the fact that you have been losing weight (which is consistent with our experiences with the MP) and how litigious our society is in medical malpractice cases concerning missed cancer diagnoses, and you can see why your doctor is motivated to rule out cancer.
-You alone can determine how much you are willing to expend time and energy to be poked, prodded and scanned to rule out cancers or any other differential diagnosis your physicians may suspect. But that testing can be expensive, time consuming and lead to nowhere. And you are the only one who knows how much of this you need before you are reassured.
-Part of being an active member of your medical team sometimes means reassuring the doctor. Sarcoidosis is a scary disease for physicians, which is part of why they tend to get several specialists involved and do lots of testing. And they tend to want to do that whether the patient is stable of getting worse.
-Sometimes a simple nap or brief rest can ease the discomfort of immunopathology symptoms. Check out our page on [[home:mp:managing_immunopathology|managing immunopathology]]. If any of these work, it lends credibility to the concept that you are experiencing immunopathology.
-I understand now that you were asking would granuloma be found if you had a lymph node biopsied? We aren't all-knowing, but chances are good, since you already have biopsy-verified sarcoidosis; see this [[http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/4002974|report]] indexed on PubMed.
-The NHLBI advises that only one biopsy is necessary for sarcoidosis. But like I said, doctors get nervous and as long as the patient is willing, they can go on doing additional biopsies as time goes on.
-It sounds like your concern is: "What are the chances the lymphadenopathy is now cancer and not sarcoidosis?"
-Physicians may continue to be concerned about cancer, even when they have a biopsy-verified diagnosis of sarcoidosis. The best things you can do - to prepare to discuss this with your doctors are:
-- read how doctors diagnose the [[http://www.aafp.org/afp/981015ap/ferrer.html|cause]] of lymphadenopathy so you can understand their perspective
-- read through the radiologist's report on Bill's recent CT scan [see patient comment below], and look up any words you aren't sure about so you know exactly what was described. Radiology has its own language, so a [[http://cancerweb.ncl.ac.uk/omd/|medical dictionary]] may be necessary.
-- search PubMed to see if there are any similar reports of this in sarcoidosis (for example, [[http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16757369?dopt=AbstractPlus|Pancreatic sarcoidosis with regional lymph node involvement]])
-- evaluate Bill's progress thus far on the MP and make a list that you can share (and maybe leave) with the doctors.
-All these will help your dicussion be more productive. You have to understand that doctors have more education and experience with cancers than with sarcoidosis. Since YOU have more experience with sarcoidosis, you have a valuable role to play in educating them, even if that includes presenting them with information from PubMed or other sources. ("See, doc, there seem to be reports of similar cases in sarcoidosis.")
-Finally, sharing your own observations of progress and explaining the immunopathology to them again should ease concerns and allow you to opt for a "watchful waiting" approach if that is what you prefer instead of more testing or an invasive biopsy.
-You can also search our website for other helpful information such as the information about PET scans in this thread on sarcoidosis.
-//**Belinda Fenter**//
-</blockquote>
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 My lumps I think  may be a mixture of enlarged lymph glands, lipomas, fat deposits.. .maybe granulomatous fibrosis or scarring. (?)  Don't really know without a biopsy.  I guess I've come to an uneasy acceptance that it doesn't matter....MP will hopefully address them all.
-Well, during phase I and much of Modified Phase II, which I'm on now (approx 9 months total on MP) has seen an increase in lumps/lymph etc.  Often these are very tender for a while, then eventually seem to become painless, though still enalrged or swollen.  In the last month I have noticed that the chain of lumps/lymph on my right leg have truly begun to decrease.  I didn't quite believe it at first as it was a very slow process.  But they have absolutely become smaller....either getting softer and then fading away or getting smaller and becoming very hard, like the tip of a  pin for sewing with those little knobs on top.  Then, they seem to get absorbed.  This has been SO reassuring to me.  Even as I see that I may have more swellng/enlargement throughout MP,  as I still am experiencing now in other parts of my body, I can feel reassured that there is a good chance they will eventually dissolve/be reabsorbed/melt away...whatever.  Helps much with my anxiety about the whole thing, too.  :)
+Well, during phase I and much of Modified Phase II, which I'm on now (approx 9 months total on MP) has seen an increase in lumps/lymph etc.  Often these are very tender for a while, then eventually seem to become painless, though still enlarged or swollen.  In the last month I have noticed that the chain of lumps/lymph on my right leg have truly begun to decrease.  I didn't quite believe it at first as it was a very slow process.  But they have absolutely become smaller....either getting softer and then fading away or getting smaller and becoming very hard, like the tip of a  pin for sewing with those little knobs on top.  Then, they seem to get absorbed.  This has been SO reassuring to me.  Even as I see that I may have more swellng/enlargement throughout MP,  as I still am experiencing now in other parts of my body, I can feel reassured that there is a good chance they will eventually dissolve/be reabsorbed/melt away...whatever.  Helps much with my anxiety about the whole thing, too.  :)
 //**SherryH**, MarshallProtocol.com//</blockquote>
+===== Lymphatic system diagram =====
+Lymphatic drainage massage is done with gentle hand pressure moving very slowly from the furthest away body part toward the nearest nodes.
+Nodes
+{{home:symptoms:lymph.jpg|nodes}}
+Left: medical textbook.     Right: MP version
+{{home:symptoms:file:medi_textbk.gif|}}  {{home:symptoms:file:mp_version.gif|}}
 {{tag>symptoms}}

home/symptoms/lymph.txt · Last modified: 09.14.2022 by 127.0.0.1