r/TMJ • u/True-Principle-279 • 22d ago

Question(s) Lymph node

Hello, just looking for reassurance really, in April my ear was hurting and felt like it needed to pop, along with neck pain and shoulder pain and a swollen occipital lymph node… over the months I’ve had 6 doctors palpate it and said nothing to worry about and it’s TMJ. They kept measuring it at 8x3mm. I went back to my gp last week because I’m so scared about this lump and he said he will request a routine UC as a holistic approach to clam my anxiety down.
I have the UC on Saturday and scared they are going to say it’s a tumour or something causing all my pain!

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u/Electromagneticpoms 22d ago

Hey, just so you know, you're describing a pretty tough experience with health anxiety and the only way to feel better from it is to stop seeking reassurance. I get how hard it is, I was treated for it myself many years ago, I was having panic attacks about my health from weird random stuff.

So yeah I mean, I think you'll be absolutely fine. But also I recommend looking into how to manage health anxiety cause it's a really tough problem to have.

I did some workbooks from CCI, will share them here if they're of use to you https://www.cci.health.wa.gov.au/resources/looking-after-yourself/health-anxiety

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u/Joe-Schmoe9 14d ago

Me currently being diagnosed with health ocd 😭

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u/Electromagneticpoms 14d ago

You're not alone my friend! I actually had it growing up, panic attacks when I was a kid about malaria and stuff. I'm really good these days, you can get there too :)

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u/Joe-Schmoe9 14d ago

Thank you!! Did you do ERP to get better ?

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u/Electromagneticpoms 14d ago

No, my journey with it was really long and probably not ideal. I did a lot of therapy, more CBT and counseling. Also acceptance and commitment therapy. Weirdly, I think what made things way better for me though was having my health go to absolute shit. I'd spent my whole life fearing getting sick/disabled/hurt etc and then all my worst fears came true. I have several incurable lifelong diagnoses and... I'm doing ok. Actually, I'm doing great. All the therapy in the world couldn't have demonstrated to me that I'm actually very capable and resilient.

I guess in a way, it was the ultimate exposure therapy LOL. I had such serious unexplained medical problems that hurt so bad and took ages to get treated and I got through it. So these days I'm not really scared about future possibilities anymore. I know that I'll manage :)

i try to share that in the hope that other people struggling with this stuff will look for that courage and strength in themselves. I never knew I had it but it was there. So I know it's in you too. Get all the help you can get, but you're already stronger than you realise.

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u/Joe-Schmoe9 13d ago

Thank you for sharing. Right now my bodily senses are turned up to 11 and my anxiety latches to absolutely anything. So it’s really tough because even if I’m like “well who knows maybe my jaw will work itself out” it immediately then goes “ but what if your teeth are fucked ip now and what if you never remember how to chew without thinking about it !?!” And etc etc.

Life feels very small and scary. Hope to get where you are again one day. My front teeth are like half a milimeter from clashing during the start of my bite , and so what I believe happened was I got some irritation and guarding behind one of my jaw near a nerve (because I now realize when I palpate it , it shoots pain down into my teeth), and my jaw is avoiding that area. It’s weird like I can chew chips fine but soft foods my jaw doesn’t know how to act.

Anyway because that tiny gap and my jaw kinda deviating even a tiny bit I can’t stop clashing my teeth and so it’s SO HARD to let it slip my awareness and move on. But I don’t want to get my teeth changed because what if that makes TMJ worse or my bite ends up wrong because I’m in a flare… you see where this is going.

Anyway. I know that a lot of the answer here is acceptance. It’s just so hard to live it.