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What Causes Swollen Lymph Nodes?
Question: My daughter is 18 years old, and has had a VP shunt since she was 18 months old. She had mono at the beginning of this school year (Sept. 2014 when she was diagnosed). She had a lymph node that was extremely swollen and painful right beside her shunt valve. After a shunt series/ MRI and CT scan, all was foudn to be normal with the shunt/ventricles. She has had the lymph node swell up again and is very painful within the last hour. Could this be something new - there are no other symptoms, but the site is just very painful
Further info - she has never had a shunt revision and has communicating hydrocephalus. The swelling and pain is definitely not the shunt, but the lymph node that is between the shunt valve and just behind her ear. My main question is: would it be ok to wait until first thing in the morning to take her to the doctor? She has no fever and no other symptoms (which was not the case when she had mono. She was obviously sick)
Further info - she has never had a shunt revision and has communicating hydrocephalus. The swelling and pain is definitely not the shunt, but the lymph node that is between the shunt valve and just behind her ear. My main question is: would it be ok to wait until first thing in the morning to take her to the doctor? She has no fever and no other symptoms (which was not the case when she had mono. She was obviously sick)
Brief Answer:
Yes, you can wait until tomorrow morning!
Detailed Answer:
Hi and thank you so much for this query.
I am so sorry to hear about this swollen node that makes your daughter feel so uncomfortable. I am happy to know that after a series of test last time, the shunt was found to be in a good state and this is very good news. Mono causes swelling of lymph nodes in the head and neck area, which explained this the last time.
You can safely wait to get this looked into tomorrow. There is really no emergency at this time. The main task would be to identify the cause of this swollen lymph node and address accordingly. I trust your doctors would do this after a comprehensive clinical and maybe laboratory and imaging studies.
I hope this helps. I wish your daughter well. Thank you so much for using our services and do feel free to ask for more information and clarifications if need be.
Yes, you can wait until tomorrow morning!
Detailed Answer:
Hi and thank you so much for this query.
I am so sorry to hear about this swollen node that makes your daughter feel so uncomfortable. I am happy to know that after a series of test last time, the shunt was found to be in a good state and this is very good news. Mono causes swelling of lymph nodes in the head and neck area, which explained this the last time.
You can safely wait to get this looked into tomorrow. There is really no emergency at this time. The main task would be to identify the cause of this swollen lymph node and address accordingly. I trust your doctors would do this after a comprehensive clinical and maybe laboratory and imaging studies.
I hope this helps. I wish your daughter well. Thank you so much for using our services and do feel free to ask for more information and clarifications if need be.
Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
Answered by
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