I have a swollen lymph node on the back of my neck and it hasn t gone away in 10 months. The lymph node has stayed the same size since I found it. Also the lymph is bigger than the size of a pea. The lymp node is located on the left side of my neck and some distance from my ear . I went to the local family doctor and asked her about it during a check up. She said that because I bend my neck down all the time from being on the computer had caused the lymph node to swell. She told me to put a heat compress on it. She also told me that the lymph node could have moved from the area where the lymph nodes behind the ear are. I will say that I haven t really put the heat compress on my neck but that was because my neck wasn t hurting at all. I had thought really nothing of the lymph node after she told it was from me bending my head . How ever a few times with in the last months my neck muscles on the left side have been hurting. The muscles on my left are also very tense all the way from my neck muscles to my shoulder muscles. The front of my neck along the left side has hurt a little and I think I feel some small lymph nodes but could just be my mind imagining it. I will say that I spend over ten hours on the computer or more and also when I sleep I tend to push up my left shoulder close to my body causing the muscles in my neck on the left side to tighten. I also don t do any real exorcise besides moving around and the muscles in my body are stiff. I have severe acid refluxes to the point the acid pops up to my mouth sometimes. The acid refluxes really don t pop up that much maybe every few months. Also lately I have had some ulcers appear in my mouth near the front of my mouth. They don t hurt and normally go away in a day. But almost everyday I have aleast one ulcer but sometimes I don t. I also will say that my dental health is not so good right now. My parents and dentist are always having to get on to me about brushing my teeth. I have to have several cavities filled and I also have gingivitis. My family and I just have haven t had the time to go the dentist but soon I will be going. Also I will say all my life I have had thrush in my mouth as well from since I was a baby it just never went away. We tried some medicine to make it go away but it wasn t really working plus it tasted bad so we stopped using it. Anyway on another thing I have very bad joints to the point I m always having to pop them just to relieve pain. I think I may have RA or something similar and I also have eczema and psoriasis . But they aren t that bad. As far as my genes go my grandmother has sjogren s syndrome and my mother has a blood disorder. As for my father s side I have no idea. I put in all that info and my pains because I wanted to know if my neck hurting is anything serious like lymphoma or neck cancer? Also is RA or some other kind of arthritis the reason or an autoimmune disease or is it sarcoidosis? Please help me!