Response to anti-inflammatory drugs like ibuprofen suggest and inflammatory cause.

As circumstance would have it, I am getting ready for a CAT scan soon, for my left neck nodes, which are getting large and are painless... the ultrasound I had recently suggested further evaluation.

This is making me nervous. Those do not change with anti-inflammatory drugs either.

Mrs D,

Thank you for replying!

I had suspicious nodes on a thyroid ultrasound in 2007, followed by a biopsy; and a very suspicious shadow on the right lobe of my liver on ultrasound and ultrasound with contrast that required a a CAT scan and a bunch of experts for further investigation. The thyroid turned out to be thyroiditis with harmless nodes and the shadow on the right lobe of the liver is a relatively big hemangioma, but the further investigation aspect of both was absolutely nerve-wracking to say the least...

I hope the CAT scan and results go as well as they possibly can! I, for one, will be keeping my fingers, toes, hands, arms and eyes crossed for the best possible result for you!

Ziggy

Thought I'd update on the lymph node swelling situation! I was quick to "accuse" the fish oils when the problem started as they were the only thing that had been added to my diet/supplement list right before the cervical lymphadenopathy appeared. I stopped the EPA capsules, took the zithromax my doc prescribed and the swelling got worse and spread to the left side of the neck, both armpits and over and under both clavicles. I went through a check-up for infections once more and came up empty and was even sent to a lady for Manual lymphatic drainage at one point just in case the swelling was idiopathic lymphedema. When she saw me she sent me right back to my doctor saying she wouldn't touch me until everything else had been ruled out as she didn't think I had idiopathic lymphedema at all.

Oddly enough other things started going a little wrong during this whole episode. I had really high fever, joint pain, my ESR sky-rocketed while C3 levels crashed and I started getting really bad and worsening reactions to SCIG. To cut a very long story short suffice it to say I was diagnosed with serum sickness from the immunoglobulins I'm on (after we reported my symptoms to Baxter, checked the batch was ok and no other people had had problems from it etc etc).

It's been a trying month as we've attempted to get to the bottom of what's going on and more recently how to fix it, but if nothing else it's absolutely brilliant to know what's going on!

I still have a biopsy scheduled for mid-April just to be on the safe side (if this hasn't subsided till then) re any possibility of lymphoma or obscure infections playing hide and seek, but that's just a "better safe than sorry" thing more than anything else!

So...the EPA capsules were innocent in this! IVIG and dysfuctional immune systems are the culprits!

Hope everyone is doing well!

Ziggy

Thanks for the update, Ziggy. I hope it all works out for you.

Seems like you have been thru alot!

wow, thanks for all of the great info, I think I will look over my celiacs test results again too!

Thanks for the reply Mrs. D and for your kind words! It was kind of a lot yes, but it's always better to know than not to know so at least we can relax a little now seeing as we finally got to the bottom of it...!

Ziggy