tender lymph nodes over right clavicle

[inmygarden]

3 weeks ago I went into the emergency room with what seemed to be a heart attack... severe pain between my shoulder blades. That was ruled out after a chest x ray, stress echo, etc. However, my liver enzymes were high... ast 148 and alt of 68. My primary care physician tested 2 days later and the ast had come down to 60 but the alt was a little higher at 70. He was going to retest in a month. 4 days ago I noticed several large tender lymph nodes above my right collarbone. No other nodes were affected in my neck or armpits or anywhere else that I can find. I am having some night sweats but attributed that to being a 54 year old woman. I have not been sick at all otherwise. I went in to my doctor today and he had more blood drawn to check on the liver function again. He also put me on a course of antibiotics and told me that he wants to follow up in a week to determine if a biopsy is needed. I still have some dull discomfort between my shoulder blades and they were never able to tell me what caused the pain to begin with. Can lymphoma manifest in the liver? and can liver problems cause lymph nodes to swell over the clavicle? Any ideas?

[inmygarden]

My doctor gave me the results of my blood test today and said they were all good, but he had me go in for an ultrasound of my gallbladder to see if I had gallstones.... I do. I won't know what the next course of treatment is until the radiologist does his evaluation and gets the results back to my doctor. From what I've read the only real option for gallstone attacks is surgery to remove the gallbladder. Don't know if that's good news or bad... at least it's probably not cancer!

[sage009]

I was having the same pain on and off for a long time sometimes so severe I couldn't catch my breath.  It turned out after a trip to the er for something that I thought was unrelated I was diagnosed with having something called barretts esophagus.  Barretts is a condition that can lead to esophageal cancer and requires that your careful about controlling acid reflux.  I didn't even know I had acid reflux until my doctor did an endoscopy.  I was put on protonix for the acid reflux and have not had the pain since.
I was told what I was feeling was an esophagus spasm it felt like it was something being driven through my shoulder blades into my chest.  Maybe its possible the lymph nodes are something unrelated to the pain?    I hope you get an answer.

[inmygarden]

I had another attack of pain day before yesterday. Lasted for almost 4 hours and then went away. It hurt so bad I was rolling on the bed. My swollen nodes are decreasing with the antibiotic. I looked up "pain between shoulder blades" and found that this is a classic symptom of gallstones. I have a call into my doctor today to let him know about this latest episode. I have several of the common risk factor for gallstones..... female, over 40, fair skinned and rapid weight loss. Liver function tests are frequently raised during gallstone episodes. All I know is they need to figure this out soon. I am going nuts wondering when the hammer will strike again. Maybe you should  have your doctor check for gallstones as well.

[angryt]

Hi

I too have had (still have) severe pain between the shoulder blades, and my first blood test my liver enzymes were high but dropped slowly over the next few tests..  But they don't know why.

Some lymphomas can cause raised liver enzymes but since your nodes  grew so quickly it seems strange. Are they hard or soft? Do they feel mobile or stuck?

Because of your age (no offense) it is VERYimportant these nodes are checked out. Even if they shrink a little, ask for a biopsy, better safe than sorry.