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Painful swollen area around groin (lymph nodes? cancer? hernias?)
I'm a 64 year old male. Since about 5-6 days back I've been experiencing pain in my lower abdominal / groin area. I have looked at diagrams of the human body, and the painful area is around where the lymph nodes are located. The pain started on the right side (just a tiny bit on the right from the center). I felt around and it appears to be a lump/bump there, it's not really hard but I can feel it when I touch the area gently. If I push on it, it kinda "melts in" and I don't feel it as clearly. It feels about the size of a ping pong ball, but it's hard to tell the size for sure as I'm scared to touch it. Today I started having pains on the right side too (but not as severe as on the left side), and I felt the right side and there appears to be a bump there as well.
The pain comes and goes, it's not constant. It seems to start whenever I do anything physical such as exercising, any longer walking (as if I go out on a walk).
Right before or around when the pain started I felt like I was developing a cold (runny nose and itchy eyes), but it never broke out and in retrospect I think they were allergy symptoms.
I don't know if this has anything to do with the pain / swolleness, but I'm doing moderately light exercise at a gym 4-5 times a week and just before the pain started, I tried the "planking" exercise for the first time for about 90 seconds. About a day or so later or so this pain started.
I have scheduled an appointment with a doctor but they had no opening until over two weeks from now and this worrying is killing me. Of course I suspect cancer. Because if this was a hernia, it wouldn't be on both sides of the groin area. So I am thinking the lymph nodes are infected / inflammated. What do you think it could be? What should I do / not do while I wait on the doctor appointment?
The pain comes and goes, it's not constant. It seems to start whenever I do anything physical such as exercising, any longer walking (as if I go out on a walk).
Right before or around when the pain started I felt like I was developing a cold (runny nose and itchy eyes), but it never broke out and in retrospect I think they were allergy symptoms.
I don't know if this has anything to do with the pain / swolleness, but I'm doing moderately light exercise at a gym 4-5 times a week and just before the pain started, I tried the "planking" exercise for the first time for about 90 seconds. About a day or so later or so this pain started.
I have scheduled an appointment with a doctor but they had no opening until over two weeks from now and this worrying is killing me. Of course I suspect cancer. Because if this was a hernia, it wouldn't be on both sides of the groin area. So I am thinking the lymph nodes are infected / inflammated. What do you think it could be? What should I do / not do while I wait on the doctor appointment?
lymph nodes that are swollen and hurt are most commonly a symptom of infection. (not so much cancer which are more commonly painless unless pushing on a nerve). You could have a cyst there as that is a common area for that to arise as well. Hydradenitis is something to look up. You could have a hair follicle issue too which can cause a painful bump. And a hernia could cause pain on both sides so do not rule it out because of that. In a situation like this, it is really best to get it checked by your doctor as it is hard to say. I would not worry excessively though. Let us know what the doctor says and the sooner you go, the sooner you end the worry!
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Thank you for your reply! I will update the thread once I've seen the doctor (in about a week from now). I hope it's not serious.
I have seen the doctor now. It turned out it was a hernia. The hospital has a long queue before I get to have it removed but the doctor said it's not dangerous to go around with the hernia even if it hurts. He said just push it back in when it starts coming out. Is that true that is isn't dangerous?
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