Prominent lymph nodes, but only in my abdomen

[MintyGreen]

Hey, so I'm a 21 year old female. About 2 years ago I started getting abdominal pain. I saw GI and got a colonoscopy and an endoscopy and everything was fine. All my blood work was normal. So my doctor diagnoised me with IBS and gave me a new diet plan, which I followed but it hasn't helped. I started getting really bad nausea and dizziness after a while, so my doctor thought I might have an inner ear infection so she sent me to the ENT and an audiologist bc my ears started ringing and my hearing was getting worse. As it happened, I was diagnoised with CAPD a long time ago, and the audiologist told me that they'd recently discovered that sometimes CAPD can be caused by a lesion on the auditory pathway, so she sent me for a MRI where they discovered a Chiari Malformation. So they sent me to neurosurgery where I was informed I had hydrocephelous which was probably cuasing my headaches and nausea. So they put in a shunt that drains into my abdomen. Shortly after my surgery I started getting chest pain and heart burn and started spitting up bile. My nausea and stomach pain got drastically worse a week ago and my doctor sent me to the ER fearing it was appendicitis. They did a CT scan and my appendix was fine but I was told I had swollen lymph nodes in my abdomen which were probably causing my pain. And then they sent me home. But when I talked to my GP she said that my lymph nodes weren't swollen but were just "prominent." She says she can't figure out what's causing my symptoms or what caused my lymph nodes to swell since I haven't had an infection. She threw out Hodgkin's as a suggestion, but didn't look convinced. I'm not either bc while the nodes in my underarms did swell up about 2 weeks ago, they went down after and I don't have any other palpable nodes. Could I have lymphoma that is only in my abdomen?

[Ken_PA]

You should be aware that some people react to the 'excipients" in drugs and supplements. These include the fillers, dyes, binders and also maybe even the capsules. The patients can think they're reacting to the drug but sometimes it's really to the excipients.

[MintyGreen]

I haven't because I haven't been to the store. In so tired lately I'm either at work or in in bed. Which sucks because I want to start getting back to the gym and I also want to start cooking again.
I'm seeing Rheumo in a few weeks so I'll see what they say. My doctor is kind of hesitant to put me on things without being reasonably sure that they'll help because this all started as a bad reaction to Prozac but she gave me some antihistamines when I last saw her. It hasn't really helped so that's pretty disappointing, but not every med works for every person. And not a lot of meds work for me.

[Ken_PA]

I'd posted the quote above, that "while other, equally symptomatic/inflamed MCAS patients show completely normal levels of certain inflammatory markers", as a way to show that inflammation is not one thing. It's extremely complicated, and also mostly new. Not one person on earth understands it all.

That's why sometimes it's necessary to make a diagnosis just from going by symptoms and then seeing if certain treatments work. Even if a treatment works, you can't be sure why it works.

Have you tried the mint?

[MintyGreen]

I think her thought process is that if lymphoma was the cause of my abdominal pain which has been going on and getting worse for about 2 years that it would have gotten into my bone marrow.
As for the petechiae I'm pretty sure they are petechiae. My doctor thinks I've been scratching my arms subconsciously or in my sleep. Which I'm not sold on because they only appeared a few months ago, I've never had them before.
They're pinprick small bright red dots on my arms, my legs, and I have a few on my breasts. Now the thing you mentioned does look like this large splotch I have over my left breast but ive had that for a while, at a minimum two years. My mom says I didn't have it before, but I think its just a birthmark
I do know that a butterfly rash goes with lupus, and I also know I dont have lupus. My doctor tested for it because of my blush but my tests came back clean. I have no signs of immflamation. With nothing else panning out though she decided to send me to rheumotology in case it is somehow immflamation and we've just missed it. That's what my appointment this week is for.
She's also sending me back to Neuro bc I've developed a tic in the cold and my tremor has come back. Which means I gotta go back to my neurologist who kinda sucks, but maybe I can see someone else.

[Ken_PA]

What you have seems more like rosacea then. You used the term "butterfly rash" which you probably know goes with lupus, but you don't seem to have that.

"unconscious scratching" That doesn't sound right.

"And she says that the CBC came back clean so she feels we can rule out lymphoma completely now."   That doesn't make sense. I don't think you have lymphoma, but a person with lymphoma can have a normal CBC for a long time at the beginning.


Just for the heck of it, find some pictures of urticaria pigmentosa and see if that looks like your arm. Here's one for starters: https://hellodoktor.com/health-centre/dermatology-health-center/5-must-know-things-urticaria-pigmentosa/

[MintyGreen]

I don't think in can really call and check because my family is military so I just kind of get stuck with doctors. And even if I could, i had to schedule it like 2 months in advance so I'd rather just go and then if need be get a referral to immunology.
I dont really have flushing attacks, so to speak?? Its more that I constantly have red cheeks. It kind of looks like a butterfly rash, but its not as red. But other than that and some petechiae I dont really have any other skin symptoms. And my cheeks have been like that for as long as I can remember. Though my cheeks get hot which is more new, but its also not really concerning. My petechiae on my arms started a bit aftwr my stomach pain, but my doctor says that its probably just from subconscious scratching.
I did get good news. My blood work came back fine. My doctor thought I might have a thyroid issue so she wanted to check it, but  according to her not only are my thyroid levels fine, they're actually pretty much perfect. And she says that the CBC came back clean so she feels we can rule out lymphoma completely now.
Also my amylase levels have gone down. Apparently when I went to the ER they were over 900 and now they're down to 310. Which is "still high, but moving in a good direction." My lipase levels are also still fine so my doctor's not really worried about that either.