Help! Lump in armpit - Hopefully my story helps

Help - Question by Anonymous

This info may help others if I explain my scenario. I was taking a shower and suddenly noticed a bump / lump swollen in my arm pit, it felt like a small marble lump but could slightly wiggle it if I poked at it. It wasnt sore but it was just appeared out of the blue, so I wasnt sure if I should go to a doctor or not. At first I thought maybe it was a cyst but after reading online it said many lymph nodes are located in arm pit in different spots, so I realized thats what this was.

Of course it makes you panic and think about it all the time, and this stuff is very easy to make you panic and over think it. The strange thing is it appeared when I had no colds and I didnt have any coughs or anything I noticed which is normally what causes lymph nodes to swell. Keep in mind you can have a virus or bacteria without showing symptoms though (just like some people with covid had no symptoms from it while others did).

Anyways after about a week my lymph node was still swollen and it felt the same size in my arm pit. I was really hoping it would go down after a few days. I read that soap or antiperspirant can cause this (not sure if its true) but in my case I was using the same ones I always used.

Anyways after 12 days it seemed like the lump was slightly smaller. I was debating how long should I wait before going to a doctor and I kept looking at it closely in the shower. It finally was no longer swollen and it took me about 16 total days. Keep in mind I never had a cold, cough, sore throat or anything, so you can get swollen lymph node even without noticing anything like that. Also it doesnt just disappear overnight, it goes down slowly over multiple days.

Answer - Anonymous

No for me it was longer then that. I noticed the lump a little smaller after 2 weeks because in shower it just wasnt as obvious to me. At first I thought I was just imagining it because you always over think it. I would say it probably took about 6 days to be to the point where I couldnt notice it anymore unless I really poked hard and dug around feeling for a lump there so it takes some time.