How can i tell if my glands (lymph nodes) are swollen? if they were, would they!
Question:
How can i tell if my glands (lymph nodes) are swollen? if they were, would they hurt?
Answers:
Lymph nodes are located in all kinds of places in the body. You have them behind your ears, in your face, under your jaw at the joint, under the jaw bone in the front, on the fronts and sides of your neck, under your arms, in your chest, belly, and legs . . . they're EVERYWHERE.
Sometimes, they (lymph nodes) become swollen because of a virus or a bacterial infection. Not all of the nodes will swell, just the ones near the infection. If they swell because of an infection, they'll balloon up pretty quickly (just a couple of hours, or overnight). . . and they're usually pretty sore. These are mostly noted behind the ears, around the jaw bone, and under the arms -- because these are the most prominent.
Just because it doesn't hurt, though, doesn't mean it isn't a lymph node. If nodes swell over a longer period of time, in response to something like an auto-immune disorder, cancer, or a back-up of lymph-fluid, they may not hurt.
Just because they don't hurt, though, doesn't mean it's something serious, either -- sometimes, when you have a bacterial or viral infection, the lymph nodes swell up, and they're so darned traumatized (bless their little souls) that they scar -- they just stay swollen (and don't hurt).