Scarleteen

hi everyone,

i've been kinda freaking out because yesterday i noticed one of the lymph nodes in my groin was swollen. of course i hop to google and everything is telling me i have hiv or cancer (or both!) but i'm trying not to catastrophize and jump to the worst conclusion. i feel fine otherwise. my period should be coming really soon but it's a little late because my diet and sleep have been wack lately, so maybe the swelling could be because of that? i'm not too sure because it's never happened before. sometimes the nodes in my neck swell for no reason and it's fine but this is concerning because i can only remember the ones in my groin swelling once or twice before. my boyfriend and i always use a condom when we have sex but i'm thinking the swelling could be caused by one of two (or maybe both?) things: the first being how i often hold my pee during school because trans stuff so maybe the bacteria that could have built up is just getting fought off in that lymph node; the second being how i've been lazy in cleaning my vibrator lately, which i do use for penetration (gross, i know). i'm hoping the swelling stops soon but my mom said she can make me an appointment if it doesn't go away in a few weeks. if anyone has any idea what this could be, let me know. thank you :^)

Hey phantomdog,

Welcome to the boards!

I'm glad you felt comfortable checking-in with your mom about this! We can't diagnose things over the computer, so I think going to a healthcare provider sounds like a great plan. Since you are feeling pretty stressed about this right now, why not go ahead and have you or your mom make the appointment for this week? And once you've got that set, yes keep reminding yourself to not catastrophize! If you need some self-care ideas to distract you, here's a good list: Self-Care a La Carte.

A few other secondary things from your post: I'm glad to hear you and your boyfriend are using condoms! Are you using them for all types of sex? Also, do you want to talk more about being trans at your school? (I'm a cis gal but we've got some trans and genderqueer people on staff who I'm sure would be happy to chat if you'd rather hear from them!). Or do you want to talk more about how to properly clean your vibe?

thank you!

my mom will be making an appointment tomorrow (not without her usual attitude but what can you do about it) because i just noticed one of the lymph nodes in my thigh is also swollen.

and yeah, we currently only have penetrative sex together which we always use condoms for :^) and i'm out at school! my school is really accepting and affirmative but there's only one gender neutral bathroom which can be hard to get to throughout the day, but that's something i can work around by talking to my teachers and stuff, i just need to put in the effort. same goes for cleaning my vibe, which i did properly yesterday.

hopefully i'm okay, i just need to hold tight until the apointment

I'm glad you have an appointment coming up! Hopefully that'll set your mind at ease.
One note on your vibrator: if it's a shape you can easily fit a condom over, you might give that a try; it's good to keep it clean as well, but throwing a condom over the vibrator is a way to keep anything that might have built up on it out of your body.

today was the doctor's appointment and it went well! the doctor told me the lymph nodes weren't enlarged at all but it was probably more prominent because the node rests on a ligament, making it closer to the surface of the skin. so none of them are swollen and most of my concerns and other symptoms were psychological. i feel a lot better, thank you to everyone :^)