Painful Lymph Nodes

Painful lymph nodes usually indicate the presence of some infection in the body. The human body has lymph nodes in several places - in the neck, under the lower jaw, in the armpits, in the groin, in the chest between the lungs and in other places.

Signal of inflammation

Nodules are a kind of signaller of inflammation, because if there is an infection somewhere in the body, the nodes near it become larger and painful when touched. That's because immune reactions take place there, and most of the time inflammation starts there.

TIP: read more aboutenlarged lymph nodes

However, in the case of infection and inflammation, the nodes may not be enlarged too much. Rather, only a slight swelling and the area on the surface of the skin near the lymph nodes is reddened. This too is an outward symptom that something is happening in the nodes.

But the skin is not only red, it is also warm. And if there is more inflammation or an untreated infection, the lymph nodes can swell so much that they are visible as a smaller lump. But this is very rare and it is then a different type of symptom than pain.

Head and neck nodules

The picture below shows how the lymph nodes in the head and neck area are distributed. With various inflammations, as well as other diseases, their enlargement can occur in the area in question, of course, also soreness.

1. nodules in front of the earlobe
2. behind the ears
3. parotic, superficial and deep
4. nape
5. submandibular
6. under the chin, several small nodules
7. - 9. lateral cervical, external cervical, superficial and deep
10. anterior cervical
11. nodules above the collarbone

What are painful nodules a symptom of?

Painful enlarged nodules at the site where the infection is in the body, many times cause more problems for the affected person than the pain of the disease itself, which manifests itself through the nodules. For example, if it is a sore throat, the pain from the lymph nodes in the neck or under the lower jaw is greater than the sore throat itself.

However, in most infections, the nodules only hurt when touched at the site and may not be such a big problem for the person themselves. Several groups of diseases are manifested by painful nodes.

 These include inflammatory diseases and infectious diseases of the respiratory tract, such as nasopharyngitis, tonsillitis or inflammatory diseases of the organs of the upper respiratory tract.

But painful nodules can also signal completely different diseases. For example, nodules on the back of the head at the level of the ears can be a symptom for toxoplasmosis. Alternatively, below the ears, painful nodules may point to middle ear infection.

Between the eye and the ear there are lymph nodes, which hurt as a result of conjunctivitis. On the throat, the lymph nodes swell and hurt with diphtheria, tonsillitis and other diseases in the oral cavity.

If there are enlarged and painful nodules in the armpit, it may be inflammation of the mammary gland. The distinguishing sign between inflammation and, for example, a tumour is precisely the pain. The tumour of the mammary gland does not cause the nodes to hurt, they are only enlarged.

Painful nodules near the groin, signal infectious and inflammatory diseases either in the lower limbs or within the genital organs, such as syphilis, herpetic diseases caused by viruses, or chlamydial infection, which mainly affects the female genital organs.

However, there are also diseases that cause soreness of multiple nodes. For example, infectious mononucleosis, HIV or chickenpox. Similarly, swelling of all lymph nodes occurs in diseases such as infectious mononucleosis, toxoplasmosis, or HIV.

Painful nodules may also indicate less widespread diseases such as scarlet fever, mastitis or chronic fatigue syndrome. However, there are, of course, other symptoms that may be more suggestive of a specific diagnosis.

Enlarged nodes that are not painful

Enlargement of the lymph nodes also takes place for tumor diseases, but in this case there is no pain on touch. This is also how enlarged lymph nodes can be distinguished in leukemia and lymphoma, but also in other cancers.

Of course, to determine these serious diseases, a professional medical examination is necessary.

Warning signs of lymph node enlargement:

• sudden enlargement and rapid growth
• over 3 cm in size
• no redness
• no pain
• firm consistency
• in the armpit, neck and above the collarbone
• increase in body temperature up to 38°C
• fatigue
• weight loss
• pronounced sweating at night
• itching of the skin
• shortness of breath
• swelling of the body, e.g. head, neck, armpits, groin, lower limbs