Hi both Julia and Dove.

I am an 18 year old male, Sometime between last night and this morning i got the very same lump about the size of a small pea, right hand side, about 5-10 millimeters from the tip etc.
I am kind of worried because i am/was a smoker. i smoked for about 4 years and quit last night at middnight. although i would like to think it could just be something swollen or a petty infection but knowing my luck im in for an unwanted surprise. I would hate for my parents to have to go through this if it is what i think it is. Any suggestions about what i should do first and so forth?
, i have a ENT specialist appointment on the 11th of october but that is for my ear (long story). Im thinking i would be able to ask them to check it out while im there?
Any response would be greatly appreciated.

Good Morning Zac,
Your ENT man will probably take a look but it would be a good idea to have a chat with your GP.
If the lump grew from nothing to the size of a pea overnight it is either one of the fastest growing cancers on record or something else and I would put my money on the second option.But don't ignore it, see your GP, no one can afford to take a risk where there is even the slightest chance of the growth being malignant.
Giving up smoking is a smart move, it is not easy, stick at it. Never ever again have a puff of a cig or cigar etc one more puff and you go back to square one. When you feel you need a smoke remember the worry you have at the moment and ask yourself "is it worth the risk?" and remember this; something like 85% of mouth cancer patients are smokers!
Keep Smiling
John

Thankyou for that. I wasnt thinking very rationally or clearly which kind of make me a bit uneasy, but i really do appreciate the immediate response, it has given me a sence of reassurance. I will go to my GP and see what hi thinks i can do with it and see what happens after that. Thankyou again. Do you have any thought of what it could be? i have swollen and red tonsils atm with a very coarse throat,and the inside of my lip on the walls of my cheek is ripped up to pieces but im fairly positive thats from a different occurance althought they did happen within a 10 hour period of eachother.

Good Morning again Zac,
I am neither a doctor nor a dentist, just an old chap who has been through the mill with mouth cancer (four times to date and currently awaiting the result of yet another biopsy)so I have an idea on the kind of tricks a worried mind can play.However I am not in a position to suggest what your problem might be, your GP is the best person to sort things out. Please let us know how you get on.Your mouth sounds a bit of a mess, what have you been doing chewing hand grenades?
Keep Smiling
John

Hi John

I hope everything goes well. I've got everything crossed for you.

Zac
Congrats on quitting smoking. I hope you stay that way. Trust me, your parents probably are already aware that there's something amiss. When you go to the ENT please don't go alone. Ear pain was my major symptom. They'll check out your ears as a matter of course. They found no redness, swelling or anything. Under normal circumstances that's a good thing; in my case it meant no infection, but was an indicator of tongue cancer. Is it possible that you've bitten or burnt it? Still, don't ignore it.

Let us know how it turns out.

Julia

Again thankyou both for the info. it puts my mind at ease a bit.
John haha it is true, my mouth and throat is a bit of a warzone atm,i did have a bit of a big weekend when i did some things i usually dont which is making me think but i just cant shake the feeling that the smoking has had something to do with the bump.

Julia thankyou for the support. you both sound so comfortable with talking about it with me (a total stranger) and i thankyou for this. Looking at my ear will be of no use, i have had about 8 operations on it for the past 13 years of my life. i guess im just a walking bombshell.
I am pretty sure that my swollen torn lip/inside of my cheek is because i bit it, mutiple times. the things i was on were basically the cause of that.
i will be sure to inform you on how it goes, is 2 weeks too long to wait you think to have it checked? because i have an ENT appointment on the 11th of october but i could contact my GP if you think i should sooner

I developed a large sublingual lump in the middle of my tongue and I am quite worried about it. It has been there for two months after suddenly appearing in a rather painful and inflammed way. (A similar lump appeared under my chin at exactly the same time but subsequently disappeared although the tongue lump has remained). The inflammation went down and the lump seemed smaller so my dentist thought I could wait and see what happens but a few days ago I suddenly felt it has grown and gotten harder and feels painful again.

I went to see a local ENT but he has no idea what it is and wants me to wait another 5 weeks to see. He seemed unconcerned that it could be cancer or anything malignant. I feel concerned that it would be dangerous to wait any longer. He says doing a biopsy or an MRI would be of no help.

I did not feel good about the first ent so today I saw a second one who I felt much better about. He felt confident it was not cancer BUT he said he had absolutely no idea what it was and never saw or heard of anything like this in his 35+ years of practicing. He guessed it could be an infection and put me on antibiotics. He also said I should see a Head and Neck specialist in 10 days. He was very concerned about the position of the lump and thought it will likely need removal and this will be very bad because of the location.

Does anyone out there have anything to share with me? I would greatly appreciate any insights or further information. I'm scared and not sure what to do.

Thanks for any help!

Jeez, lygio,

I thought ENTs were head and neck specialists. I guess specialists have specialists.

I was under diagnosed for tonsil cancer three times by my primary doc who thought it was a viral infection and my treatment was to "be patient." Fortunately he was on vacation when I made yet another appointment and the Nurse Practioner said, "What's this? We better send you to an ENT for a biopsy." Tumor caught early despite my doc; immediate treatment and I'm cancer free for three years now.

If you're in Northern California I suggest you make an appt at UCSF, Stanford or UCD (Davis). If in Southern California, you've got plenty of choices and I suggest you go to this website (SoCal based) for local information. It's not as friendly as this one but they are more familiar with our facility options.

Cancer Forum

The last ENT you saw should be able to refer you to one of the big guns. Please demand this!

Let us know how you're doing. Mystery cases interest everyone and I'm so sorry you have to have one of them.

Take care,

Mimi

it's been a while since i posted but i wanted to wait to be sure the good news was true...

i am extremely lucky and happy to say that it turns out the lump was a mysterious infection. after all the scary dire predictions and the crazy unknown phase where they couldn't test me something happened. the lump continued to grow and a white patch hit the surface so finally the last ent had something he could biopsy. he put me on some strong antibiotics and i am so thankful and glad to report that that did the trick and it's shrank to almost nothing. it's still there but very small and i will monitor it to see if it grows again. luckily something of the lump infection hit the surface of my tongue or else they were talking that the only other way was to cut in there which would seriously compromise so many functions of my mouth.

anyone out there reading this: please urge your doctor to consider that the lump could be an infection and to try antibiotics. it's crazy that three serious and long time doctors were completely at a loss to guess what the lump was. thank goodness it all turned out this way. i'm grateful and feel lucky and i hope this will help others who may get the same run around and be able to help their doctors find the solution.

thanks so much for your supportive replies to my e-mail. it was kind and thoughtful of you to write. i felt encouraged and appreciative of this forum where i could express my concerns.

thanks and love

another thing in case you have a similar issue...

the second ent put me on antibiotics that did not work and that was depressing because it seemed to be ruling out an infection. as a matter of fact while i was on that course of antibiotics the lump got bigger and went to the surface, which was lucky, because it was an infection that needed more specific, different and stronger antibiotics. so even if antibiotics don't work at first be sure your doctor has prescribed the right ones!

Lygio, What kind of infection was it in the end?

:
Hey all. I haven't been able to get into a Dr. yet, but I have a question. I've seen a couple of messages referring to this, but not exactly.

I have a small lump (the size of a pea?) on the INSIDE of my tongue on my right side. It can't be seen quite easily and it's soft. i never noticed that or better to say i never thought it could be something important. until i went to my dentist today and she found out by checking the tongue there is a lump. i told her i had never smoked cigarettes in my life and never drank alchohol. she told me then there is no reason to worry about it but it's better to go for a check up in dental hospital by time. i have become quite worried since and noticed now that i know it it's a bit sore on the side of the tongue when i bite it. I also feel it's a slightly sore when i eat something. i just want to know until i go to the hospital for the check up if it is definitely cancer or can it be something differnt as well. By the way i'm 55 years old and am very sporty and do loads of other types of relaxation excercises like Yoga and Tai Chi and meditation. None of my family members had tongue cancer. It'ss be great if you tell me what it might possibly be.
Thanks a lot for your help.

Maryam

Good afternoon Maryam,
No one would try to give you an online diagnosis.
There are a number of reasons why lumps appear in the mouth and it has to be said that one of the reasons is cancer but there are many which are not cancer, however it makes sense to get the lump checked out by the experts.
Keep Smiling
John

hi again everyone,

i haven't visited for a while so first i will answer oritil who asked what kind of infection i had in the end. i don't know but i still have the prescription bottle. i took Clindamycin HCL 300 mg for ten days. the lump almost completed deflated very quickly and now, in january, there is only the tiniest lump that i guess is a bit of a scar.
maryam, for sure go check your tongue with an ENT specialist as soon as possible. be sure he considers the option that it's an infection. also, i first was given weak antibiotics that had no effect on my lump. the second stronger round did the trick. good luck. i hope you are fortunate and also discover that your strange lump is just an infection!
all the best to everyone here!

Hi, I'm only 12 and this lump in my toungue is so annoying. But if I press on it, it hurts ... a lot. It feels like a ball in the middle of my toungue. And I have woken up in the middle of the night crying because it hurts so bad. My moms a nurse and she told me its from accidentnly biting mu tounge too hard on accident.