I have the following symptoms and am concerned it might be cancer:

painful bump on left side of tongue
white patch that covers entire left side of tongue
red patch on left side of tongue
painful bump underneath tongue in front, white and red bumps (also painful) on floor of tongue
numbness in mouth
lump on right side of neck that is painful to touch and painful without touching (intermittent pain, not constant)
ear aches in left and right ears (intermittent, but frequent throughout the day)
pain in jaw during and after eating
feeling of tightness in jaw
sores in both nostrils that come and go with regularity

This all began about two months ago. Since Monday, my symptoms have grown progressively and rapidly worse. The pain in my mouth gets worse (lasting about four days), then lets up. I should also add that the white and red patches look a lot like the pictures of leukoplakia and erythroplakia that I've seen on the internet.

I have smoked for a total of six out of the last ten years. I was also diagnosed with HPV in my early twenties.

I will be seeing my general physician tomorrow.

I know you can't give me a diagnosis, but I do wonder if anyone knows of diseases/infections/whatever that would mimic oral cancer symptoms?

Any information you can give me would be appreciated! I am so anxious!

Thanks,
Bethany

Bethany,

You are doing the right thing by seeing a physician. Most likely he will refer you to an ENT or some other oral specialist. Let us know what your primary care doctor says and we'll take it from there.

P.S. Stop the smoking forever.

Let us know how your appointment goes. I will be thinking about you.

I agree with David 100%, stop smoking forever.

Even if there were other conditions with the same symptoms, it would be dangerous to assume, then, that it's not cancer. Keep your appointment and if it is cancer, get ready for a whirlwind of appointments, questions, more questions and then treatment. Stay with this board all the way, people here will be a great help.

Thank you all for your advice and encouragement. I have quit smoking for over a month now, and will keep it up. I will let you know how everything goes. Thanks again!

Bethany

Bethany

Welcome to OCF. You will find lots of help and support here. Your doctor should be sending you to an ENT. They will sometimes do the biopsy themselves or send you to an oral surgeon for it. That is the only way to tell if its cancer.

One thing you mentioned was how much it hurt. An oral cancer sore normally isnt painful. Its possible you have a pre-cancerious lesion.

Either way, a biopsy will tell. Its normally a 3 visit thing. First the consultation and they take insurance info. Next is the biopsy and finally about a week later the results come in. Try not to get upset before you know what it is that you are dealing with. Oral cancer is cureable.

Best of luck.

My primary care physician referred me to an ENT, but not before attempting various alternate explanations for my symptoms such as "it's a viral thing", "stress", "TMJ", and "bruxism". Even after I explained to her that I saw my dentist in January and he noted no such dental issues, she persisted in stating that she thought I should see if it will "go away on its own" (this is my soon-to-be former physician's M.O., as I have experienced in the past when I was later diagnosed by other doctors with gastroparesis, gall stones, and appendicitis).

Needless to say, I had to press her for the referral, which she eventually agreed to make.

Thanks again to everyone for the helpful advice.

You situation sounds like my situation. I had to start getting serious pain before anyone did anything about it. Just keep pushing the Drs and do not give up. Your body knows when somethign is not right.

I must have had ay leasty 4 or 5 ER Drs that just glsanced in my mouth and said nothing to worry about. BarbT was with me for everyone, She probaly knows more about it than I do. Maybe she will post about sometime if she is here. THose guys can tick a clock backwards at times.

Jim, I love your sayings, tick a clock backwards...awesome!

What I've found is that even the "professionals" that should know what they are looking at can miss it and the only one that is really looking out for your best interest is you. I had my regular dentist in my mouth 3 times and he missed my stage 4 lesion as did his hygenists and assistants who gave me a cancer screening....pfft. Regular dr.s forget more then they know and when it comes to cancer it's best to stick to the specialists. As all of these experienced, intelligent people have given great advice the only thing I can stress is to not stress until they say it's cancer...and then know that it's not the end of the world if it is.

Good luck