Good Afternoon,

I'm terrified at the moment and was hoping for some insight from people who know a lot more about the subject than I do.

For starters, I'm a 25 y/o male and have been chewing tobacco off and on for the last 7 years, sometimes a tin a day and sometimes a tin a week.

Over the last 6 months or so I've been somewhat worried about cancer. I went to the doctor about a sore throat that was moving around my throat and had been there for a considerable amount of time. He told me it was likely seasonal and would go away and as far as I can tell, it did.

Then, sometime around two months ago I started getting sore throats again. It started with one of my tonsils, constantly burning and covered in spots but would move into my throat on the same side. It's not strep and I have a history of tonsillitis so I was unconcerned but around a week ago I really started to get worried. It felt like there was a lump in my throat and I got an ear ache, but it's a strange ear ache. It's not particularly painful and doesn't feel full but it's just kind of annoying, like I want to itch it away. The first day the lump showed up, I was yelling at softball and it actually felt like something was flapping. In the days since, some days it has felt like a lump and some days just a sore throat and I haven't been able to locate it with my fingers and also don't appear to have swollen lymph nodes but the ear ache has remained consistent along with a somewhat sore neck and some soreness down the back of my head from my ear.

I really really want to believe this is something else but I can't find any other medical issue with those same symptoms. I'm planning on waiting another week or two to see if lump or ear ache disappear before getting it checked out but if any of you have any insight that leads you to believe it definitely is or is not cancer it would be a tremendous help for me.

Best Wishes.

Welcome to OCF! First stop using any form of tobacco immediately! By continuing using tobacco it could only make things worse. By stopping right now, you are giving your body a chance to heal. Your symptoms could be any number of things but unfortunately they do sound like oral cancer. Find an ENT who specializes in treating oral cancer patients and get yourself checked out. Hopefully its nothing serious!

Good luck!!!

Listen to what Christine says. All ENT's are not created equal, you want one with specific experience in oral cancer. You didn't say where you are from, but it will be in your interest to seek this exam at one of the Comprehensive Cancer Centers (CCC) if you live near one. On the OCF web pages is a list of CCC; start reading.

Whatever this thing turns out to be, let us know, we are all interested.

Good luck with it.

Tony

Welcome to OCF.
The one great thing about you posting here is your recognition of being frightened of cancer. So, QUIT tobacco now, no matter what happens! You know better so just stop.

Do see an ENT, just go to a qualified one. One that know what oral cancer looks like and will do a biopsy as indicated.

You likely have something else going on so you do want to find a qualified ENT who equally recognizes, diagnoses, and treats other symptoms.

You surely don't want an oral cancer specialist ENT to declare you don't have oral cancer yet misses some other maybe unusual condition that a different ENT would see.

Regardless of what this turns out to be I hope you have already quit using all tobacco and will do so for the rest of your life.

Do get a ENT to check you out.

I actually threw my last tin out a little over a month ago when I heard the news about Tony Gwynn and never intend on buying another. Thank you all for the advice. The more I've read the more I have realized that my symptoms could be indicative of any number of different issues so I'm still planning on giving it a little time before I go in but I will be sure to update when I know more.