Hello
A worried 38 yr F here.
I have been having pain and irritation in my lingual tonsil area for over 4 months. It is not sore throat. Just very raw irritated feeling. It is almost constant.

I have been scoped 3 times by ENT from UCLA and 2 times by ENT from Cedars Sinai (both large leaders in ENT neck cancers). The third time the ENT was so thorough, did a very detailed exam incl neck and palpations.
Then kind of said again that my lingual tissue is irritated
due to GERD or post nasal drip. And that he feels it will be complete waste to send me to CT scan and he cant bipsy because he cant find any irregularity. The lymph tissue is enlarged, but not a single spot stands out to biopsy.

Specifically, he explained that HPV+ usually presents with a cystic neck mass in the jugular level 2 or 3, and the tumor is so tiny, it typically doesnt cause pain.
If pain, then the tumor is larger, hence, you almost always have lymph node above 2cm on your neck.
Do you mind sharing whether any of you had nasty pain in the lingual tonsil area as presenting symptom?

I am heading to Oral cancer expert in a week but my mind is restless. So hard to ignore 1. 2 highly trained doctors or 2. the pain that doesnt go away