Hi Oscar,
and welcome to the forum. We have all freaked out at one point or another so you lots of company here. Remember when you read things here that many posters have had much more severe issues than the norm so it's easy to read the worst case scenario into it. I kept doing the "do your diagnosis stuff" and was wrong most of the time (I actually thought that one of my salivary glands was a recurrence) :p . These guys really do earn their medical degrees. The internet "information superhighway" is full of chuckholes too. I still have areas in my throat that change from time to time, sometimes day to day, and it's perfectly normal. You will be noticing things that have probably been there all along but now that you are good and scared they take on a life of their own (and that's ok because oral cancer is pretty scary stuff).

One other thing I discovered is that there are lots of knots in the muscles in the lower neck. This is very common, especially in people who work at computers a lot. If you have lumps in the upper neck these need to be investigated.

If, in the unlikely possibility that it is cancer than the quicker you have a accurate diagnosis and get into treatment, the better the outcome. If you don't have complete confidence in the current diagnosis (and it sounds like you don't or you wouldn't be posting here) then I would find the closest comprehensive cancer center and get a referal to a head and neck surgeon - and don't delay.

You didn't mention any other tests but a typical workup for head and neck would include:

MRI (sometimes CT)
PET (or PET/CT)
Chest x-ray
Nasolarygnascope (sp?). Fiberoptic scope down the nose
Direct visualization with mirrors and palpation
Biopsy/pathology report
blood work ups
kidney function test
hearing test

Except for the hearing test and kidney function (these are more related to the treatment part of it), these are ALL of the steps and data needed to have an accurate diagnosis.

Brian is a physiology wiz so I am sure he will have some things to tell you also.

Many things could be causing the symptoms you are describing. Don't freak out yet - it's NOT cancer until the pathology report is in. Keep us updated.

I am not embarrassed to admit that I took anti-anxiety medications for a long time.