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Sore glands caused by autoimmune illness or only infection?

knackers323

Senior Member
Messages
1,625
Can a immune system overreacting in an auto immune illness cause sore and swollen glands or is it only when a current infection is present?
 

Daffodil

Senior Member
Messages
5,875
knackers excellent question. I once had a GP who insisted my sore glands could be caused by depression LOL

you can get them with infection but also with "autoimmune disease", but that might be infection too
 

Jonathan Edwards

"Gibberish"
Messages
5,256
Can a immune system overreacting in an auto immune illness cause sore and swollen glands or is it only when a current infection is present?

Certain autoimmune diseases are associated with swollen lymph nodes, although these are not usually particularly sore and tend to be different nodes from the ones that get sore with throat infections.
 

knackers323

Senior Member
Messages
1,625
Ok then, so those with cfs and sore and/or swollen glands in the neck should probably be looking for an active infection?
 

Jonathan Edwards

"Gibberish"
Messages
5,256
Ok then, so those with cfs and sore and/or swollen glands in the neck should probably be looking for an active infection?

It depends on whether they are anterior or posterior. And even if they are the anterior type most often seen with infection I am not sure that that has to be due to infection. If certain forms of ME were due to an autoimmune or autoinflammatory response that mimicked the response to infection then it might be indistinguishable from infection. After all, the symptoms we get in neck nodes with infection are mostly due to the immune response rather than a direct effect of a microbe.
 

Elph68

Senior Member
Messages
598
Ok then, so those with cfs and sore and/or swollen glands in the neck should probably be looking for an active infection?
Hi mate,

You would be right .... Try and convince a doctor that .... To them it is usually about the size .... The 'infection' is undetectable using regular procedures ..... Seems to me that it is probably a combination of bacteria acting in the same way ....
 

knackers323

Senior Member
Messages
1,625
Hi mate,

You would be right .... Try and convince a doctor that .... To them it is usually about the size .... The 'infection' is undetectable using regular procedures ..... Seems to me that it is probably a combination of bacteria acting in the same way ....


Hi @Elph68 I know you say we can't test for this but are there any signs or anything that indicates that this these bugs are causing problems?

Especially those a with no visable symptoms like the geographic tongue etc.

It is my understanding that many well people also have gut flora containing these bugs so why are they not sick as well?

And finally how exactly would we go about treating it?

Thanks
 

knackers323

Senior Member
Messages
1,625
It depends on whether they are anterior or posterior. And even if they are the anterior type most often seen with infection I am not sure that that has to be due to infection. If certain forms of ME were due to an autoimmune or autoinflammatory response that mimicked the response to infection then it might be indistinguishable from infection. After all, the symptoms we get in neck nodes with infection are mostly due to the immune response rather than a direct effect of a microbe.

Hi @Jonathan Edwards

When a healthy person has been getting little sleep, working too hard etc. and gets run down and complains of a site throat or glands in neck would this mean they have likely caught a new infection or it is one that was already there that the body has been able to keep under control previously?
 

Jonathan Edwards

"Gibberish"
Messages
5,256
Hi @Jonathan Edwards

When a healthy person has been getting little sleep, working too hard etc. and gets run down and complains of a site throat or glands in neck would this mean they have likely caught a new infection or it is one that was already there that the body has been able to keep under control previously?

I don't think any body knows the answer to that but there need not be any specific infection a t all I think. Your neck glands drain the tonsils which are constantly responding to bacteria in the throat just from the air and food - there does not need to be any infection there - the bacteria are on the outside and the reaction is probably mostly to dead rubbish. When we get run down or have some other form of illness our immune system may shift levels of cytokines so that normal activities in the tonsils may become apparent as sore glands. I doubt it has much to do with infections that were 'under control' and then not - that chiefly applies to the herpes viruses that give cold sores or shingles when latent virus re-emerges - that is not a common situation with other viruses.
 

physicsstudent13

Senior Member
Messages
611
Location
US
Your neck glands drain the tonsils which are constantly responding to bacteria in the throat just from the air and food - there does not need to be any infection there - the bacteria are on the outside and the reaction is probably mostly to dead rubbish. When we get run down or have some other form of illness our immune system may shift levels of cytokines so that normal activities in the tonsils may become apparent as sore glands. I doubt it has much to do with infections that were 'under control' and then not - that chiefly applies to the herpes viruses that give cold sores or shingles when latent virus re-emerges - that is not a common situation with other viruses.

Dear Doctor,
I've had back neck swelling for 2 years and the back of my head went numb from loss of blood flow and after being beaten unconscious I was disfigured and lost my sight from Bell's Palsy. I began taking rocephin+gentamicin+clarithromycin+vitamin C and for 8 days I had neck pain and the swelling went down some.
I am waiting for a Lyme Elisa test and have been disabled from brain fog and central apnea, PLMD seizures, hypnic jerks. I have the herpes virus and had shingles. what kind of infection do I have?
So could tonsilectomy possibly increase blood flow to the brain and help cognition?
Thanks so much
 

Jonathan Edwards

"Gibberish"
Messages
5,256
Dear Doctor,
I've had back neck swelling for 2 years and the back of my head went numb from loss of blood flow and after being beaten unconscious I was disfigured and lost my sight from Bell's Palsy. I began taking rocephin+gentamicin+clarithromycin+vitamin C and for 8 days I had neck pain and the swelling went down some.
I am waiting for a Lyme Elisa test and have been disabled from brain fog and central apnea, PLMD seizures, hypnic jerks. I have the herpes virus and had shingles. what kind of infection do I have?
So could tonsilectomy possibly increase blood flow to the brain and help cognition?
Thanks so much

I should not be advising individuals on diagnosis. But to be honest I cannot relate your story to any specific infection.
 

physicsstudent13

Senior Member
Messages
611
Location
US
the pain is radiating down my spine a few inches and whenever I leaned my head back my whole neck was swollen. Maybe it is the cervical lymph nodes. After I started the antibiotic combination I had constant neck pain for days. I think I'm going to get a lumbar puncture and brainstem MRI or CT. there was clearly a lack of blood flow and numbness because of it.
 

Elph68

Senior Member
Messages
598
Hi @Elph68 I know you say we can't test for this but are there any signs or anything that indicates that this these bugs are causing problems?

Especially those a with no visable symptoms like the geographic tongue etc.

It is my understanding that many well people also have gut flora containing these bugs so why are they not sick as well?

And finally how exactly would we go about treating it?

Thanks
Hi Knackers,

The simplest answer that I can come up with is biodiversity. Too many different types of bacteria acting in the same way and not enough protective bacteria to counteract.

I believe that most people become sick eventually .... low levels over a long term or high levels short term ends in the same result .....

It seems to me that people who are 70+ who have CFS symptoms have old age .... For us it is called CFS ....

I don't think the tests have been developed yet, outside of a university lab at least, that can detect CFS ....

Thiosulfate urine test ... Where I would start ...... systemic acidosis is another .....

Cheers.
 

SK2018

SK
Messages
239
Location
Asia wide + UK
knackers excellent question. I once had a GP who insisted my sore glands could be caused by depression LOL

you can get them with infection but also with "autoimmune disease", but that might be infection too
knackers excellent question. I once had a GP who insisted my sore glands could be caused by depression LOL

you can get them with infection but also with "autoimmune disease", but that might be infection too

Incredible seems anything they can't explain is blamed on depression now ,somebody who "suddenly" gets sick and loves their life how can they be labeled depressed ?.... #beyondwords