Are there any glands in the back of your neck below your head?

Swollen glands in back of head, ear, and neck, what could this be?

• I'm a healthy 20-year-old female with no history of health problems. Yesterday morning, I woke up and noticed I had a swollen lymph node on the lower right side of the back of my head. Then this morning, upon waking up, I have another swollen lymph node behind my right ear and on the right side of my neck. They are so sore and and painful to touch. I don't feel sick or like something is wrong with me which is worrying me sick. My best friend caught the flu and I don't know if I caught it now or what. I will say that last week, I was ill due to food poisoning so I don't know if this is related to it or not. I suffer from terrible anxiety and I can't stop crying and worrying about this. I'm so afraid this could be cancer. I lost my brother to cancer and it just broke my heart. I don't have any health insurance but I plan on visiting a doctor soon, anyway. I just wanted some opinions in the meantime. It would be greatly appreciated. Thank you. x

• Answer:

  Well you gotta stop the worry . It will only make things worse. Stress does allow the lymph glands to swell . If they get pinched it will hurt a bit but the the body will fill the sacs with fatty residue and they will stay much longer. I had them eh and it was at the time of stress and no relief eh. Girls don't usually get the proverbial boil on the neck because they don't stress like a male can. But the boil is extremely painful and has to be drained. It too has residue poured into it from the blood ...like just garbage and dead white cells. It is normal for all green eyed people to have stress in life. Some will need extra help dealing with life. I think the new song 'Red Solo Cup' has a lot of wisdom for those who stress eh. Make some changes and reach out to someone.