Doctors Blamed My Symptoms on Anxiety. My Blood Test Told a Different Story - Newsweek

As I sat at my desk in September 2025, I mentally prepared to join yet another work call during a particularly stressful period. My fellow remote workers will understand how difficult it can be to sit still through a day packed with video calls.

As I listened in on yet another meeting, I absent-mindedly reached up and rubbed my neck, a small self-soothing habit I barely gave a second thought.

While the team chatted, my hand grazed over a lump in my collarbone. I knew that was not normal, and I certainly had not noticed it before. I tried to remain focused, but something about this lump concerned me.

After a few days passed, the lump was still there and my fears increased. As a result, I made an appointment with my GP to get a second opinion. It was there, however, that I was told it was “just a swollen lymph node” and nothing to worry about. Before sending me home, the doctor noted that I should come back if the lump did not go away in six to eight weeks.

So, for the next few months, I had to lie in wait, wondering what was happening within my own body.

It was around six weeks after I noticed the lump in my collarbone that I finally got an ultrasound. Yet again, I was told I did not need to worry because it looked like a reactive lymph node caused by infection or inflammation. They made it sound so futile and minor.

I still couldn’t accept that, so I saw a different GP with the ultrasound scan report and they also told me not to worry. She didn't think anything was seriously wrong but said that sometimes lymph nodes fibrose from past infections. I sought another opinion, and they also said it wasn't concerning and likely due to an infection.

In total, five doctors told me it was just a swollen lymph node and nothing to worry about.

I have had health anxiety for several years, but this time, it felt different. I had a gut feeling something was seriously wrong and it just didn't sit right with me that the doctors weren't concerned enough to try to find out why the lymph node was swollen. I hadn't been unwell for quite some time, so if the supposed infection I must have had was severe enough to make my lymph node swell for months, wouldn't I have noticed?

As the months progressed and doctors kept insisting there was nothing wrong, I became increasingly fatigued. I was so anemic that I couldn't walk very far, and my legs kept getting weaker. I lost over 40 pounds without trying, had pain in my back which kept getting worse, and I woke up drenched in sweat most nights. I started taking anti-depressants around that time, so I just put all the side effects down to the new medication.

Weeks turned into months and the new year began, and all the while, my health continued to decline.

Not being taken seriously by numerous doctors left me terrified, and I started to wonder if my time was ticking. What if something was truly wrong and it went undiagnosed for months? What if there was no longer a cure because it was too late?

Those questions really took a toll on me mentally. In fact, I had to take time away from work because it all got too much. I felt incredibly isolated because people kept telling me to trust the doctors and to just let it go, but deep down, I knew I couldn’t.

As my condition showed no signs of improving, I went back to the GP in mid-January 2026. They agreed to do blood tests to find out what was going on, but they were reluctant because they didn’t expect to find anything.

Yet, 24 hours later, everything changed.

I received an urgent call, telling me that my blood results were highly abnormal and I needed to come back. I will never forget the haunted look on my GP's face when she saw the results and realized I was seriously unwell. My inflammation marker was 207 (whereas the normal range is below 5), so I was sent straight to the hospital for a chest X-ray.

Finally, someone was listening to me.

Doctors suspected I could have lymphoma, but it was another six weeks before I got the results from my biopsy, PET, CT and spinal MRI scans. At first, I was told there were malignant cells in my spine, and that alone petrified me. I'd spent so long being told it was anxiety and all in my head, so I didn't tell anyone what was happening.

I still had to wait two more weeks before my diagnosis meeting. Although I had waited six months already, those final weeks felt longer than ever.

When I showed up for the consultation on February 25, I thought I was prepared for the worst. But now I know that nothing can prepare you to hear the words, “you have stage four Hodgkin's lymphoma.”

I spent months pleading to be taken seriously, and once I eventually got my answer, everything happened in a whirlwind. Just one week after learning that I have cancer, I had to start chemotherapy.

I did six cycles of chemotherapy (12 infusions in total) over the next six months. The first round of chemo gave my body such a brutal battering, I ended up in the ICU for five nights.

Chemotherapy has been incredibly tough and completely humbled me. But certain things have helped me through, such as my wonderful friends, dark humor and laughter, and the levity of dancing in my living room when I was strong enough.

At present, I am waiting for a PET scan to see if I'm in remission or whether I'll need more treatment.

I’m not sure the realities of this year have sunk in yet, but I dare say that my mental health actually improved once I got the diagnosis. Of course, I was devastated to learn that I have cancer, but knowing I had answers and a plan to treat the cancer really helped. All this time, it was the uncertainty that had been weighing me down.

One thing that has really helped is setting up a TikTok account (@lymphnbass). This has been my journal where I have documented the highs and lows of treatment, and it helped me find a supportive online community.

I have connected with so many people whose symptoms were labeled as anxiety, only to end up with a stage four diagnosis like me. This needs to change and it's something I will continue to speak about. Too many young people get dismissed by doctors because they are deemed too young for cancer, but with the diagnosis rates on the rise, this is simply not true.

To anyone else concerned about their health, always trust your gut feeling.

You know your body better than anyone, so if you feel like something is wrong, keep advocating for yourself.

Emma Alexandra, 43, resides in London, U.K., and has been using social media to showcase her experience of Hodgkin's lymphoma (@lymphnbass on TikTok). She shares the everyday realities of cancer, chemotherapy, and her ongoing healing journey.