Difficulty And Stiffness While Chewing Food. Noticed Lumpy Swelling On Applying Pressure. What To Do?

Posted on Sun, 6 Oct 2013

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Sun, 6 Oct 2013 Answered on

Tue, 5 Nov 2013 Last reviewed on

Question : I am in Jakarta, in the last 2 hrs, after noticing difficulty & stiffness while chewing my food, I now feel a pronounced stiffness. Upon feeling behind my jaw, under my ear, I noticed a lumpy swelling, no pain on applying pressure, but the lump is as big as half a walnut. I am booked to fly out to Boston, my other home, on the 9th. a 22-hr flight. I
have no reliable Dr here, despite having researched this for the last 6 yrs. pls advise, I am so relieved to get such a prompt response. In Aug this yr, I had a tetanus shot so surely this is not lockjaw (??)

Answered by Dr. Srikanth Reddy (47 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
Could be a lymph adenitis

Detailed Answer:
Hello,

Thanks for choosing health care magic for posting your query.

I have gone through your question in detail and I can understand what you are going through.

The stiffness and the lump that you are describing could be due to a lymph node swelling as in lymphadenitis.
It may not be locked jaw. Especially if there was no recent trauma then chaces of tetanus are very rare.
The moment you reach boston you should consult your physician who can examine your throat.

Hope I am able to answer your concerns.

If you have any further query, I would be glad to help you.

In future if you wish to contact me directly, you can use the below mentioned link:

bit.ly/dr-srikanth-reddy

Wish you good health,

Kind regards

Dr. Srikanth Reddy MD

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar