Beginning two weeks ago, I started getting pain in my arms and chest. I eventually narrowed it down to my lymph nodes in my armpits. They would swell up and become painful. However, this would only happen when I drank alcohol. I drink whiskey regularly, and any time I would drink whiskey, one lymph node (not both) under one armpit would swell up and become painful. I read how this can be a symptom of Hodgkin s lymphoma, which really got me worried. I went to my primary care physician, and she said she knew of no correlation between food/drink and lymph inflammation. I asked her why one of my lymph nodes would consistently become swollen and painful when I drank alcohol, and she just shrugged. Can you help explain why the lymph nodes under my armpits would become swollen and painful, but only when drinking alcohol?