I'm a 36 year old healthy male. About 3 weeks ago I was at
my doctors office because I had a small lump that was slowly
forming behind my right ear, lower area behind the ear where
your ear meets your skull. This lump was kind of soft and
was about the size of a pea and slowly getting bigger. It
was not shaped perfectly round. It was becoming increasing
more sensitive to touch so I went to see my doctor. My
doctor agreed that something was there. While he was
examining it with his hands I suddenly felt a sharp pain in
the lump. I twitched and I said ouch!. He examined it some
more and said: "Lets watch it and see what it does. If it
doesn't go away or if it gets bigger and more sensitive come
back and see me". I said ok. The lump started shrinking the
very next day and now it feels like it's completely gone.
About 6 days after I saw my doctor for the lump behind my
ear I came down with runny nose. In a matter of 2 more days
I was clearly ill (extremely exhausted, congested, coughing)
from some kind of flu virus or bacteria. After 5 days of
cold/flu symptoms I started running a fever. I ran a fever
of about 101 for only 1-2 days. The fever broke and then I
was left with a lingering dry cough and sinus congestion. I
missed a full week of work. On day 9 I went to the walk-in
clinic because the cough and congestion was not clearing up.
The doctor at the clinic put me on generic Bactrim.
After taking Bactrim for 4 days I developed severe acute
lower back pain, while my congestion and coughing improved
slightly. I've had this severe lower back pain for the
past 2.5 days. Today is day 14 since I came down with the
runny nose which seemed to start it all. The back pain is
bad enough to where it's extremely difficult and painful
to roll over while laying in bed. Walking and sitting is
possible and only brings slight pain. Bending to putting
on shoe/socks is extremely painful and difficult. Coughing
while sitting down will also cause these sharp pains.
Getting in and out of the car is extremely difficult. I
haven't done any lifting or anything that should have
strained my muscles. This is a full 14 days after the
original runny nose. My congestion is almost nearly gone
but now I have the severe back pain. I've strained my
lower back many times over the past 20 years and the pain
I'm experiencing now is nothing like what I felt with my
other strains. This is much more painful and I'm wondering
if it's a nerve, kidney problem, or something else. My
doctor prescribed Tylenol 3 with Codeine for relief from
the back pain.
When I went to see my doctor 3 weeks ago about the lump, as
I described earlier, while he was squeezing the lump I felt
a sharp pain and the next day the lump started shrinking. My
question is this: If my doctor squeezed the lump and the
lump popped or broke (3 weeks ago), could the release of
whatever this lump was into my body have caused the
virus/bacteria/flu symptoms and is now causing the sharp
pains in lower back area?