For about 3 days now I have had pain in the left side of my throat. It isn't an inside 'sore throat' type pain and usually doesn't hurt when I swallow. Instead, it is a pain on the left side of my windpipe that I can locate by touch. It hurts more when my head is in different positions and the pain increases at night when I sleep. The pain radiates to my left jaw by the time I wake up. The pain throbs like a toothache at times and seems to subside when I am standing or sitting up. However, I can always locate the pain by touch. A trip to the emergency room yesterday got me nothing more that some percocets. I am 31 yrs old but I am a tobacco user so this scares me. The er doctor spoke of viral infections and indicated that it could be some type of muscular or nerve problem because the pain changes based on the position and movement of my head. I have no swelling or lumps nor do I have blood in my saliva, a cough, or other cancer type indicators.

Any advice? Anyone else have similar symptoms? Sound like anything? Thanks