DVT or muscle injury or anxiety symptoms?

[europeangirl123]

I am currently backpacking in South America and around 2 weeks ago I noticed that some parts of my lower leg are swollen (they are the size of half an egg, they don't stick out too much, but they are visible if compared to the other leg). They are located around 10 cms above my ankle on my right leg, one is towards the front on the right side, the other is on the opposite side.

I have no idea since when I have them exactly, first I was trying to wrap a cold-water cloth around that area, but it turned out they are sensitive to pressure (if I press those areas, i feel some pain "inside" -not on the surface- that is not so strong but it stays for some hours. If i walk for more than 1-2 hours, this lower leg feels heavy and tired too.
Right now I'm in a small town with not very good medical facilities, I've been to the ER to ask if this might be dvt. The doctor only did a physical examination and said it is not a vascular problem, he prescribed me anti-inflammatory pills for 5 days and advised to put something warm on my leg and raise it for a few mins several times a day.

I followed his advice and took all the pills, yet my symptoms did not get better at all, but did not get worse either. The swollen parts sometimes feel softer, sometimes harder but they are never gone. The dull pain and the heaviness feeling comes and goes, though.

No matter how much I'm googling this, i don't find anything even remotely similar. Only the swelling is constant, I have no redness, no warm skin, and a not very strong pain that is sometimes gone.

I've been struggling with anxiety (these are not typical DVT symptoms, but then WHY didn't they get better with the treatment? and why did these develop on my leg anyway?) I can't stop thinking about it and now I'm not even sure how many of my symptoms are anxiety-related (I've experienced fast heartbeat and shortness of breath for a few minutes several times since this started, but they go away when i calm down).

Also the fact that I'm in a foreign country doesn't help, I cannot have a proper consultation with doctors and we just talk with google translate. I did a 3-day camping trip with this condition, worrying I might just develop PE and collapse in the middle of nowhere.

I am not going to be in a bigger city for at least another week - my plan is to ask for a proper check up with ultrasound or d dimer test once I'm there, but i keep thinking if I should change my travel schedule and get there earlier, in case this is something urgent.

I flew here from Europe a month ago (10+ hours flight), but I made sure I moved my legs regularly, so I don't think that's the cause. I did some hikes since I've arrived but don't remember any specific injury, also, I got numerous insect bites on both legs but I doubt it's related. The only thing I can think of is that 3 weeks ago I took a crowded car ride where a friend of mine (55 kgs) was sitting on my lap the whole time (only on this leg actually), not moving much, to the point that I did not feel my leg because of the weight. This ride lasted for half an hour at most. Is it possible that something developed in my lower leg in such a short time? Is it ok to wait one more week to see a doctor again?

Sorry for the long post, please let me know if you have any clue what might be going on with me!

[Paxiled]

Anxiousnomore is right about one thing, there aren't any medical experts here and we can't see it and can't compare it to what it looked like before, but you say you're backpacking.  That implies a lot of hiking, but then you say you went on a 3 day camping trip so I'm guessing you mean you're just touring mostly populated areas with a backpack instead of a suitcase.  Having backpacked both on long mountain hikes camping all the way and touring that way in Europe, both require a lot of walking with the added stress of a heavy backpack on top of you.  If you indeed have this swelling, it's most likely stress from the walking, as this happens.  Are you staying fully hydrated, and by that I don't mean sitting in cafes and drinking alcohol, as that is dehydrating?  Are you getting your electrolytes -- this isn't easy to do when you're backpacking in any form, but in your case you might have to pay more attention to getting enough sodium, potassium, magnesium, etc.  To me, this is what it sounds like, but you're also in a place with a lot of biting bugs that even when they don't carry diseases they do produce immune system reactions, which is why you itch when you get bit -- it's your immune system fighting off the saliva they leave behind when they take a blood meal, which they use mostly to strengthen their eggs.  You're thinking traumatic illnesses and I'm thinking all the common things that happen when you travel this way in a place you're unfamiliar with -- Europe is so temperate and so easy to live in for most of the area that almost anywhere else is going to present challenges your body isn't used to.  That's seeing the world.  Don't know where you are, but if you have any access to doctors you're not in the hinterlands.  Stuff happens.  Relax, enjoy your great trip, and if you're still concerned, see a doc when you get to a city.  And don't Google symptoms -- Google can be very useful when you have a diagnosis, but it's almost impossible to cold Google symptoms and know one thing from another as the same symptoms can manifest with hundreds of different things or nothing at all.  Enjoy!

[AnxiousNoMore]

"doctor only did a physical examination and said it is not a vascular problem,..." so that is better diagnosis than you can get from a chat forum. You don't have any medical training, so not sure why you don't accept his diagnosis.