swollen cheek & sore throat

[Stacia99]

Back in May my left cheek hurt for a few minutes and then swelled up, and stayed swollen for days.  I was  told by an urgent care doc it was probably a virus, and I did get a bad sore throat & tonsil which were very swollen and red.  Also had fatigue, muscle aches, slight fever of 99.0 to 99.6 and earaches.  After a month I was still sick, so my regular GP gave me a strep test, blood work and UA, all came back fine.  

Things didn't fully resolve until about 6 weeks later when I had antibiotics (amoxicillin) for something else.  However, I had been told my cheek wasn't bacterial, because I'd been on antibiotics just 2 days prior to the cheek swelling.

So a couple of weeks ago I finished a round of doxycycline for impetigo when the same cheek swelled up again.  After a week I got the same symptoms: sore throat, swollen tonsil, earaches, etc.  Just no fever this time, otherwise it's the same.

What could this be?  It seems so odd that this would happen after taking antibiotics twice.  Is that just coincidence?   Has this happened to anyone else?

[Stacia99]

I ended up getting a new doctor a few months later.  He said he thought it was probably a parotid gland issue, possibly because the gland inside the cheek was blocked from sinus drainage that began when antibiotics allowed the stuff in my sinuses to drain.  I have not had a sinus infection since I started treatment for sleep apnea, and I haven't had any cheek problems, either, so I think there IS a link between sinus infections and parotid gland issues.  Good luck!

[Frost80]

Dear Stacia, did you ever find out what this was? I've had exactly the same for over 2 years and no one has been able to diagnose it..... Help!!!!

[Stacia99]

I thought mumps at first, too, but the doctor I saw in May said I'd have a temperature way over 99.0 if it really was mumps.  This is so weird.

[mimi1313]

With the cheek swelling and other symptoms it sounds like mumps.

Here is an article. Let em know if it helps, it lists the symptoms:
http://www.cnn.com/HEALTH/library/DS/00125.html