I wanted to ask what might cause extreme swelling and tenderness unilaterally in the submandibular lymph node? My left lymph node is so swollen you can almost see it just through inspection. It's also fairly tender and I have also have pain when talking that originates at the base of my tongue (almost where my tonsils are at). It happened overnight and I'm to the point where I'm not sure if I should go the the ED. I tried looking in my mouth to the spot where the pain was on my tongue and it almost looks as though there is a chancre or some sort of lesion there. But I'm not sure because of how far back it is, I had a hard time moving my tongue out of the way. Could that be causing the severe swelling in the lymph? And should I be worried enough to go to the ED?
I have also had a fever since last Tuesday that has gone up and down, but usually stays around 99-100. And last week, I had incredible joint soreness, but I attributed that to the 102 fever I had on Wednesday. My throat has also been extremely sore to the point I went to the doctor yesterday for a strep test. That came back negative and unfortunately, my lymph node was not in this condition nor did I have the pain on the posterior of my tongue when I was at the physicians.