Back problems

I'm not very old (on the brink of 20 :blush:), but I'm having back problems. My parents laughed at me for about a week and formally "welcomed" me to the "adult world". Well it has definitely reminded me that I'm no longer 18. I don't know what I did to it... but about three months ago it started hurting, a lot. I could barely get out of bed for a week, and even the slightest shift in posture had me screaming inside my head. The pain is on the lower left side (although pretty close to spine) of my back, just above my hip although the location isn't exactly pinpoint... its a flame that spreads. I can't really describe it. It's kind of like the pain you get when you turn your neck too fast while you're about to claw the chalkboard. At first I thought it was just because I had slept in an awkward position (since it first started after I got off a very cramped flight home), but three months later I'm still in pain. The pain slowly receded and I thought that it was all better (I still feel a twinge of pain getting out of bed, or stretching), until I got back into the water. Swimming is perfectly fine, but flip turns are a major problem. My doctor is completely booked until at least April, and since I'm not in any life threatening situation, I've decided to wait until then. I have stopped doing flip turns for the most part; I still attempt them on those bright optimistic days, but even those seem to be lagging these days along with the lack of satisfactory swimming. I've been doing what I normally do for small injuries: icing and stretching. I'm wondering if anyone here has any helpful advice.