Q: Hamstring tear diagnosis

I lift weights including a leg press with full stack which I have been doing for > 1 year.
I am 5'9" 184 lbs, VG overall condition

@ 6 days ago my leg started to hurt, although I did not do anything to injure it that I was aware. I had worked out but did not feel any pain or anything unusual during or after these activities.

I thought it might be a pinched nerve from sitting on computer chair. Over 4 days it got progressively worse. Eventually I was in screaming pain and extreme mobility problems. I started to get concerned about a blood clot, having no doctor I was advised to go to the emergency room.

They told me I tore a muscle and blood vessels and it was the leaking blood that caused the delayed manifestation of the injury.

Last night I was almost completely immobilized, unable to sit stand walk without shooting pain when I move my leg along my hip joint.

The hamstring area is tender and puffy and gets quite warm at times
There is no discoloration

I still have extreme, screaming pain in sitting, walking, laying down, 6 days after first symptoms.

My question is, recognizing that ER doctors are into saving lives and not sports medicine, does it make sense that I could do such damage and not notice
at the time of the injury?

-no medical coverage in California...

This REALLY doesn't sound like a hamstring tear! With the level of pain that you're describing, I would be back at A & E. At the very least I would suggest you find your nearest musculoskeletal/sports physio and get a full examination.

Hamstring tears normally hurt when you stretch them or use them (think hamstring curls), but when the muscle is not on stretch or being used, it is usually painfree (unless very acute with lots of swelling - but you would most definitely have felt the injury occur).

It is possible that it's coming from your back, even if there are symptoms in the hamstring - where is the shooting pain that you describe?

In short, the mechanism of injury and the diagnosis you've been provided do not match up! Get theeself a proper diagnosis.