Whether it gets you higher or not is a secondary issue to the potential health complications of a missed shot, but I'm not gonna pretend like I've never been desperate myself. Luckily, the advice to get you higher and to help keep you safer are on in the same. The idea behind applying heat to these areas is, in laymens' terms, to "loosen" up the mass of material in the hopes that it will become more easily absorbed. So, keep applying the warm compresses and so long as the swelling begins to abate for you, you shouldn't need to seek medical attention. If it gets worse or doesn't go away, you probably do need medical attention because it could be something like an abscess.