Just as I'm making a little progress, a friend says to me "If you have had back pain for a month with no relief, maybe you have a tumor!" I said "Great, just as I am calming down and starting to feel a little better, you try to freak me out more!" Why do people have to do this??
The same person that called me "gimp" when I had knee pain. Some people have no clue, and sometimes I think a sadistic nature. Unless your friend has a PHD and has done an in depth exam, I tell her to stuff it.
Maybe your friend feels powerless to solve the problems in her own life, and sort of subconsciously tries to sabotage those that are working on their issues.
A Tumor is the only thing we need to rule out, but I don't think they come up suddenly very often, and I never heard of one on the back.