Oh, man... I'm no stranger to constant pain, but mine is nowhere near as severe as that.
I injured my back when I was five by falling over the side of a truck bed and onto the cinder block sill of a concrete garage floor. My poor granfather had been under the hood, tinkering while the engine ran, and he didn't even know I was playing in the back. I couldn't run or jump for a year due to the pain in my tailbone, and the pain has never fully subsided -- yet the injury went undiagnosed. The orderly at the emergency room claimed that it was just a little bruising, a little sprain, and that five-year-olds exaggerate about boo-boos; that no X-rays were necessary. Years later, X-rays have shown that my tailbone is curiously lumpy, as though it has been broken and re-fused. I don't notice the pain in my back, most days, unless it's above its usual 2-3 on the scale of suck. I actually take more notice if I wake up WITHOUT some kind of pain! It's just what I consider normal. Luckily, my back doesn't often slip out of place and render me bedridden more than once a year. And the orderly, whom we'd dearly have loved to sue? He was sued by many once his cocaine habit was discovered, and he committed suicide. It's hard not to take satisfaction from how -that- ended...
Now that I know your whole story, that's it's not a simple strained muscle... Hell, I congratulate you for getting out of bed. And yes, your recovery will be a longer road because of the length of time it went untreated. All those times you overdid, pressed on with being active, with lifting heavy things -- that's like yanking on a rope that's been cute half through and is starting to fray. It's going to take time to repair and strengthen those areas; and with something like that... yeah, disregard my advice. The physical therapist will set your limits...
~hugs~
You just wait until The Gathering. I give awesome back massages...
