thank you to all the generous, awesome posters that responded! i'm definitely going to check out these suggestions.

catra, i know exactly how you feel. my mom is always pushing me to fight for a solution, my dad is always saying "hey, can you bike yet?" and on my bad days i'm like "you get that this is CHRONIC and PROGRESSIVE, right?" but i also think sometimes that the body WANTS to be well, and that maybe i will find the right combination of things to one day get it back that way. who knows. my optimism/pessimism cycle marches on.