I had major atrophy at one point as well. I live by what I refer to as the Goldilocks method. I'll clean 5-10 minutes, do my stretching exercises, take my dog for a walk, etc. just long enough where my pain is edging up, then I go read or watch something mellow, and an hour or two later, I try again. Since you were working previously, you might want to try really breaking your activities up. I used to do more at one time, then crash and burn, and not want to move for days--this was when I was experiencing atrophy. Slow and steady works for me. This might not help you at all, but it might be worth a try.

My understanding of bodybuilders that use steroids, is that they won't get bigger if they don't increase their workouts. The steroids allow more intense training, since they help repair the damaged muscles faster.

fMichael has written about steroids in the past in relation to RSD, so you might want to search through his posts.