Am I done...forever? I feel I'm losing myself.

So sorry to hear about your struggle.

I would go to a sports medicine doc. Something is causing the pain and you need to find the cause.

In the meantime, can you swim? At least you would be able to keep your fitness up. If you are at university maybe they have facilities you can use. 

I would swim and/or water run and lift weights to keep fit. I think this would also help your mental state.  

good luck

Not to suggest additional $$, but have you tried ART?

I had terrible IT pain on my right left for months, took time off, massages, sports doc etc.  Did a few sessions of ART... bang.  I have no problems with my right leg.

Now, of course, I'm battling a small problem with my left leg, but nowhere near what I had on my right.  You need to find a GOOD ART guy.

As someone else said, try ART.

If not, there IS a surgery.  If all else fails with ITBS the surgery is the last option.  I had ITBS for FOUR YEARS.  Nothing worked until the surgery.

You want to find someone that knows what they are doing...but a lot of times a surgeon will do a "special cash rate" to keep the costs down.

You need a diagnosis before you get more treatment or decide what treatment might be right for you.

A sport med ortho would be who I'd suggest seeing. If they you to do PT ask them to write the order to teach you to do it at home. You are determined you can do PT on your own and do infrequent follow ups. 

Thank you all so much. 

Well, where do i start?

I can't swim.  Or, I should say, I couldn't.  I haven't tried in 4 months.  When I did, my knee would hurt from any kicking, even holding the pull buoy in my legs- I don't know what it was that made it hurt, but it did.

I should also say that I feel best right after I do something: like when I was working out, I would feel best right after biking.  RIGHT after- 3 hours later, I would be worse.

I started weights- all upper body and core stuff- several weeks ago.  Did 5 sessions (2 weeks?), and my pain started to get worse.  Don't know why- hovers?  Romanians? Dunno.

Go to bed, get up, and it's like a reset.  I always feel a lot better, as the day goes on it gets worse again.

Since I've stopped doing anything, I swear I'm worse?  Especially the last 2-3 weeks! WTF!?!!?

What is ART?

Shoes, check.  Used to wear Nike Free's all the time, always was foot gifted.  No I wear salomon Xa's becuase they're supportive, but still cushioned, and fit my high arch.

I have health insurance through the school- it covers nothing except emergencies, not even a single PT visit or antibiotic perscription.

I drink a solid gallon a day.  I each very well, even by triathlete standards.

I HAD a severe functional leg length discrepancy on the bike, it's fixed (I think) thanks to the chiro. 

I'm not going to have surgery, maybe if I'm still like this in a year.  I was once healthy- I should be able to return to that state.

I just don't know how I'm going to pay for a sports doc...so expensive.  Especially cause I know they're going to want to take x-rays, MRI's, etc.

Guess it's what I got to do.

What do I do to stay positive?