I had something similar happen, if not to the same extent. I have a problem with my knees, particularily the left one, where I don't have enough cartilige and my kneecap doesn't track right or something. Not bad, but it does pop, click, and hurt from time to time. When I started doing cardio and lifting, my knee got worse. The pain was bearable, but it sure wasn't getting any better. Steadily, it got worse.
Like you, I was nervous about stopping. But I was nervous about doing a potential serious injury to myself as well. I believe that pain is a serious message from our bodies. Being sore after a good workout is one thing. But serious pain? I decided to listen to my body, and took a two week break. It didn't bust my diet, my knee improved, and after the pain subsided I got back to my workouts (carefully!).
I believe that if workouts cause you enough pain, you'll stop them, whether you want to or not. Stopping in a controlled manner, before you do serious harm, seems most logical to me.
If you are worried about starting back up again, set a definate date for yourself for when you do restart. For me two weeks was fine, but I don't know how long you should wait because I don't know how much pain you are in (and can't know). When you do start up, take it slower! I did, and now I'm doing longer workouts and lifting more than when I first started injuring my knee.
I hope this helps some. Good luck to you!
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