Pain feed upon itself. If you let it get out of control rather than treating it at its onset it is very hard to get a handle on it so you have to keep knocking back meds to try to catch up. I know people are reluctant (as am I) to just take something right away. I always want to test it and see how bad it gets but I have learned not to do that. Now I take something immediately before the pain escalates and I get desperate because that is not something I want my kids to see.
Yes, NSAIDS can cause ulcers so be sure to eat something before you take it.
No, it won't be this painful the whole time. It does diminish. I would give myself 3 week increments to assess the pain. If I tried to do it everyday I would get discouraged but if I could see some progress over a longer time it helped. So I did not even let myself compare daily because that just isn't enough time to tell a difference.