There seems to be a lot of BS flying around in this thread, so I thought I'd give you some advise from a person that's gone through the same type of problems.
If you're using steroids, by definition you are putting your muscles into a state of hypertrophy during the cycle, which puts added stress on connective tissues. Unfortunately, tendons do not respond to steroids in the same manner as muscles. Instead of strengthening them, steroid use (especially prolonged use in overly long cycles), can weaken tendons.
In this weakened state, they are much more susceptible to micro tears that inflame the tendon and cause the painful symptoms of tendonitis. I had to work through golfers elbow in both arms, which is localized pain on the inside of the elbow, but tendonitis can manifest itself in any joint that you're putting under extreme stress from weightlifting.
That said, improper steriod usage isn't the only impetus for this kind of injury, the natural aging process can also put you at risk. As you age, (40 and beyond) your tendons don't heal as well from these types of injuries, so ignoring the pain and continuing your workout CAN result in long term degenerative tendonosis, scarring & permanent shorting of the tendon, or worse yet a more catastrophic failure like a complete detachment. (Seeing a friend's tricep roll up the back of his arm like a window shade after an elbow detachment was a pretty sobering experience for me). His problem was caused by staying on cycles that were well beyond the published saftey limits.
So... now you know how you got here, what do you do about it?
Well, if you like me, you've put in lots of hard hours at the gym and the last thing you want to do it sit around and watch all that hard work atrophy away from quitting until you're healed.
This is what got me through it.
1. Examine your technique or have an impartial but knowledgable friend watch your lifting movements.
If you're jerking or bouncing your way through the movement just to get that extra plate off the ground, this could be what contributed your problems in the first place. Ensure that you're doing well postured, slow and controlled movements. If that requires taking off a plate or two, then check your ego at the door and lighten up to a load that you can lift using proper form.
2.DON'T ICE the affected tendon.
Icing is to be done right after the original injury when swelling is apparent. It does nothing to help a tendon that isn't accompanied by swelling. In some cases it can even increase the pain by causing the inflamed tendon to constrict even further.
3. Feel free to add warmth from something like a heating pad or Icy Hot to the affected joints before and after your workout if it makes you feel better.
This will stimulate blood flow in and around the tendon and may provide some measure of relief although I found heat to be more of a placebo than an actual cure to my particular injury.
4. Buy yourself an industrial sized bottle of MOTRIN.
Motrin is an anti inflamatory, which WILL give you noticeable relief from the pain that you're experiencing and you may need to be on it for a while to work through your injury. I found that taking it and hour or so before my workout and before I went to bed produced the best results. But in the beginning when things really hurt all the time, I was taking it during the day too until the discomfort subsided.
5. Don't waste your money on Glucosamine and Chondroitin.
The combination of the two is supposed to work a little like creatine for your tendons by making them absorb more water. But in my experience, I found that they didn't produce any noticeable results other than lightening my wallet. These supplements (especially the latter) are very expensive if they're made by reputable supplement companies. A recent study showed that the majority of supplements claiming to have Chondroiton in them had little more than trace amounts. The study speculated that the high cost of manufacturing for Chondroiton may be the reason why so little of it is actually turning up in supplements.
As far as Sugar free jello goes... That hardly even deserves a response. The animal based gelatin in these products might be good for making your hair and your fingernails grow, but it's going to do absolutely nothing for an injured tendon.
6. Lighten Up (in the gym).
You've injured yourself, that's got to be painfully obvious by now. So forget your peak cycle weight lifting maximums. Back yourself down to a maintenance weight when working muscles that surround the affected tendon(s). What I mean here is, use a weight that will maintain your muscle gains and tone, but forget making any new gains for a couple months. This isn't an injury that you can just push through. If you don't back off a little, you run the risk of major damage that can in some cases become irrepairable.
7. Try different angles.
What I found during my recovery was that certain movements caused extreme pain to the affected joints while others allowed me to continue working with heavier weights without stressing the tendon. In my case, doing straight bar curls felt like someone was sticking an icepick into my elbow, but I could do cross body and hammer dumbell curls with little or no pain. This allowed me to keep working the muscles (albeit not all of them), while giving the tendons a chance to heal.
In your case, if your injury came from doing free squats, try doing isolating movements on the hack squat machine or on a quad extension machine. Try to minimize the movement that you were doing most often when you originally injured yourself.
8. DON'T GET A CORTICOSTERIOD SHOT.
This is the stuff they used to shoot into football players knees so they could play injured for a little while longer. This is absolutely a last resort that should NEVER be used to allow you to continue working out. After this type of shot, the affected tendon should be stretched to maintain mobility and rested, but NEVER stressed. (Remember what I said about steroids weaking tendons). This type of procedure makes the tendon more pliable and MORE PRONE TO INJURY if you keep trying to use it.
Hope this helped a little.
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