I seriously doubt your doctor prescribed anabolic steroids for your back if that was what you were implying. Besides, from what I know, they're illegal in this country no matter if someone is a physician or not. At any rate, they wouldn't do your back problem any good anyway. That's just simply not what they do. Besides, you really don't want to take them and have all the side effects and potential dangers associated with them.

Good supps are out there...we're all different. No supplement works 100% of the time for 100% of the population...but 95% of people will have good results from something that's out there. The problem is that you have to do searching to find that right supplement for you.

A human being is nothing more than an intricate bag of chemicals. We all should respond favorably to weightlifting and mass gaining. If you aren't then it's simply your body's way of not working with your best efforts. I've found that the problem is mainly biochemical. Find the right key to why your body isn't growing and all too often you solve the problem in one fell swoop.

See, here's how difficult it can be:

Working out every day==too much cortisol, muscles do not recover, you feel tired all day long==solution?==work out every other day.

Working out one day a week==too little muscle stimulation==not enough muscle growth==solution?==work out three days a week.

Working out with the same routine day in day out==continuous plateau==solution?==change up the routine.

Working out properly, but not eating enough calories==not enough muscle growth==solution?==eat more food more often.

Working out properly, eating plenty of the right foods, but no muscle or weight gain==possibly a high metabolism or biochemical imbalance==solution?==see below:

possibilities:
--not enough rest time, thus cortisol and/or lactic acid levels still present in muscles in high degree at the next workout time.
--not enough of the right foods.
--too little water intake.
--too few of essential buffering agents in the bloodstream.
--not enough available fatty acids, carbs or proteins at the right time.
--bad mental attitude.
--workouts not intense enough.
--metabolism high--high cortisol levels or inefficient diet to counter this.

As you can see, there are a million reasons why a supplement may not work. If you can pinpoint at least WHY you aren't making gains then you can at least experiment with different possible solutions.

You mentioned a bad back. Get a second opinion! Don't let this go any longer...or else this could get to be a chronic problem. Trust me, you don't want that. Get it taken care of and then apply the right principles to you bodybuilding.

If you need references to some good reading material on how to assess your weaknesses let me know.