Since I had a fitting saddle height has been fine. I really think it's a combo of weak lower back muscles and and extra fat on the gut. I can bend over into the drops and still breath from aerobic to the beginning of anaerobic but when my heart starts hitting 90% the hard breaths push on the gut and I have to come up a little to remain loose and comfortable. Losing the gut and strengthening my back seems like logical steps to me.
And yeah I'm going to look for a new doctor. I think I'll try to find a sport medical specialist. I'm 34, people my age are starting to get older and will pull muscles doing sports and I think that's normal. I don't think the doctor was justified in telling me to quit cycling over a couple of light muscle injuries. I've pulled my back worse in bed, but that doesn't mean I should stop using it.