Lawdog, I truely know what you are going through. I am 33 with scoliosis too. Sucks don't it. I was diagnosed to late in life, or else I would have gone into the military. I have gone to serveral back specialist without much success.
One thing that I have JUST found that is working wonderfully... Look for a [b]Licensed Massage Therapist[/b] (LMT). The lady that I see is working wonders for me. Now it did have to go through 4 LMT's before I found one that had the talent to work on my back.
I too have had the wonderful time of living through muscle spasms. I had a limited choice of pain killers that I could use (allergic to Morphin, Demeral, Daladid , and most of the codine based painkillers).
I finally got really desperate (after a weeks vacation of motorcyle touring that totally fvcked up my back) and started calling chiropractors offices to see if they had LMT's. It took 3 months of twice a week to get to the point where I could actually feel good (pain still there but was berable). I did start seeing the chiropractor for adjustments (got a really good cash discount), the doctors (husband and wife team) didn't BS me about "Yea we can straighten your back!". They said, lets try for a bit, and see how things feel. If your back feels better, lets continue, otherwise we can't help.
I have been going for about a year and a half now and have been pain free for 6 months (I am now having sessions every 2 weeks) and loving it. Actually I have a been able to see an improvement in the shape of my spine.
I am now going to start the PT program (both the LMT and chiropractor agree things are good enough for me to start). I have to work on my posture to see if we can fix the rotation of my hips. Neither of them want to start heavy duty PT yet. That is still 6 months to a year from now.
Oh yea, stretching, lots of stretching. I am somewhat lax in that area. But when I do get into the groove, things get better.
So for summary, find a LMT first! Then a good chiropractor that won't BS you (this optional though). You are at the beginning of a long road, have patients.