Talk about a rock and a hard place. To a certain extent it gets back to what you have experienced before. In my case I had really crappy jobs prior to get into aviation and that kept me going thru GA. Admittedly times were far better then for progress but it still took 17 years on bug smashers with associated conditions before moving to something better. Even then I had to take a 40% pay cut from GA in my first airline job.
I guess you have to look at what is the alternative and at the moment there is not much. Good luck.