Thoughts on moving from Sponsor Finance to DCM career move

Hi Everyone, I am seeking your advice on what I should do next in my career path. More specifically, it would be great if some DCM folks could help me dispel some myths about the group/lifestyle.

About me: I am currently an associate/AVP at a middle market commercial bank sitting in the Private Equity Group (Leveraged Loans for LBOs, Recaps, etc...). I currently work around 50-55 hours per week including lunch breaks and get paid slightly more than a first year analyst salary and maybe a little less in bonus %. I have corporate banking experience in both large publics and oil & gas. I also went to a target school for undergrad, but don't have an MBA. After spending time in the PE group and meeting with private equity folks, I realized that I don't want to move into that path. I don't want to do anymore modeling and absolutely hate it when I have to work on a model for an LBO. I just don't find PE interesting and don't care about it in the long run. However, I do have an interest in the markets and trading. I was thinking investment grade DCM would be a good group for me. I could get some exposure to the markets and do less modeling while still earning a good paycheck. But one big dilemma is that I would basically be starting over again as an analyst. Although the salary might be similar, I would be starting all over again and go back to doing the boring repetitive stuff. Do you think this is even worth it to move and take the hit on title/position.

I just want to have a good lifestyle and work on starting my small business. When I brought the topic up, people told me that PE is absolutely the way to go and people generally didn't have that many good things to say about Investment Grade DCM. One of my friends who works at WF told me that he was chained to the desk and couldn't get food or go to the bathroom unless there was someone else there to cover for him. Is it really that bad? I just wanted to get the opinion of some other DCM analysts/associates/VPs out there to get a better assessment as I recognize that one person's opinion may not be enough when it comes to making a good decision. Also, I am aiming for DCM at a MM or LMM bank so if you work in DCM at one of these places please speak up. What is the lifestyle like? Is it easy to move up the latter? Do people stay for the long term?

Thanks for reading.