Hello, @btconnolly, welcome. Thank you for contributing to the conversation about nerve pain. I admire your refocused approach of trying to do your best to learn to live with your symptoms since medications were unsuccessful in managing them. I'm sorry for that, but you bring up a good point by mentioning how your pain is not immediately life treating. The Mayo Pain Rehabilitation Center teaches a mantra of:
"hurt does not equal harm"
regarding chronic pain versus acute pain. This concept helped me come to grips with the fact that I was safe, just really hurting, and because meds didn't cut the mustard enough for me either, I shifted focus on learning self-management tools such as moderation of activity and balanced rest. What other ways have you learned to manage symptoms? How do you find distraction from symptoms?