I've always been a strong and super fearless woman. And I've made it through some pretty difficult challenges in my life. But this disease will just tear you down and wear you out. It doesn't matter who you are.

Some of the things that I've done to help cope:

1. See a good pain therapist. My therapist was a pretty awesome and cutting edge lady and I learned lot about different pain management techniques from her. It's also nice to have someone for whom you can dump all your emotional stuff on. It keeps you from dumping too much emotional crap on your family, significant other, friends, or co-workers.

2. Meditation. I'm not really a mediation person, but I find that 5-15 minutes a day has been nice just to calm the mind before bed. I like the Calm app. Listening to music while laying on the floor works for me too.

3. Find the right balance between remaining still and moving during your day. Too much movement sometimes agitates my nerves and too much sitting can cause lots of burning. I have a desk job, so I try to break up the day and walk for 20 minutes at lunch.

4. Do what you need to do to get sleep at night; we need sleep to heal. I personally like the AC to be set to 73 or less to get decent night of sleep. I used to be a back sleeper, but now I tend to get buzzing and burning down my back on really bad nights. Sleeping on my side with a pillow between my legs has been my new go to position. I also take a healthy amount of nerve medication before bed, which is probably the most helpful thing.

5. Eat a whole foods diet as much as possible and take the highest quality supplements that are listed on this website (that you can afford). Give the body what it need to function and heal.

6. Get whatever exercise you are able to. We are all different and have to find what that means for our own medical stories. Going to pool classes is very akin to using a tens unit for me. It alleviates my pain (especially facial pain) and makes me feel better while I'm doing it.

7. Cry as hard as you need to! Just don't repeatedly cry in front of your loved ones. For the first 8 months of this disease, I used to cry at least 2 or 3 times each week. I'd wait until my husband went to bed, I'd go into the basement where no one could hear me, and then I'd just let it rip. 5 or 10 minutes is all you need. Then wipe your eyes and move on with your night.

8. Find things to be grateful about, even if it's something small. I felt grateful this summer every time my husband and I walked our dog before dinner or when we planted a few fruit trees in the backyard. Walking barefoot through my lawn while my husband watered the garden felt pretty darn awesome. These are the types of experiences that I never really keyed in on before I got SFN symptoms.

I'm sorry that you are going through this; you are in good company on this message board.