I think we find it very difficult to cope with things which are essentially random. Whether it is by upbringing or as a built-in characterstic we tend to think in terms of causes and effects - and of course many things fit into that model, but neuropathic pain isn't well-behaved in this respect.

My own pain - mainly in the legs - has an easily described source: my spinal cord suffered compressive damage and I eventually needed surgery to stop it getting worse, but there the cause and effect seem to stop. The NP is ever-present, but far from constant. And exactly what makes it worse at some times, why the acute stabbing cry-out-loud pains come in the middle of the night some days, mid morning on others, I have tried to figure out but to no avail.

The best I can come up with is that there is some link between exercise - any exercise - and subsequent pain, but that there is a very variable delay factor. All I seem to able to rely on, and only if I lie very still, is a lowish-pain time first thing in the morning, which of course comes after a comparatively long period of low levels of movement and exercise.