Seems like you already know and use most of my tricks. I elevate my leg and will use a space heater (when no one else is home to be bothered by it) so that I can warm up the air around my ankle and have nothing touching my skin at the same time. I will use heating pads sometimes but in those cases it's like lesser of two evils because the pain of it touching my is almost as bad (though not quite) as the cold if I don't use it. PT is good but also awful...good long term but kicks my butt short term.

Lidoderm patches help a little (but since that has medication in it I don't know if it would be something you could use). Same goes with Voltaren gel. My TENS unit is really the biggest help when it comes to my ankle pain, but I know that doesn't work for everyone. Sometimes a hot bath with epsom salts is helpful (although if the room is not warm enough, getting OUT of the tub can put me right back where I started or even make the pain worse).

Between the TENS and PT those two things are really the only stuff that has made any significant improvement with the pain (and by significant I mean that I am at a 7/10 on the pain scale at my BEST) because blocks, meds, etc have not made much of a dent at all in the pain and have on occassion just made things worse.

I hope you are able to find something that can help you get through this. I know I am constantly searching for things that help as well as things that don't aggravate the pain. Good luck.