I don't know if you guys experience(d) it, but I was healthy before the RSD hit me (RSD because of a work related injury / car crash), and I wasn't at all used to doctor's visits nor used to taking medication. I actually felt quite guilty for having to take the meds, and after 5 years on Neurontin/Buprenorphine I still feel guilty. Every single time I have breakthrough pain, I wait too long to take the sublingual pills for breakthrough pain (which actually makes it worse). I still haven't learnt to cope with pain. It's hard to live with and hard to manage well. Heck, I feel guilty for having RSD and I don't even know why. I do know when it's best to take extra pain medication, but I often think... well, I'll see *if* it breaks through, which is a wrong response because I know it *will* and is going to break through if I go outside for instance or at night, and still I wait and see if maybe this time it won't. I've been told it's a wrong response, better to intercept the pain in time (it is chronic). But it's a whole other mind set and I can't get used to it, however chronic the pain is.

How do you guys cope with breakthrough pain? It's a steep learning curve for me...