For me, physical pain from minor surgery early this past fall triggered a series of body memories from past trauma that I thought was pretty well resolved. One of the things that I learned is that physical pain is really, really depressing, frightening, and pretty much makes any emotional pain worse. So one of the things I tried to keep in mind, now that I'm on the other side of it-- where I have flare ups rather than constant pain-- is that being in physical pain really makes everything s&ck.

So one way to make the pain useful is to ask yourself whether the pain is bringing anything up for you that might be fruitful to investigate, and the other is to take good care of yourself physically. You got great advice from Roadie, and I would add that St. John's wort tincture and St. John's wort oil were both really helpful for me (and continue to be). Check with your pharmacist as it can interact with some meds (although the oil, used topically like massage oil, shouldn't have the same concerns as injesting it). Also blue vervain, like st. john's, has anti inflammatory and nerve pain relief qualities. Hope you feel better soon.