my pain is chronic as well, i do not complain, so no one knows i am in as much pain as i am in, i don;t see any reason in complaining and making other miserable when nothing can be done,, i started seeing a pain specialist last spring,, it has helped alot,, but with MS it blows too, cause the meds he put me on, we had to build up on,, somdays it works wonders,, other days it doesn;t do a damn thing, somedays it's too much and makes me feel stoned out of my mind,, never use heat from the waist down,, myself i can not do heat with the MS it makes me really sick and i can not see hardly out of my right eye makes me light headed and i need to cool down quick like! i use flexall,,, actually i started using Rite Aid brand Pain Relief Gel and it works wonders! i take my pain meds every 8 hours, and at night about 9 i take my 20mg of baclofen muscle relaxer rub in that Gel on my joints and legs and thats eases it up so i can sleep at night,, the past few nights i haven't been able to fall asleep and stay asleep, but i think that may have just been the holiday excitement. try some of that gel,, i used to get the Flexall at walmart, but it's too expensive for my pocket,, it's about 7 or 8 dollars and the rite aid brand is only 6, but it lasts me for about a month,, i really hope that u can try it and it works for u! good luck!