How do you cope with chronic, sometimes intense pain?

The pain intesifies at night because my food digests very slowly. I eat small meals and enjoy getting out, camping and hiking. I have been diagnosed with Barrett's Esopahus. I take hydrocortisone as a replacement steroid for what my adrenals would put out if they had not been removed because of a pituitary tumor in 1971. I don't usually complain about pain, but is intense tonight. I do not want to take pain medicine. Is there anyone here with GERD or ulcers in the esophagus and stomach?