Recovering from Chronic Headaches
(Diagnosed as Migraines)

Over the years, the frequency increased, and so did the pain. I took a step further and went to see a neurologist, who referred me for tests. After a cranial CT, I learned of the concept of a migraine for the first time. I asked the doctor: what is a migraine? The doctor said: "An illness for all intents and purposes." I was diagnosed as suffering from migraines 15 years ago. From that point, I understood that I needed to treat my migraines to find some relief. I tried naturopathy, homeopathy, acupuncture, massage, exercise, chiropractors, iridology, and countless private doctors: the best neurologists in the country, orthopedists, and gynecologists. I should mention that I went to these therapies regularly for years. Nothing helped.The pain got worse and worse, and 13 years ago, the headaches started coming daily. I started taking preventative medication named amitriptyline, which helped at first, and then didn't. I started taking pills for migraines: naratriptan, eletriptan, and rizatriptan from the triptan family. Nothing helped.

The attacks continued on a daily basis. There were doctors who said that the problem was hormonal imbalance, there were those who said that my posture wasn't right, that I had scoliosis, that my bones were weak, that my metabolism wasn't right, etc.

The frequency and intensity of the pain got worse and worse and 5 years ago I started biologic treatment: I took Aimovig, Ajovy, and Emgality for two years. For the first time, the intensity and frequency of the pain decreased, but of course, new side effects kicked in. I started experiencing intense pain in my bladder as a side effect from the injections. I went to a urologist, who conducted invasive exams. The pain in my bladder got worse, and in a regular consultation with the neurologist, I understood that this is one of the known side effects of biologic treatments. I stopped the treatments and started to search for another solution for the pain. I received 31 Botox injections in the scalp to "numb" the pain but that didn't help either. I ordered medication from abroad with special permission from the Ministry of Health but nothing helped me. In my visits with the neurologist I kept hearing the answer: You have a chronic migraine, with pressure in the lower neck, it's an illness in every sense! You'll need to learn to live with it. This illness is a female illness and a certain percentage of the population has it, and you are in this group.

Most of the time the pain arrived, like a Swiss clock, at 4 P.M., after a day at work. The pain attacks during vacations, during events, and while traveling. There wasn't a day of rest. I reached a point where I was living, breathing, but not enjoying anything. I had no quality of life and I lived with a lot of suffering. Pain that no one else could understand, where on the surface I looked okay, like I was smiling and everything looked fine on the outside. No one could understand what was happening inside my head.

Again, moving forward, I changed jobs and professions on the advice of a neurologist who claimed I needed to reduce my hours at work and stop working with numbers, saying it was putting too much strain on my head.

I'm a woman who never gives up on herself, but this time I felt that the migraine had defeated me and that I only had a few moments that I could enjoy without any pain at all. Even when I didn't have headaches, I always felt pressure above the back of my neck. Light pain that was always there and limited my functioning.
‍
I was taught my whole life to be strong, not to complain, not to focus on illness, but to focus on the good things in life, and that's why I didn't complain. I suffered in silence, my eyes felt torn apart from the pain. I changed my diet for a number of months and years; I stopped eating chocolate, I reduced white sugar, I didn't drink alcohol, Istopped eating processed or fried foods, yellow cheese, and the list goes on. I kept to a healthy diet. I stopped consuming caffeine and I made sure to get plenty of sleep. I believed that anything could be a trigger for the pain and therefore I avoided anything that would turn it on. During a routine visit with an orthopedist, I was told: "Keep going like this, and you know how you'll end up." In that moment I understood that I could cause irreversible damage to my liver from taking so much pain medication.

About 3 months ago, a coworker told me that her daughter was addicted to screens. I told her: And I am addicted to pills called Relert, I take triptans on a regular basis. I have a chronic migraine and I've been taking a pill or two every day for years.

After a few minutes, the friend sent me an article about addiction to opioid pain medication by Dr. Pavel Goldstein, a neurology researcher and head of the pain clinic at Haifa University. I went back to the friend and told her that this has nothing to do with me, I'm addicted to triptans and not opioids. The friend didn't let it go and phoned Dr. Pavel Goldstein and told him about me. Dr. Pavel immediately suggested that I call him that day. I called and shared about the terrible chronic pain that I'd been experiencing for years, on a daily basis, without a single day of peace. Dr. Goldstein said that after we spoke he would send me some reading material. I said, "What do you mean? What is the treatment? I don't understand, where is this medicine?" Dr. Pavel sent me to Lihi Lisser's website and said that there are people who are able to recover completely simply by reading what's on the site. I didn't understand what he was talking about; I had tried everything, for 20 years, so reading information would heal me?! In parallel, Dr. Goldstein suggested that I visit the pain clinic at Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital and move forward from there. Additionally, he referred me to Lihi, who was fully booked for the next few months, so I entered her waiting list. Dr. Goldstein repeated a number of times in our conversation that there are people who recover simply from reading the materials. He suggested that I read it at a time when I can devote my full attention to it, and go over the information step by step.

I am a person of great faith. For years I have been praying to the Creator to send me full healing. It's happening to me!! Two months later, I started psychotherapy with Lihi in addition to all the information I got from her site. I've entered hundreds of websites in my life and Lihi's was different from anything I've ever been exposed to. The reason is very clear: it's not a repository of information, it's an actual process of healing. The website is a journey! It's the journey of my life, more precise than anything could be.

I dove deep into the website and read the contents again and again. I implemented them in every area of life, personal and professional. The site was able to change the way of thinking that had driven me all my life. It gave me clinical evidence of the fact that I have the ability to heal myself, the same way I got myself (unconsciously, of course) into the pain cycle. The site helps me understand that I have the ability to control my mind. This site is a gift for every doctor and every patient. I felt that as I read, I was going through a process and relating it to many things. Every day I went back to the site and every day I gained new insights.
‍
I remember very well the “eureka” moment, where again and again, the evidence showed that just as we cause our brains to activate the pain cycle, we have the ability to stop it. Suddenly, I felt that I could control my brain.

 There’s a video on the site that really emphasized this point for me: it showed a man folding his arm behind his back, and they placed a prosthetic in place of his arm. They burned the fake arm, and it hurt the patient and he jumped after he saw with his own eyes that they were burning his arm. At that moment I understood that the human brain can cause pain to an organ that is not in danger at all.

I was in therapy with Lihi for 3 and a half months. During the treatment, Lihi helped me understand that I had experienced no few emotional challenges, but didn’t stop for a moment to express my feelings and unpack the experiences I went through. Since I was a little girl, I kept all my thoughts, questions, and fears deep, deep inside me. I never brought out emotions, feelings, fears, coping with failure and most clearly, the ability to let go and unload and allow myself to express my feelings and emotions. I understood together with Lihi that I just don’t know how. That I’m allowed to feel sad, happy, angry, hurt, and irritated.

I’m doing the best I can! As a person, as a daughter, as a wife, as a mother, as a sister, as a friend, and as an employee. I also learned during the therapy to be understanding and accepting of myself. To give myself peace and quiet. To open the channel in my brain that will bring calm into my life. During therapy I understood that I demand from my children what I demand from myself, and have been putting them under a lot of stress and tension from a young age. I learned during therapy to identify these markers in a very clear way. During therapy, I slowly started to do things that I'd been avoiding for years because I thought they were pain triggers. Small pleasures that gave me so much joy. I started drinking good coffee, wine, eating sweets, going out into the sun and enjoying aerobic sports I like with lots of jumping around. Things I just didn’t allow myself to do. It’s a moment of joy in life.