Towards the end of my military service, I started experiencing pain in my wrist. I didn't pay much attention to it at the time, but after a few months I noticed that a kind of lump had grown in the area, eventually diagnosed as a ganglion (a buildup of fat and fluid) right above my wrist. After I understood that it was a ganglion, I started looking for information about it, and I understood that it is a common phenomenon that often occurs as the result of extended exertion and that for most people, the lump disappears on its own.
For me, it was different. The lump grew and the pain got worse. I went to a number of doctors who recommended surgery, since the ganglion was pressing on the tendons in my hand, which caused the pain. I underwent the surgery, and afterwards, I felt better for a number of months. The lump was gone and so was the pain. After a few months of relief, the lump returned, and the worsening pain along with it. The pain slowly took over my life. I tried not to let it prevent me from doing anything, but practically speaking, I suffered while carrying out most simple daily activities, and experienced terrible pain after activities I used to enjoy like cooking, sports, or even just going out with friends.
In an attempt to find a solution for the terrible pain, I found myself again going to doctors and again receiving recommendations for surgery. As I believed in Western medicine, I chose to get surgery again.
I reached Lihi after a long journey with pain doctors and medication, until I reached a pain doctor at Hadassah Ein Kerem, who first diagnosed me with neuroplastic pain. I emerged from her office a little confused, but for the first time, with hope, alongside some skepticism, that there was a way to treat my pain. At her recommendation, I started therapy with Lihi.
Together with Lihi, I went on a life-changing journey. During the first few sessions, I didn't understand what was ahead of me and I tried to stay positive with the thought that I had nothing to lose. As time went on, I started to surrender more to the process, and a change started — for the first time in years, I experienced a full day without pain. With Lihi's guidance, I dove deeper and learned more about my pain mechanisms, what activates them, what they are for, when they are active, and what I can do to reduce the pain and even eliminate it.
Today, I know that I have the tools to cope with the pain, even when it decides to visit. I am no longer afraid of it and I no longer give it a platform or place in my life the way I did before; instead, I am attentive, I try to understand why it is here and what I can do to calm my system and the pain.
In the past, dealing with the pain was a trigger for me; it was a threatening topic that made me think about a dark future full of suffering. Today, I can say that even if I do experience pain in the future, I have the tools to cope with it, and I'm in a place of being able to speak about the pain without being afraid or getting stressed.
