Wednesday, August 18, 2021

PHANTOM PAIN FOLLOWING AMPUTATION

 Phantom pain following amputation.

I can attest to that reality! After my 2007 amputation of my left leg below the knee, I was so aware that my foot was still there. I often had pain in the "foot," in the same places I had gangrene from the infection due to peripheral artery disease. After about 5 years, an old prosthetist came along who argued with me that there was no such thing as phantom pain and claimed he had worked with a number of military who were amputees. I told him he did not know what he was talking about. I know, and in the earlier days my pain could be intense for a few minutes. In fact, it could wake me from a sound sleep. I learned to move the discomfort to the good leg and foot via my mind to "dissolve it", much in the same way that the military therapy now uses a mirror to show the good leg. The brain is fascinating! After my stroke in 2017, I had a short period of proprioception issues with my right arm--so strange to experience. Biologist Rubert Sheldrake, PhD., has written an interesting article concerning phantom pain from limb loss. My own phantom pain always remind me of the work of researcher Thelma Moss at UCLA in working with Kirlian photography and the human aura and plants, and how the energy aura of a leaf can be seen when the leaf has been cut off. One of my last appointments with my surgeon, when his young resident asked if I was having any pain, I mentioned the phantom pain once in a while and the research of Thelma Moss and he had no idea what I was speaking of. (I hope he further investigated). Sheldrake has written some excellent articles--and my favorites include "psychic pets." 

~Linda

https://noetic.org/blog/are-phantom-limbs-real/ 

 

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