Phantom limb pain- year three update

Feeling pain and zaps in a limb you no longer have is so ironic that I have to assume Alanis Morissette must have just not been able to make it rhyme. Three years after limb loss, I still get the occasional pain in the non-existent foot, but more often, what I feel is a mild and constant electrical current, as if the wires got crossed and someone forgot to tell my brain that I had my leg amputated.

The first three months post-op were intense. Phantom pain was a major struggle. the pills and exercises did little to keep my discomfort under control. Over time, the pain and zaps became much more dull, but it never completely went away so is this forever? I guess only time will tell if my brain will ever get the memo to altogether stop sending unnecessary messages to a dearly departed limb.

If you are a new amputee in the midst of full blown, level-ten phantom pain and have tried the medications and mirror tricks to no avail, this isn’t your forever. Things get better. And if they don’t, there are nerve procedures out there designed to finally put an end to this utterly weird and ironic pain you are feeling. I know how helpless you feel right now because I felt it too. You would smash the stupid mirror -if it weren’t for the seven years bad luck- because what intelligent person is actually going to be convinced they miraculously got a limb back after looking at a reflective illusion?

It’s like, dear fate, haven’t I been through enough?! But you’re not alone. And I, along with millions of other limb loss survivors, literally know your pain and can talk about zings and zaps and itchy missing ankles anytime you need to. This gets better. Life gets better. Everything gets easier, and you learn to deal with the parts that never get easy. Don’t let phantom limb spook you so hard you forget your own strength. You’ve got this!