What does it feel like to have a phantom limb?
This first case study was done by McGrath and Hillier in 1992. It involved a fifteen year old girl who lost a leg to cancer. Starting the day after surgery she was asked to keep a log for 28 days detailing any experiences that she had with phantom limb sensations. She experienced a number of phantom limb episodes. They are chronicled as follows:
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On the first day after surgery she felt sensations akin to itching and tingling that occurred in the area where her toes had been. There was the feeling that her toes were asleep. The phantom sensations were not constant in duration, but rather occurred rather sporadically throughout the day for periods of10 to 15 minutes each time. She also felt pain
in the amputated part of her leg. The pain was not as severe as some other cases of phantom pain after amputation, and was reduced with the administration of codeine.
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On the second day she reported that it felt like her entire foot was asleep. The sensations lasted about as long as the ones on the previous day and were relieved when she massaged her other non-amputated foot! This would be an example of cortical remapping
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- The phantom sensations continued to migrate throughout the "leg" until the tenth day, when it felt as if the entire amputated part was asleep, tingling, and "itchy". The sensations only lasted about 10-15 minutes, sporadically throughout the day.
- After the tenth day the sensations started to disappear and by day 26 the phantom sensations lasted only a couple of seconds and there was no itchy sensation.
This was a case of a phantom that disappeared within the space of one month. Many phantoms persist for years in various degrees of severity. (Saadah et. al, 1994)
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