# Phantom Limb Syndrome? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [July 18, 2003, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phantom-limb-syndrome/189469 "2003-07-18T20:49:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![syjstr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bcef8e/32.png) [@syjstr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/syjstr)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2003, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phantom-limb-syndrome/189469/1 "2003-07-18T20:49:11Z")
I was talking to a friend who has lost a limb the other day. I’ll call him Jeff. Jeff lost his left arm up to the elbow in a motorcycle accident about 6 years ago. I asked him about the infamous Phantom Limb syndrome that has been buzzing around the medical world as well as the internet at many sites for people with missing limbs to go to for support. Jeff says he has not experienced this phenomenon! So I guess I was wondering if it really exists or not. I would like to hear from all people with limbs missing to answer this question from their perspective! Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2003, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phantom-limb-syndrome/189469/2 "2003-07-18T23:13:46Z")
I assume you mean “phantom pain”, where the amputee feels the sensation of pain in the place where the missing limb would be if it were still attached. Correct? ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2003, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phantom-limb-syndrome/189469/3 "2003-07-18T23:20:59Z")
Of course, just because one person missing a limb never experienced it doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. ---
**Author:** ![Stemba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e19adc/32.png) [@Stemba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stemba)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2003, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phantom-limb-syndrome/189469/4 "2003-07-18T23:29:00Z")
Actually, there phantom limb syndrome isn’t limited to pains in the area where the now detachd limb ceases to be. My next door neighbor, Tom Windtead, took a German 7mm rifle round in the leg during the N. African campaign. He had it amputated right above the knee. I asked him, and he said that he himself for a few days felt like the toes on his right foot (now amputated) were tingling, as if the foot were asleep. He also said that he’d known people who felt pain and those who felt nothing even similar. Anyway, my two cents. ---
**Author:** ![TVAA](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c57346/32.png) [@TVAA](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TVAA)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2003, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phantom-limb-syndrome/189469/5 "2003-07-19T00:48:09Z")
As time passes, stimulation on other parts of the body will activate the phantom limb – there were several fascinating studies where people felt water being dripped onto part of their face _and_ down their phantom limb simultaneously. The “phantom limb” is attributed to activity in the part of the sensory cortex that corresponded with the missing limb in question. Without a source of true input, it seems to generate spurious data, creating the feeling of different sensations. Over time, the relevant section of the brain is often reappropriated by other, nearby sections, but the process seems to be slow and incomplete in adults. ---
**Author:** ![Fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bc8723/32.png) [@Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fish)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2003, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phantom-limb-syndrome/189469/6 "2003-07-19T01:21:01Z")
I have half of my left foot amputated. The foot hurts frequently. Occasionally, if I had to localize the pain, I’d say that it was in the tie, or near a particular part of the foot that is no longer there. If I touch the stump with my hand, I’ll realize where the pain _really_ is. It’s rare, however, that I simply feel the foot as if it is whole and complete, unless it’s simultaneously hurting like a complete bastard. FISH ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_of\_Sandwhich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/91b2a8/32.png) [@Earl\_of\_Sandwhich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_of_Sandwhich)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2003, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phantom-limb-syndrome/189469/7 "2003-07-19T02:36:44Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by syjstr \* > \*\* So I guess I was wondering if it really exists or not. > \*\* It is well documented. Oliver Sacks devoted a chapter to it in his classic The Man Who Mistook His Wife For a Hat: and Other Neurological Tales. Plus, Ray Liotta, as Shoeless Joe Jackson in Field of Dreams, talks about how old men get up in the middle of the night to “scratch itchy limbs that have been dust for fifty years.” ---
**Author:** ![Cuckoorex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ad7895/32.png) [@Cuckoorex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cuckoorex)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2003, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phantom-limb-syndrome/189469/8 "2003-07-19T06:29:24Z")
V.S. Ramachandran’s book _Phantoms in the Brain_ is an excellent book about phantom pain and some of the innovative ways that he helped develop to treat it.