Amputation Issues

Reducing Your Significant Other’s PTSD There are many ways to describe the stress and emotional pain that people go through being a caretaker. Physicians call it the caretaker’s syndrome, although it is not a medical disorder. It has other names like Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Caretaker Stress Disorder, and even Caretaker Martyr Disorder, a rather…

Valentine’s Day Reconsidered   It’s Valentine’s day, and so dating and falling in love is on everyone’s mind. Let’s exclude a dozen roses, chocolates, and a hallmark card crew that have the holiday all covered, or so they think. Being an amputee may make it harder to enjoy this holiday. When I started to research…

Ending Cripple Thinking   “One Thing You Can’t Hide Is When You’re Crippled Inside” John Lennon It has been almost three years since my below-knee amputation. I am looking out for ways that I can lead my life more like a normal person. While I was waiting for my stump to heal, I learned that…

How Not to Become a Manic Depressive After Your Amputation So many amputees have such intense feelings after their amputations that they could be misdiagnosed as manic depression. Current psychiatric research has found that sixty-nine percent of patients are misdiagnosed with Manic Depression or Bipolar disorders. More than one-third stay misdiagnosed for over ten years.…

You Can Stop a Panic Attack After an Amputation You wake up in a hospital bed,  not want to look at what is missing, but more importantly, you may not have had time to prepare for an amputation. Your anxiety may blow up into a panic attack as you struggle for control. Either you are…

On The Joy of Walking Again The goal of any amputation recovery is to get back on your feetand walk again. Frederic Gros wrote a book that reinforced the joy of meandering by describing the way several inspiring philosophers expressed their appreciation of the psychological effects of walking: Thoreau, Nietzsche, and Kant.   Gros explains…

Make Your Bodily Consciousness Grow a New Leg Ask any amputee, and they all will tell you that you can’t grow a new one. The point of this article is that if you wear your prosthesis long enough, your consciousness will accept it as if it was a new leg. A prosthesis is simply a…

How To Be Sure An Amputation Is For You Considerations Before You Get an Amputation How To Be Sure An Amputation Is For You. The loss of a limb can have a considerable psychological impact. The grief and bereavement people face after an amputation are equivalent to the death of a loved one. Ignoring the…

Is Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Inevitable after Amputation? The major symptoms of PTSD are reliving the traumatic event in vivid nightmares, unwanted memories, and flashbacks. Heart palpitations and panic attacks occur as the trauma is relived. Patients report feeling wound up, unable to concentrate or sleep, and experience unprovoked intense anger. They are easily startled and…

Resolving  Anger About Your Amputation There is really a band calling themselves the “Angry Amputees” and have a Facebook page. Dalty, their lead vocalist is actually an amputee. He had lost both legs and fingers. He started the band to deal with his anger. His ability to resolve it and carry on should be an…

How to Grow Old Gracefully With Your Amputation Things Amputees Can Do To Extend Their Lives There are things amputees can do to extend their lives, This article will address now to grow old gracefully with your amputation. Ever notice you never hear anyone talk to you about amputations and aging? Though we don’t have…

Self-quarantine One Leg at a Time   We are at the beginning of what promises to be a long, pandemic summer. Coronavirus cases are still climbing in nineteen states.  Second, to wearing a mask self-quarantining is one of the few ways we have of protecting ourselves and maintaining control of our lives. As an amputee,…

Top Advancements in Prostheses in 2020 Consciously controlled limbs 3D printing See-through designs Bionic arms Nerve detectors Similar to bionic limbs, nerve detectors control the prosthetic, utilizing the user’s mind to think they are actually moving the limb. The technology behind it operates via spinal motor neurons, instead of just muscle, like a bionic arm.…

Journaling improves amputation recovery Journaling helps in amputation recovery. You don’t know what journaling can do for your amputation till you try it. It puts a progression to your thoughts. You see the change in much more detail. By reflecting on things you wrote in the past, you see how much things have changed. Journaling…

Beating Phantom Pain Ask any amputee who has delt with phantom pain. All they want to do is beat Phantom pain.You know phantom pain when you feel it. It comes from where your limb used to be. The sensation starts as a discomfort. It is a real feeling coming from the missing limb. It might…

Unlocking the Secrets of Being an Amputee Spouse   For some time now I have felt a gentle nudge from the universe to write a book about our experience when my husband suffered a medical emergency that changed our lives forever. It has taken me nearly three years to get to a place where I…

Don’t Let Your Amputation Become a Major Depression Dealing With Your Feelings Many people never see their recovery from their amputation stall. Don’t let your amputation become a major depression. Getting into an auto accident leaves us no chance to prepare for our amputation. As a result, many amputees have not resolved the emotional loss…

Limb loss is much more common than many people realize, and the numbers are growing. By learning the facts about limb loss, we can start to be better advocates for our friends and family, feel less alone during our journey with limb loss, and raise awareness through meaningful, fact-based discussion.  Amputation Analytics Start With Statistics There…

Reducing Amputee Stress Stress is what you feel when you can’t get out of a negative situation. It becomes paradoxical when you give up trying. Like an employee returning to work while being unable to be tested for Coronavirus because they are not “normal” according to the federal government, nor can they sue if they…

Six Steps to Have a Full and Active Recovery There are six steps to have a full and active recovery. After much soul searching I attribute them to my success in quickly becoming a confident, active and fully independent single-leg amputee. Each of the five recommendations can be adjusted to fit any lifestyle the individual…

Amputee Skills Reduce Pandemic Fatigue Syndrome Almost everyone is unusually anxious because of COVID-19. However, being in a constant state of anxiety and stress will not do you any good. After all, stress is known to affect our immune system.  So, what should we do? We can try coping with anxiety and building mental resilience by…

How to Reduce Post-Amputation Depression You have a flood of different feelings right after your amputation. Shock and disbelief come when you see part of you missing. You feel frustrated when you realize you have a long recovery ahead of you. At some point, profound sadness and grief overtake you when issues like returning to…

Assessing Amputation Depression You are recovering from an amputation and Know something is dragging you down. Assessing amputation depression is the next step. In a recent study, twenty percent of all amputees suffer from depression. After waking up in the hospital to realize you have had a foot or arm amputated can cause a psychological…

Stopping Amputee Self-Sabotage Recognizing what triggers destructive amputation recovery self-sabotage is the major focus for anyone who lost a limb. You set a goal for yourself and somehow never reach it. You find yourself back in the same situation no matter how much planning, strategizing, or intention-setting you do. Self-sabotage is repeating these same patterns,…

What is Fall Prevention? What is Fall Prevention? you ask. Identifying places and behaviors that can easily result in a loss of balance is called fall prevention. The more you take control of this process, the more confident you feel about returning to your-pre amputation lifestyle. If you haven’t been taught and warned about the…

Defeating Amputee Helplessness Defeating amputee helplessness sounds easy but you must understand what causes it and how to stop it in its tracts. Every amputee must face the feelings of helplessness at some point in their recovery. For amputees who wake in the ER after a car wreck, it maybe sooner. Your first reaction is…

Pre-amputation Assessment I found this article on assessment after my amputation. I was struggling with the raw feelings of never having my foot again. I felt like I was waking up from a dream where everything is in chaos, and regrets are not resolved. I wake up to people trying to be logical and not…

How to Reduce Your Amputee Anxiety What Causes Amputee Anxiety Sixty-four percent of recent amputees suffer from anxiety. Many of them find they are overwhelmed by that fear. There are some specific triggers that the newly amputated face that is unique. Amputation Anxiety starts with the realization that your body will drastically change, and your…

Using your Amputee Skills to Cope with the Pandemic These days, we all have to accept the anxiety inherent in living with the coronavirus pandemic and COVID-19. If there were a way to dispel all anxious feelings, I’d tell you, but there isn’t. The one exception might be someone who could summon such a degree…

Amputee Store Teleprosthetics During this global pandemic, telehealth is emerging as an effective and sustainable solution to stem the spread of COVID-19. We’re here to address your immediate prosthetic concerns from the comfort and safety of your home. Depending upon where you live in the world, getting your prosthetic concerns answered may be difficult. Amputee…

Amputees Skills Help Deal with a Pandemic The Coronavirus has left people in social isolation. They are housebound, and their movement is restricted. People are panicking because their lives are out of their control. They can no longer go to work and don’t have a clear idea when things will be back to normal. Their children are…

Why Do You Call Yourself Disabled? Able or Disable You must do two things before you can honestly answer that question. You must realize the difference between disabled and abled. Not a silly distinction but it is a concrete distinction. Are you disabled because you feel safe in your wheelchair? Do you obsess on things…

 NecessaryThings to do Before an Amputation   Two Ways To Get There Necessary things to do before an amputation. You are facing an amputation. Here is a checklist of things you have to do before you get your amputation. How you got here is either the result of a medical condition in your limb that…