What lurks behind the phenomenon of phantom limbs?
OF THE MANY requests for advice generated by this column, one of the more uusual came from a North Yorkshire farmer who lost a leg following an accident while driving his tractor. Like virtually all amputees, his missing leg was replaced by a “phantom”, which was so real he often forgot his leg was missing. When he retired to bed, however, his phantom foot became intensely itchy and he had found that this was best relieved by scratching the anatomical site the foot would have occupied had it been there. He wrote to me to ask whether I might have any other suggestions on how to alleviate this problem, but regrettably I could not be of much help. Phantom sensations are not limited to loss of a limb. A phantom breast, which seems to fill out the padded bra, is often described by women following a mastectomy from breast cancer. The internal organs such as the uterus and stomach may also develop phantom symptoms after their removal – so period pains may persist following a hysterectomy. Mos
