What is phantom pain? Is it the same as phantom sensation?
Phantom sensation or phantom limb pain occurs when a person has lost a limb such as an arm or a leg. Phantom sensation is the feeling that the lost limb is still there. When the limb hurts or is painful, it's referred to as phantom limb pain.
About 80 percent of people who've had body parts amputated have some amount of phantom limb sensation or pain. Scientists aren't exactly sure how to explain phantom pain. It may occur as a result of painful swelling at the end of cut nerves called a neuroma.
There may be a psychologic factor. Children who lose limbs before the age of four rarely have phantom sensations or pain. This suggests an emotional or psychologic painful response to the trauma and loss felt in the body.
Neurologists offer several theories about the mapping of sensation in the brain. Nothing has been proven yet.
Researchers, doctors, and neurologists have all tried ways to treat phantom limb sensation or pain. For example, ultrasound, medication, surgery, and electrical stimulation have all been tried with little success. The most (though not even close to 100 percent) success has been found with drugs used to inhibit pain messages.
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