transabled.org

You’re forgiven ;)

Doesn’t ring a bell for me, sorry. Interesting concept though :)

I’m an amoutee and do get phantom pain.

I can’t understand for one minute why anyone would fantasise about becoming disabled!

Still, we all do things our own way, and I respect that the world is full of different people :-)

I think I understand what you’re asking.
Does it sometimes feel like that your legs are really paralyzed? Is this what you’re asking?
If so, it has happened to me a couple of times.
Once when I was about 10, I was laying in bed and I had the sensation that my body was getting really heavy. It felt like I was sinking into the bed. I was completely awake when this happened so I don’t think it was sleep paralysis.
The other time it happened was a couple of weeks ago. I had the house to myself so I had a wekend of wheeling. I was sitting in my chair and my legs started to feel heavy, not going to sleep, just getting heavier and heavier as if the strenght in my legs was evaporating.

Philip: thanks for your comment. :o) I don’t understand it either, and don’t know anybody who does!

Stumpy: I have actually had that happen to me as well. Three times. Weird!

But that’s not at all what I’m talking about. I’m really referring to something like the “phantom limb” experience that amputees have. I’m not talking about something that’s actually happening to my own real legs.

It’s odd when parts of my body just “turn off”. If I sit or lay still my arms and legs just seem to go into “power saving mode” and seem nonexistant. It takes a conscious effort to “wake” them back up.

Ahh so this is’nt something that you’re actually experiencing yourself Claire. I posted a reply in one of the group forums thinking you were getting this feeling in your own legs ! so you’ll have to forgive my ignorance.

Actually Will I am experiencing this. I’m not sure what I said in the other forum that made it sound like I wasn’t.

And Marie, what I’m talking about isn’t remotely like the feeling of your limbs falling asleep when you’ve been resting. I guess I am having a really hard time describing “phantom limbs”…I honestly thought that this was a concept that EVERYONE around here understood because it’s such a common occurrence in amputees. I don’t know how else to explain it.

No, my mistake again, i misunderstood post 4 when you said this wasnt happening to your real legs (physical legs).

I’m trying to quit smoking today and my minds a bit fuzzy to say the least, i’m getting confused at even the simplest of things.

However, i do find this really interesting, Does it feel freaky, or are you quite comfortable with it ? have you always had this or is it something you’ve only just become aware of ? , I noticed in the linked article you posted in another group that VCS was found to provoke this phantomization process in existing paraplegics, so if it is just a recent thing then it could be a “hangover” from that ?

dunno ?

There have been a few times recently when I have been listening to someone talk, and it literally gets tuned out! Not just what the person is saying, but everything, background noise, speech, music, all of it. It is like I was deaf for just a second, and then my ears feel funny right when it happens and goes away. Could anyone explain that?

Lucien, it’s possible that you’re experiencing a form of tinnitus. It happens to me and it’s the best feeling…I might be biased, though. ;)

This has happened to me more times that I can count. In fact, I can make it happen now. I have learned to zone in on that feeling and if the circumstances are right, I can turn my legs off. I literally have no sensation in some areas and extremely heightened sensation in others. It’s a strange but very comforting feeling and I thought I was the only one this was happening to. I guess not!!

Self-hypnosis maybe?

self-hypnosis never worked for me :(

To tell you the truth, I can self-hypnotize my legs into feeling numb and/or non-existent…and it does take a conscious effort to get them working again. So, no, you’re not “cracked”…unless I am too. ;)