Amputee Disorder Has Doctors Stumped

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Amputee Disorder Has Doctors Stumped

We all know how expensive medical treatment can be. But for patients of a new disorder, treatment can truly cost an arm and a leg.

Psychiatrists call it “Body Integrity Identity Disorder.” For the layman, here’s the gist: A growing number of otherwise perfectly healthy people feel their life won’t be complete unless they hack off an arm or a leg. As you might expect, there are doctors, scalpels at the ready, more than happy to “heal” these people who call themselves “amputee wannabes.”

According to an article on MSN.com, this relatively new disorder is the subject of a documentary entitled “Whole.” Considering the subject matter, perhaps “3/4” would be more appropriate. I’m sorry but I find it hard to muster much sympathy for these patients. Accident victims around the world, who’ve lost a leg, would give their right arm to get it back, and these folks are chopping theirs off voluntarily.

One man in the documentary even froze his leg in dry ice until it was so badly damaged doctors had to cut it off. Afterwards, the patient claimed, “All my torment has disappeared.” Sure it has; until he tries to convince a shoe salesman he should be charged half-price since he only needs one. On the plus side though, he’ll never waste time matching his socks again.

So desperate are these wannabes that some have actually taken matters into their own hands and have shot their legs off with a shotgun, used chainsaws or homemade guillotines.

The cause of this disorder has doctors and psychiatrists baffled. Unlike other mental disorders, there is no current medication, such as antidepressants, to combat it. So, in lieu of other treatments, doctors are beginning to comply with the patient’s wishes by hacking off the offending appendage.

Although I have no formal medical training, it would appear to a layman like myself that the doctors are cutting off the wrong body part. Cancer patients have surgery on the afflicted region to remove the tumor, even if that means removing the limb or organ it’s attached to. In the case of amputee wannabes, the problem is admittedly “all in their head.”  I may be going out on a limb here, but I’ll betcha this; prescribe a few cranial amputations and this condition disappears faster than a NASCAR fan at a spelling bee.

The documentary also touches on a supposed sexual aspect of this problem. Apparently these wannabes are sexually attracted to other amputees. Kinda gives new meaning to being a leg-man, no?

One thing the article doesn’t mention is what happens when the newness wears off and the attention and sympathy these people obviously crave starts to fade? Can one actually become an amputee addict?  Picture a waiting room full of these patients, each whittled down by their condition until there’s nothing left but a head and torso. All patients would be cured…eventually. Doctors will call the treatment a success; healing by attrition.

Aw hell, maybe I’m being insensitive. Cold, even. And unsupportive of those in distress and crying out for help. It is often easier to criticize or ridicule something you don’t understand rather than admit you can’t grasp it.

Maybe the old adage is true in this case; don’t judge a man till you’ve walked a mile in his shoe.



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