 So as I was sitting at my desk this morning eating breakfast pizza at 10 o'clock. Yes, it was cold straight out of the fridge I had a very disconcerting realization You see I knew I was gonna be filming this video today about Different changes that happen in the rest of your body when you lose a limb because there's actually a lot of them Many of which I never would have thought up before the leg chopping occurred for me And then all of a sudden I thought what about life expectancy? So obviously immediately I turned off the Curtis Conner video I was listening to did some googling and realized Life expectancy for amputees as a whole is in fact shorter. So that was a fun existential way to start the day I feel like I'm kind of disappearing into the stairs one second Can you guys see the dog that's lurking above my head now? Come here. Come say hi. This is my puppy Sully He's about seven months old He's from the islands of Turks and Caicos He has a very serious heart condition and he's doing amazing. Hello there my beautiful internet friends after that hectic intro Let's talk a little bit about some of the unexpected changes that have taken place all throughout my body Head to toes since I lost a leg if you didn't know before I actually lost my leg I had a bum ankle for 14 years I had lots of surgeries lots of procedures that always gave me trouble and I thought once I get rid of this this being a Part of my body I can finally be in alignment, right? Like they can make the prosthetic match me perfectly my hips aren't gonna be messed up anymore My neck probably won't hurt as much anymore because they won't be limping all the time and walking off balance It's gonna be amazing. That was by far one of the most naive thoughts I think I ever had because oh goodness the polar opposite is true But not only aches and pains and life expectancy There are also a few other things that you might not think about the change and adjust and grow and shrink When your body loses a part of itself, so let's talk about that But first we have a sponsor today that I'm very excited to introduce to you because I have been playing this game I'd like the past 48 hours. 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It's just so pretty to look at download switchcraft for free and unlock the magical mystery today Thank you so much to switchcraft for entertaining me and also sponsoring today's video You can check them out in the link in the description down below. So you'll lose a limb What happens to the rest of your body? It might not come as a shock to you that there are gonna be cascading Impacts kind of head to toe starting off with something. That's really obvious is the muscle tone changes I noticed within like three or four weeks after Amputation that this leg was getting freaking beefy because I was using it to walk around my crutches I was hopping I was maneuvering and then came the balance especially as I got further into my life as an amputee I realized that I could balance on the left side of my body like nobody's business Like I had my 80 pound German shepherd jump up on me when my crutches were like a few feet away from me Because I was balancing by the counter and I caught her just fine on one leg got her safely back to the ground No problem for me the ability to get up standing from the ground on one leg Doing pistol squats became kind of effortless because it was something that I had to do ignore the dog toys in the messy room So for instance, I've fallen and I can't get up Psych or can I things like this became everyday and super easy for me, which I'm really grateful for for me Anyways, it was a skill that I had to learn But sort of the dark side of that is you know if you've ever worked with a personal trainer or gone to the gym You're always encouraged to work out both sides of your body evenly because you don't want to be lopsided Well turns out if you're only using one side of your body primarily especially while you're waiting for your prosthetic leg to be made You get really lopsided and even now years into exercise and working out, you know working on this leg Let me show you the difference Check that out look at that look at this this tiny little chicken thigh Compared to this beefy guy over here. It's very different It's not just a visual or an aesthetic thing The fact that one side of my body was supporting all of my weight Which it was not accustomed to led to a lot Of pain of lower back pain of neck pain of shoulder pain of hip pain of like foot pain That was really secondary to everything else I was feeling kind of through my spine and to be totally honest with you that is something that to this day I still deal with I had lower back pain before that was kind of annoying But there are some nights that I cannot sleep I cannot get comfortable because of my lower back pain and this especially became clear that once I got a prosthetic Prosthetics are absolutely amazing at making this work for you something that I realized that at the end of the day It's absolutely a science But it's also an art to make sure that your hips are aligned and that this new leg is the same size as your other leg There isn't some highly sophisticated process It's literally your prosthetist having you stand up like feeling both of your hips looking watching you walk and saying that looks good Let me know if it feels bad after a couple weeks of walking that way And so we've gotten to the place with my prosthetic where it feels as balanced as it can be But the way that I walk on an ankle that doesn't bend on a plastic foot that doesn't have flexion like a normal foot might have It has an impact on the rest of my body And I definitely feel that primarily in my hips of my lower back and it kind of spreads way up through the rest Of my body so if I'm standing for a long time if I'm walking a lot the rest of my body Gets really uncomfortable and even if you have a perfect prosthetic fit you're still gonna have problems Obviously phantom pain is a side effect for the majority of amputees not everybody has it I certainly do talked about this at length and other videos Which I'll link down below if you are interested in phantom pain But also stump pain like this part of my leg Continues to have issues as it continues to change and shrink and some days it swells and some days It doesn't and sometimes my prosthetic rubs on it in weird ways And so it's it's always a little bit uncomfortable. It's not painful every day. Some days. It's awful Some days. I don't even notice it next big change that was mind-blowing to me was my energy needs as in like Calorie needs went up so substantially especially like the first six months after amputation in my mind I thought okay. I lost a portion of my body So obviously I won't need to like eat as much to maintain my current weight I'm not gonna be as active as maybe I normally would be so I'm sure what I'll need to exist We'll probably go down and good Lord was I wrong? I remember one situation in particular We were traveling we had like gone to see a cast line walked around for maybe 20 minutes Eating a walking crutch at the time on sort of uneven surfaces and we went to grab dinner And I had an entire steak and potatoes meal like everything consumed the entire thing By the time I got back to where we were staying I like needed to be snacking again Which had never happened to me in my life I was hungry all the time and I came to find out but actually your calorie needs don't generally go down when you lose a limb They go up because the rest of your body is compensating for this There's balance and coordination that goes into walking on a prosthesis that doesn't happen when you're walking with two meat legs So it's kind of normalized now But I definitely eat more than I used to before and because you are expending more energy throughout the day to Exist in the same way that an able-bodied person might as well You're a lot more tired at least I was especially as I sort of made the first two years of a transition Every physical thing you do requires more from you and then it does from an able-bodied person Okay, I'm not sure if you can call this next thing like a body change But it definitely has changed how I use my body in the world Postural changes like how I sit. I used to always sit. I can't even do it now But you know like crisscross applesauce. Oh my god. Oh my god. I'm doing it I didn't actually think I could still do this. It's horribly uncomfortable But apparently I still can I used to sit like that all the time because it was really comfortable to me Obviously can't do that anymore And so like finding comfortable positions to sit whether or not I have my prosthetic on do change like at the end of The day if I'm watching a movie my leg is off I can't cross my right leg over my left because it just flops over because there's nothing to keep it down Because I don't have a foot anymore Also, unfortunately the longer you are an amputee your risk of muscle contractures specifically like in your knee If you're below the knee amputee things like stress fractures in your Remaining foot if you have one because maybe you're hopping when you're not exactly supposed to those risks definitely go up I debated whether or not I was gonna. Oh, I just filled coffee. Oh, no. No, hold on Please hold Anyways, I debated whether or not I was gonna include this next part in the body changes video, right? Don't worry about it. But we tend to forget sometimes that our brain is very much a part of our body There are huge mental changes that take place. Okay, so when I was originally filming I forgot a very important piece of what I was trying to say here You probably don't need me to tell you that losing a limb has an impact on your mental health, right? Sometimes a difficult one, but there's actually something really cool that happens to you for many people who experience limb loss Or something similar in a way you're kind of forced to make this change But you realize you've become incredibly creative and incredibly resourceful a little while ago I made sort of a joke video about like why disabled people would survive the zombie apocalypse and the points that I was bringing up like resourcefulness creativity fact that we already live in a world that isn't made for us and we make it work Gosh darn it communication skills that are developed as I was kind of being silly and listing these things It really sank home for me that oftentimes it's honestly really true Like I know so many other people who are amputees or disabled who absolutely blow my mind with their resilience their strength things in The ways that they think to adapt to the world. It's honestly beautiful to watch And I'm not gonna give any power to like the amputation itself for developing those skills in anyone's life But I will say that you are presented with so many opportunities to develop New character traits and gosh darn it could be really painful to get there. It's nothing to be romanticized It's nothing to automatically be labeled as inspiring But oftentimes people in these situations do develop some really cool skills like being able to adapt to gosh darn almost anything Okay, so now for the fun stuff life expectancy This is what I wasn't gonna talk about before I sort of had that realization this morning But the reality is that the mortality rate for amputees is higher. Why though? Why would having a limb chopped off change how long you're gonna live because I mean like look at me living life I can still do things right well the reality is it's a little bit more complicated a lot of Amputations take place because of vascular issues a lot of amputations take place because of prior existing conditions Traumatic injuries even with congenital amputees sometimes there are comorbidities There are other conditions that can all feed into a higher mortality rate the risk of complications infections blood clots things like this He's all higher for us one Lakers or one armors or no legers I mean whatever flavor of amputee you might find yourself as there are definitely some more risks But it also really comes down to the specific situations of your amputation But this mean that I'm gonna die sooner or that an amputee You know is gonna die sooner than someone else not necessarily absolutely not but overall looking at amputees as a People group. Yes, the mortality rate is higher But here's the the reason that I wanted to make this video though There are a lot of changes a lot of additional pain or adjustments you need to make our bodies are so freaking cool the fact that I was walking on a Metal and plastic and carbon fiber thing attached to my body that I was walking a few months after my most recent Amputation is Incredible like did you know that if everything goes smoothly if there aren't Complications you get fit for a prosthetic limb usually six to eight weeks after losing a limb The fact that your body can heal that quickly and adapt to movement again and figure out how to walk like we are Incredible human beings are absolutely incredible And I think that like the balance the way that our muscles all adapt throughout our bodies I'm just like in awe and I honestly do feel that in a small way Seeing how my body is adjusted to this major change has made me have a lot more respect for it and healed Small pieces there are still broken fragments with small pieces of how I kind of view my own body image and seeing it way More as a gift and way less as an aesthetic thing to tweak for whatever gosh darn societal reason body image is a whole Another conversation for another time, but gosh darn it our bodies are really cool So the way that our physical selves adapt after losing a limb is yes It's pretty neat. So some of those things really were a surprise to me as I adjust to life as an amputee I'm curious how many of these things you're like, yeah, that makes sense and how many you never thought of before Let me know in the comment section down below I also do want to note that Everyone as an amputee is a unique individual some people are experienced some of these things Some people might not experience many of them everybody in situation is different There are some similarities across amputees, but we are not the same big Thank you again to switch craft for sponsoring today's video check them out at the link in the description It is honestly a really fun and relaxing game to play. It's just so pretty I found myself playing at some mornings to kind of just chill and sort of get in a zen mind state Mindset, that's the word I was looking for kind of before starting my day So check it out a huge. Thank you to all my patrons over on patreon for making this channel possible Thank you for your generosity and your support and most importantly to you watching this video right now Thank you for spending a few minutes out of your day here with me today You could be anywhere else in the world doing anything else and you chose to hang out with me and learn about the stuff for a few minutes And I really appreciate that. I appreciate your time. I love you guys I'm thinking about you and I will see you in the next video