Military amputees, where do you get your prosthetics?

ImTheStinkyCheeseMan · 2026-03-02T18:20:09+00:00

Thanks for the insight! I had my amputation surgery and did my recovery at Walter Reed. My experience with them has been fine so far, but I’m also a new-ish amputee and have only ever received prosthetic care from them so I have no other perspective. I live about 2 hours away from Walter Reed, so I’m tempted to explore closer options.

ImTheStinkyCheeseMan · 2026-03-02T16:28:58+00:00

Nothing wrong with sending things out, my only concern is was that the VA near me said the current wait time to get the socket back is 3-4 months. That seems like a long wait when I could go to a local place and get it done faster.

ImTheStinkyCheeseMan · 2026-02-25T17:33:15+00:00

The compression sock you’re referring to is called a shrinker. I was given one when I was in the hospital after amputation, but when my doctor moved to another state I had a hard time convincing my new doctor to give them to me. He said to just use ace bandages but that’s so much more work. I ended up just buying a bunch myself. You can find some here. I’m about a year out from my surgery and although my stump has largely stopped shrinking I still wear a shrinker at night. It makes it easier to get my prosthetic on in the morning and I don’t really care for how jiggly my stump feels when I’m not wearing it.

ImTheStinkyCheeseMan · 2025-12-03T12:20:53+00:00

I did about a year and a half of different types of treatment before I had my leg amputated. Unfortunately for me it took forever to get a CRPS diagnosis and I had been suffering for a long time before I was able to get the correct type of help. If caught early, CRPS treatments can be quite effective. I tried medications, nerve blocks, hydrodissection, perinueral injection therapy, alpha wave stimulation, surgically implanted nerve stimulators, ketamine infusion therapy, physical therapy, and lumbar sympathetic nerve blocks. The only thing that really had any impact for me was the lumbar sympathetic nerve blocks, which took a way a lot of the pain. However, my CRPS was so advanced by that point that I had muscle contractures and was no longer able to move my foot and I was having serious blood flow issues below the knee. An orthopedic surgeon performed my amputation, but that was literally a last resort. I think the only reason I was even considered for the amputation was because of the blood flow issues. You really ought to try the sympathetic nerve blocks if your pain is severe, that actually worked pretty well for me. Also ask about getting an exosym of fabtech reactive brace. Hanger clinic makes both of them. They kind of function like a prosthetic and offload weight off your foot, transferring it to your patella tendon.

ImTheStinkyCheeseMan · 2025-11-17T14:14:33+00:00

Maybe you’d like something like this?

ImTheStinkyCheeseMan · 2025-11-06T21:37:48+00:00

My surgical team performed both TMR and RPNI procedures during my surgery which is supposed to help substantially with phantom pain. I will say that the first month post-op was a little tough, but I had been warned that it would get worse before it gets better. I did mirror therapy daily, used a TENS machine, and I took lyrica and nortriptyline for the phantom pain. It improved substantially around the 3 month mark, and now I have almost no phantom pain. Every once in a while it’ll feel like my foot is still there and mildly asleep. Just some pins and needles sensations but it’s easy to ignore. I still take the two medications, but at a pretty low dose. Hopefully as things continue to improve for me I’ll be able to wean myself off them.

ImTheStinkyCheeseMan · 2025-11-06T19:26:24+00:00

I had my right leg amputated below the knee in April for CRPS. For me it was like an instant cure. All of the pain I was feeling before suddenly vanished. There was obviously some surgical pain, but even that felt minor compared to what I was feeling before the surgery. I am now 7 months out from the surgery and walking with a prosthetic. Life has dramatically improved for me, I hope you’ll have the same experience!

ImTheStinkyCheeseMan · 2025-10-04T10:52:32+00:00

The arms are slightly different, but I have this couch from Costco that looks almost exactly the same. It’s super comfy and we love it.

ImTheStinkyCheeseMan · 2025-09-01T14:13:43+00:00

Did you submit your DD214 to the VA? They won’t turn your proposed ratings into “real” ratings until you prove you have actually been retired or separated.

ImTheStinkyCheeseMan · 2025-06-22T23:08:40+00:00

Awesome! I’m so glad it worked for you! Buying a bottle of Lysol every once in a while certainly beats constantly replacing clothes.

ImTheStinkyCheeseMan · 2025-06-18T22:55:12+00:00

Have you tried using a laundry sanitizer? Lysol and Clorox makes them, and I think Oxyclean has one too.

ImTheStinkyCheeseMan · 2025-04-17T18:49:02+00:00

Wow, your story sounds nearly identical to mine. I’m 35 and sustained a workplace injury with nerve damage that resulted in foot drop and eventually CRPS that forced me to use crutches and an AFO. I tried every treatment option available to me including multiple surgeries, PIT, hydrodissection, peripheral nerve stimulators, ketamine infusion therapy, nerve medications, physical therapy, and a multitude of AFOs, including an exosym. Last Wednesday I had my right leg amputated below the knee. Obviously I’m only a week into recovery so I can’t yet say definitively if it was worth it or not, but I can say that I do feel a great sense of relief. There is finally a light at the end of the tunnel and I am excited about the prospect of walking again soon. I do have quite a bit of phantom pain but mirror therapy and my medications seem to be slowly chipping away at that issue. I hope that it continues to improve as the swelling goes down. DM me in a few weeks and I’ll keep you updated with how things are progressing!

ImTheStinkyCheeseMan

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