slightlytainted

"Josh" says he was fully prepared when he amputated his left hand with a power tool. He says he had tried to cut it off before_once putting it underneath a truck and trying to crush it (the jack didn't collapse right); once attempting to saw it off with a table saw (he lost his nerve). He even spent countless miles driving around with his hand dangling out the window, hoping to get side-swiped. But this time he was determined to succeed. Josh, who insisted on anonymity because his family thinks he lost his hand in an accident, says he practiced on animal legs he got from a butcher, and he was equipped with bandages to stop the bleeding and a charged cell phone in case he got dizzy. Now, years later, Josh says he feels wonderful without his hand, that his amputation finally ended a "torment" that had plagued him since middle school. "It is a tremendous relief," he told NEWSWEEK. "I feel like my body is right."

As it currently stands, BIID (Body Integrity Identity Disorder) sufferers have little option for treatment, and many of them take extreme and dangerous measures to amputate or paralyze themselves. One patient featured in Melody Gilbert's 2004 documentary "Whole," froze his leg off with dry ice. Another blew one off with a shotgun. In one case, a man traveled to Mexico and paid $10,000 for an illegal amputation, only to die of gangrene.