Trichotillomania

[KalokiMallow]

Was wondering if anyone else struggled with this?

Seems to have become my new "thing" (because self harm, eating disorders etc wasn't obviously enough for me ) and I'm really not coping well with it.

It's mainly done without noticing, and I'm pulling huge amounts out in very small amounts of time. Which is insane, and gutting as my hair is my proudest feature - well, was.

Not sure what to do, I'm going to try and get to the GP as soon as I can, but I'm currently stuck at my MIL's house which is nowhere near my GP's (can't live in the flat I'm renting due to harassment, long story) till after the New Year.

Need a coping method till then

I'm trying to keep both hands busy, it's difficult because I occasionally let my guard down and end up with a handful of hair.

Just pull it out, mainly from the very top of my head. Wish my hands would go to low on my head rather than the top, got a bloody bald patch now - the irony being that I have a natural bald patch lower on my head - bloody weird birthmark, that I've always been paranoid about.

Me too, I do this. Knitting is a big help, and wearing your hair up in a bun. I was told by a pyschologist it is a way of 'containing your stress' and pulling the hair releases it.

I always pull from the same place on my head, and it has to be a hair that is 'bumpy' and I pull it from the root and bite the little white bit at the end.

I am not as bad as I used to be, the older I get the more I can handle stress etc. But I imagine it is a very common sympton of stress and anxiety.

Hi Kaloki. I have found a support site I thought you might be interested in here.

I hope it helps.

Thank you bookcase

conquita Got a lot of stress right now so that makes sense, DH has got me wearing a headscarf so I can't touch my hair now.

Just wondered how you're doing Kaloki.

Not too great. Struggling to stop myself.

Keep your hair up in a bun or pin it up, just make sure there are no loose bits you can access easily Kalokimallow and keep your hands busy. If you can knit, or learn to knit then it is a great distraction. I hardly ever pull my hair at home now because I always knit watching TV. It may sound mad etc, but it really works.

I have this had this since I was twelve and (I now feel) wasted many years struggling with it and angsting over it. I found that actually, and it completely turns off (like a switch) when I cut my hair very short.

If you can bear it, try a pixie cut shorn up the neck it honestly works for me like MAGIC. Several other women I've known with trich have said it worked for them, too. I wonder if the grooming behaviour is not tripped at that length or smth.

(If it doesn't work for you, hair grows back!)

I have short hair acumenin

It's impressive that you can grasp the root when it's 2-3mm long. (I cannot!)

Then I guess you are down to knitting, headscarfs, and displacing. Or mittens, in desperate measures. Good luck!

Ah, it's not that short, can't go quite that short due to a hideous birthmark on my head. :(

I don't have trichotillomania but wanted to empathise as I do have the most revolting habit of picking my fingers and three of my nails until they bleed . Why oh why I can manage to grow seven nails and destroy the others I don't know.

But my fingers are almost always covered in plasters (which I carry in my handbag) and look ghastly. And they hurt like hell too.

Short of wearing gloves non-stop I'm not entirely sure what solution is out there....

I read an article about this sort of thing the other day. It said that OCD things (self-harm, hair pulling etc) could be controlled by CBT.
Simple coping mechanism, but apparently effective, for situations like when you are stuck at MIL's is to get a rubber band and put it round your wrist. Give it a good twang it every time you feel like salf-harming. It gives the pain and shock of self-harm but doesn't cause any actual harm.

I have trich and have had it since I was about 7 I also have OCD (go figure). I'm a roamer though and don't stick to one patch of hair although my parting is a bit 'wide' and in certain lights my scalp is quite visible (I have v pale skin and dark auburn hair - so a nice contrast ).

I have heard about wearing a hairband on your wrist then pinging it everytime you want to pull. Never tried it and instead DH tells me off for pulling.

Like conquita I like bumpy/wiggly hair to pull - trouble is the more you pull the more damage the hair root gets which makes for more wiggly hair and so on and so forth.

I did have hip length hair that I had cut off to a short bob (about 18" of hair gone in one fell swoop) and that did help but I haven't been able to get it cut again and my hair is now below my shoulders and ever so thin - my ponytail is about what one of my bunches would have been at 20.

I hope you can find a way of dealing it - if you do please share

Unfortunately senua that's never worked for me. Mainly because with self harm it's the sight of blood I crave along with the pain.

I've also got pale skin and dark hair TruthSweet, DH is on watch duty as well here.

I guess it makes sense to have a history of self harm, eating disorders and depression, to then end up with trich.

Trich is a form of self harm - I too have gone through periods of anorexia - got down to eating an apple a day and wondering if I should peel the apple to cut out a few more cals, I realised then that way madness lead and stopped only to start abusing laxatives a few months later - suicidal ideation/attempts/depression/PND/PND-OCD/OCD. I seem to collect mental illnesses like a philatelist collects stamps.

Have stopped all the anorexia/bulemia nonsense now but have no will power where food is concerned except when I had gall stones and could only eat 10g of fat a day or had major pains (had ora-morph for home use) so lost 3.5 stone in about 10 weeks putting it back on now I've had my gall bladder out .

I had CBT for the OCD which has really worked but they wouldn't touch on the Trich because it is so entrenched. I just ry to minimise it, I don't think I will ever stop. I can go weeks with out doing it but then it just comes back at a weak moment.

Maybe CBT would work for you as it is a fairly new 'thing'?

I'm waiting to be referred for counselling for the self harm, so hopefully that's what they'll suggest.

It seems like you can never just have one of these problems Do you reckon there's a name for collectors of lunacy?

Nutaphiles? Lunalatelists? Maniatics?

Yes, me too - and no other self-harming or OCD symptoms here. When I was about 11 I had the bald patch on top but these days I'm better at spreading it round the head and it doesn't show at all.

Things which help me -

• keeping hair very clean - this seems to minimise the number of crinkly hairs.

• keeping it either very short (buzz-cut) or long enough to tie up. Dreadlocks also worked but I'm a bit old for those now.

• allowing myself to pull but instead of searching for the thickest hairs, searching for the thinnest. Not only is the damage less noticeable but hunting for thin hairs usually requires a mirror so there are fewer opportunities and it becomes more of a conscious act IYSWIM.

The rubber band thing has never worked for me. I did join a support site once but it turned out to be more of a 'trich pride' type thing - nobody else there seemed to want to stop I wouldn't hesitate to ask for CBT if I felt it was getting out of control again.

Also self-harmed for a period of years a while ago, though haven't done it now for seven years.

Ditto bulimia.

Now my main source of weirdness is my skinning of fingers and soles of feet.

I tried the rubber band thing but didn't find it good. Have you tried the whole 'drawing lines on your arm in red pen' alternative?

Can you get hairspray on it so it's kind of stuck together - you get a reminder by feel before you start twiddling, and you can't take out small chunks unless you really try hard.