Trictotillomania makes me stronger!

[MollyLovesDisney]

I am surprised, glad, and a bit saddened to see that nobody else has posted anything about trichtotillomania.

Trichtotillo-what?! Yeah. When I first learned that my abnormality had a name, and that it was a mental disorder, I was dumbfounded, too.

What is this disorder, you ask?

This is from MayoClinic.Com:

Trichotillomania is a type of mental illness in which people have an irresistible urge to pull out their hair, whether it's from their scalp, their eyebrows or other areas of their body. Hair pulling from the scalp often leaves them with patchy bald spots on their head, which they may go to great lengths to disguise.

Trichotillomania (trik-o-til-o-MAY-ne-uh) is sometimes called hair-pulling disorder, trich or pulling. Although trichotillomania may seem like an obsession or compulsion, it's actually classified as a type of impulse control disorder — a disorder in which you can't resist a temptation or drive to perform an act that's harmful to you or someone else. Behavior therapy can help you gain awareness about your hair-pulling habits and learn techniques to avoid pulling.

Yes, I am strange, but you know what? I do not let this condition hinder my social life. Sure, I may have a weird patch of hair that's shorter than the rest. Sure, I may have a bald spot or too. Yes, those spikey little hairs poking up through the rest of my head are the result of me pulling out my hair.
I have only told a few people about this thing, (and I can count them on one hand), and when I chose to tell them, the first question they asked me was, "Doesn't it hurt?" Honestly? I got over the pain. I got over the pain about eight years ago.

This started for me when my family moved from Northern California, from the town that I new and loved for all of the ten years of my young life. I was so sad to know that those friends I had come to share everything with were now 3000 miles away. Crap, that sucked. I cried almost every night for the first month. At about that time, I was going through "The Change." Yep, I was going through puberty. I don't know what prompted me, but I started pulling hair from places where I thought hair shouldn't be. That lasted for about three years.

When I started highschool, I was stressed out because I wasn't doing as well as I would have hoped to do in my math, french, and literature classes. I really don't know why, but to cope, I would pull hair from my head. I had a bald spot for a while, and onlly two people noticed. Although they were my best friends (one of them still is), they teased me about it. That hurt a little bit, but I understood that they only teased me because, Hell, what 14 year old has bald spots??

I'm still pulling, and I'm 18 years old. I don't really care if people notice. If they judge me based on my hair, I don't need them in my life. I haven't gone to a doctor about this yet, and I don't think I will. I probably should, because I do need to quit this, but I am not happy about the prospect of being put on anti-seizure and anti-anxiety and anti-hyperactivity medicine. Yikes. That's heavy stuff.

So, I'm curious. Have any of you ever encountered anybody that shares the same condition as me?

 

[Deesknee]

My cousing has this. She has had it for apprx 35 years. She no longer pulls her hair out, although I suspect she has setback on occasion. She has balanced her life remarkably well.

Best of luck to you.

 

[MollyLovesDisney]

My cousing has this. She has had it for apprx 35 years. She no longer pulls her hair out, although I suspect she has setback on occasion. She has balanced her life remarkably well.

Best of luck to you.

Thank you SO MUCH for your private message.
As soon as I find a new primary physician, I am going to mention this to him.

:]

 

[Mackey Mouse]

You are welcome here... no judgment from any of us here... we are here to listen and make suggestions if we have any experience in what you are dealing with.

I do not have experience with this, I do know about it.....I hope that maybe you can talk to someone and it might make the stress less for you.. I am not sure how they treat this, it sounded to me from what I read, that stress triggers the pulling..

Anyway.. hugs, post here when you need it.. and we will try to get you through..

 

[MollyLovesDisney]

You are welcome here... no judgment from any of us here... we are here to listen and make suggestions if we have any experience in what you are dealing with.

I do not have experience with this, I do know about it.....I hope that maybe you can talk to someone and it might make the stress less for you.. I am not sure how they treat this, it sounded to me from what I read, that stress triggers the pulling..

Anyway.. hugs, post here when you need it.. and we will try to get you through..

Thank you for your kind words. :]

My problem is, however, that it isn't only stress. I pull when I'm bored, excited, or just mindlessly reading or doing something routine. Gah. I'm so tired of this. It's easy to hide my problem, but I don't want to hide forever, you know?

 

[Towncrier]

I feel your pain. It is the main reason that I cannot keep a beard or mustache for more than about 6 months. I cannot keep from pulling out the hair one by one until eventually I have to go back to being clean shaven. For some reason I don't bother with the hair on my head (what little there is). Each time I start a new crop of facial hair, I tell myself "Not this time". But eventually I go back to picking (and back to clean shaven). And I agree that it's not stress in my case either (although stress does seem to accelerate the process). I just cannot stop. So you are not alone.

 

[Mackey Mouse]

OH TC.. hugs to you, you are one of the best clean shaved men I know..

And Molly, hugs to you too, we all have our things.. mine is mindless eating, but I am trying to handle that.. stress eating is the worse for me and right now the stress level is really high.. Hugs..

 

[matt&suzanne]

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