Trichotillomania

[Jimbob1310]

anyone have or familiar with this condition? if you dont know what it is, its an extremely rare skin disease (non fatal)

i have it and want to know how others manage it cause it gets to be a problem.

[Matt the Funk]

Fuck man. I learned what this shit was about 3 months ago and found out I had it. I pull out all my hair, constantly, subconsciously. It sucks. Funny enough smoking weed helps me with it. Normally I just tell myself shit like, if you pull out your hair again I'll stab my hand. But I just keep doing it. No advice here I guess, but some sympathy and understanding. OH and you spelled it wrong. It's trichotillomania.

[Matt the Funk]

Oh I also do weird shit with the hair I pull...and let me just state again. I hate it. I wish I could stop. I had a bald spot on my head when I was 4.

[Staurm]

I regularly pull hair out of my nose and my ears, I thought this was normal. Like picking nuckles out your ass? I'm such a hairly bastard elsewhere though I just leave it.

[Jimbob1310]

Fuck man. I learned what this shit was about 3 months ago and found out I had it. I pull out all my hair, constantly, subconsciously. It sucks. Funny enough smoking weed helps me with it. Normally I just tell myself shit like, if you pull out your hair again I'll stab my hand. But I just keep doing it. No advice here I guess, but some sympathy and understanding. OH and you spelled it wrong. It's trichotillomania.

wow. same shit, i hate it so much. i have this quarter sized bald spot on my head and i have to wear a hat everyday cause i have short hair. i just cant stop doing it, and weed dosnt help for me cause whenever i pull the feeling is like tripled so its harder to stop. btw thanks for the spelling correction.

[birdgirl73]

Who told you it was a skin disease, Jimbo? It's an impulse control disorder, which means it's psychological instead of dermatological. It's probably a lot like OCD. In this case, the compulsion is to pull out hair.

I think trich is a lot more common than people realize. Before I read this post, I've known of three people who had it, and all three of them were adolescent young men. The stats say it's more common in females, but my guess is it's simply more frequently reported in females, who're more likely to seek treatment for all conditions (and also who probably worry more about their hair). Are you getting medical treatment for it? To stop the compulsion, I mean, not to treat the bald spots? The son of a friend of ours had good luck with one of the SSRI antidepressents in treating his trich.

[Jimbob1310]

no im not tqaking any pills for it or anything, i just want the impulses to stop and im not totally concerned with the bald spot. ittl grow back.

[birdgirl73]

With our friend's son, they worked on behavioral things and encouraged him to channel the compulsions to other hand behaviors, like flipping the edge of a folder, pulling bits of paper or tissue (like toilet tissue, I mean) and that sort of thing. They learned a lot from this site:
Trichotillomania Learning Center · About TTM & Treatment: Introduction (http://www.trich.org/about_ttm/intro.asp)

[mrdevious]

Well shiznat, I'm not the only one here. I've had it since I was 13 (tends to kick in around puberty I've heard) and still do to this day, though I've never told anyone about it. Only a couple times have I pulled huge bald spots into my head, then I just made up an excuse ("I couldn't stop scatching a really bad mosquito bite").

I don't know if you can ever totally get over it, but I have periods a few days on and a few days off where I can and can't control it. It seems so weired because there's no anxiety about stopping, it just creates an irresistable urge to start pulling as soon as I touch my hair. I can also substitute it by digging my nails into my scalp and scatching off skin, but I choose the other one most of the time since it's less damaging (as I learned when I was younger).

I've leared a few things over the years that might help some people here with it.

- Constantly change the area you do it in so you don't make a really obvious bald spot.

- keeps your nails cut really short at all times. Doesn't stop it, but makes it a lot less comfortable and thus makes the practice a lot less enjoyable.

- Play video games or something else to keep your hands busy.

- When I find myself doing it the first place my brain goes to is "Fuck it! It's not going to hurt just to do it a little..... I'll just do it at this spot a bit..... Just one more pull then I'll stop; ok one more, ok one more, ok one more...."
Every reason to justify it to yourself. Recently though I've become really vigilant about reafirming certain points to myself, even if I keep doing it while saying them, mainly "It's NOT OK to do it just once. Once is a failure. Once will aggrivate the mental condition. Once is the same as a million times, it's just as bad."
I frequently don't even notice I'm doing it, but as soon as I do I start reafirming these points.

- If I gel my hair, I can get the (pseudo) satisfaction from just playing with it without pulling.

- I've also found it helps to put 4 fingers into my hair and just run them through pulling through the tangles, but gently enough so I'm not pulling anything out. The regular practice would be with nails, so this is a good substitute.


Also I was wondering if anybody has the same reasons for doing it that I do. It started when I was 13 and noticed there were textural inconsistancies in my hair, like little tiny bumps where it wasn't smooth. It's probably split ends, or just where 2 (or more) hairs intersect at different angles. But the compulsion isn't actually to remove the hair, it's to pull out these little inconsistencies. Is that why you guys do it?

[Matt the Funk]

Well shiznat, I'm not the only one here. I've had it since I was 13 (tends to kick in around puberty I've heard) and still do to this day, though I've never told anyone about it. Only a couple times have I pulled huge bald spots into my head, then I just made up an excuse ("I couldn't stop scatching a really bad mosquito bite").

I don't know if you can ever totally get over it, but I have periods a few days on and a few days off where I can and can't control it. It seems so weired because there's no anxiety about stopping, it just creates an irresistable urge to start pulling as soon as I touch my hair. I can also substitute it by digging my nails into my scalp and scatching off skin, but I choose the other one most of the time since it's less damaging (as I learned when I was younger).

I've leared a few things over the years that might help some people here with it.

- Constantly change the area you do it in so you don't make a really obvious bald spot.

- keeps your nails cut really short at all times. Doesn't stop it, but makes it a lot less comfortable and thus makes the practice a lot less enjoyable.

- Play video games or something else to keep your hands busy.

- When I find myself doing it the first place my brain goes to is "Fuck it! It's not going to hurt just to do it a little..... I'll just do it at this spot a bit..... Just one more pull then I'll stop; ok one more, ok one more, ok one more...."
Every reason to justify it to yourself. Recently though I've become really vigilant about reafirming certain points to myself, even if I keep doing it while saying them, mainly "It's NOT OK to do it just once. Once is a failure. Once will aggrivate the mental condition. Once is the same as a million times, it's just as bad."
I frequently don't even notice I'm doing it, but as soon as I do I start reafirming these points.

- If I gel my hair, I can get the (pseudo) satisfaction from just playing with it without pulling.

- I've also found it helps to put 4 fingers into my hair and just run them through pulling through the tangles, but gently enough so I'm not pulling anything out. The regular practice would be with nails, so this is a good substitute.


Also I was wondering if anybody has the same reasons for doing it that I do. It started when I was 13 and noticed there were textural inconsistancies in my hair, like little tiny bumps where it wasn't smooth. It's probably split ends, or just where 2 (or more) hairs intersect at different angles. But the compulsion isn't actually to remove the hair, it's to pull out these little inconsistencies. Is that why you guys do it?Word! I actualy do some of the shit you do. And the way I choose which hair to pull out is based on how it feels(really dry split end type of hair). I also when I catch myself doing it make sure its not always in the same spot.

[napolitana869]

I have a friend who slowly pulled out her eyebrows. I'm not sure what she did to stop the compulsion but they eventually grew back.

[mrdevious]

I have a friend who slowly pulled out her eyebrows. I'm not sure what she did to stop the compulsion but they eventually grew back.

Just stern mental training. Like quitting smoking where you can't let yourself have even one cig. I was actually off it 100% for 3 years a while back.

[Jimbob1310]

Word! I actualy do some of the shit you do. And the way I choose which hair to pull out is based on how it feels(really dry split end type of hair). I also when I catch myself doing it make sure its not always in the same spot.

wow this is kinda funny, i had the exact same thing!

ive also noticed that when i pull it feels, for lack of better words, amazing, another reason its really hard to control.

yeah i choose to pull the hairs that are wavy and rough in stead of the smooth straight ones. and i also pull the thicker ones more too.

and i started cause i was scratching my head and i felt a really tiny hair growing on top and it bothered me at the time and i tried to pull it out and ended up pulling a centemeter sized circle in my head and its been going for 5 years now....

oh yeah how long have you all had it?

[Matt the Funk]

I've had it my whole life. So i'm not really sure how it started.

[robert42]

wow so other ppl do it

i pull my pubes out all the time lol

[skatin_foo15]

wow so other ppl do it

i pull my pubes out all the time lol

haha that made my day

[Jimbob1310]

lmao yeah sometimes i go through phases where i yank my pubes :D

[mrdevious]

Trichotilomania can manifest as an urge to pull out hair anywhere on the body. head, pubes, eyebrows, armpits, whatever.

[Matt the Funk]

If I dont do it for a while I just have to do it once to get back into it. The first one kinda hurts, but once the hair is out it's so satisfying.

[Jimbob1310]

If I dont do it for a while I just have to do it once to get back into it. The first one kinda hurts, but once the hair is out it's so satisfying.

does it hurt when you pull out hairs? for me its pain but its like a really good pain, decresing my will to stop.

[Matt the Funk]

does it hurt when you pull out hairs? for me its pain but its like a really good pain, decresing my will to stop.Yeah. It's like good pain. Feels awesomne.

[Jimbob1310]

Yeah. It's like good pain. Feels awesome.

god damnit having it pisses me off so much, cause i know that its gunna be like this forever and i try so hard to stop. oh well what can i do.

lol though, its funny how i posted about this and a few other people are like "oh shit i thought i was the only one who had this"

[mrdevious]

I think the word you guys are looking for is "gratification". The problem with this gratification though is that is never satisfies, as in giving you a relaxed feeling like you've gotten something out of your system, or had your fill of a delicious food, or had an orgasm or whatever. Feels great.... but you gotta do it again, always.


I thought I'd mention that yesterday I had a really really deep, 45 minute unbroken meditation, which I haven't done for a while. Since that session I've had WAY more emotional and mental control and can control the hairpulling 100% (for now).

[robert42]

i do this so often

im glad to see a threat about it