I began to pull in 4th grade.My father noticed a bald spot and I was scared to tell him that I pulled so I told him and my mom it was from my hair tie pulling it out. -Demi |
When my husband noticed a quarter sized hole on top of my daughter's head, we thought a hair band with metal had created it. My daughter said she didn't know how it happened. I swore I was buying her the good hair bands after that, with no metal. Then my huband noticed it again, bigger and in a different location. She finally confessed that she had been pulling it out herself. I was terrified, confused and emotionally a mess. Why would my little girl do this to herself? I went on line and did some research. I found there was a name to it. "Trichotillomania", and found a website with tons of information, trying to push for more research, working with doctors. That web site www.trich.org, changed my life and my daughter's. Because without them I would have never found H.E.A.R.T. The children get to meet other kids just like them. We all come from different backgrounds and ethnicities but have come together for support. The parents have their own support group and we vent and cry together. It has helped me deal with my daughters condition. Although at this time there is no cure, I have seen a huge diffrence in my daughter. She is still full of anxiety and it's a daily battle for her but she has been pull free for many weeks now. She has no bald spots. She isn't cured but I know H.E.A.R.T has given her some tools to deal with her trich and for that I am extremely grateful. -Patricia |
I can remember pulling my hair out ever since I was a little kid. In kindergarten I used to pull out just one to simply examine the length and color. It didnt actually start feeling good till about 4th grade when I switched schools and had to fit in with different people. Trichotillomania was never brought to my attention till 7th grade, when I was brought to a psychologist for help. I had always thought I was crazy and no one else had it! By that time I had numerous little bald spots throughout my hair and was so relieved to find out I wasn't the only one. My pulling has been up and down through these 7 years of struggling with this disorder.. I've had those months that go smoothly and consist of barely any hair pulling and some months where I wonder how I have anything on the top of my head. My mom recently found out about HEART which is probably one of the most comfortable places to me. I feel like I can open up about my Trich to everyone there since they're all struggling with it too. It's been such an intense lift off of my shoulders and now I can feel it slowly getting better. Once you learn to live with it, it isn't such a big deal. I hope everyone who has this gets help from their friends and family because this is such a harsh disorder. I have faith that we will all overcome this sooner or later. <3 |
