Maybe I'm not crazy, afterall!
I started pulling my hair out in about 2001. I'd have bald spots on the sides of my head right behind my ears. My pulling patterns would shift from one side to the other as I ran out of hair to pull. Usually, the rest of my hair was long enough to cover my bald spots, but I really came to fear strong wind gusts. In about 2004, my hair pulling became so bad and so obsessive that the only relief I found was to shave my head completely. I spent almost two years bald.
It was about that time that I discovered that I wasn't alone: about 13 million Americans suffer from trichotillomania. They pull their head hair, facial hair (including eyebrows and eyelashes), and body hair. They also pick at the skin on their fingers, lips, and toes.
There was something immensely healing about finding out that I suffered from an actual, documented disease. And after changing circumstances in my life that affected my anxiety levels, my pulling lessened. I also have my hair cut in a way that limits pulling in susceptible areas. (I'm lucky that I have very thick hair, because I am missing half of it!)
Why the history lesson? Because my co-worker pointed me to a radio program highlighting Mario Capecchi, this year's Nobel Prize winner in medicine for his work in genetics and the recent discoveries involving "Trich," as it is nicknamed amongst us pullers. Not so oddly enough, my mother is also a recovering hair-puller.
For other interesting articles, you can click on these:
Duke University's work
U of U journal article (which I haven't read in it's entirety, I'll admit)
It was about that time that I discovered that I wasn't alone: about 13 million Americans suffer from trichotillomania. They pull their head hair, facial hair (including eyebrows and eyelashes), and body hair. They also pick at the skin on their fingers, lips, and toes.
There was something immensely healing about finding out that I suffered from an actual, documented disease. And after changing circumstances in my life that affected my anxiety levels, my pulling lessened. I also have my hair cut in a way that limits pulling in susceptible areas. (I'm lucky that I have very thick hair, because I am missing half of it!)
Why the history lesson? Because my co-worker pointed me to a radio program highlighting Mario Capecchi, this year's Nobel Prize winner in medicine for his work in genetics and the recent discoveries involving "Trich," as it is nicknamed amongst us pullers. Not so oddly enough, my mother is also a recovering hair-puller.
For other interesting articles, you can click on these:
Duke University's work
U of U journal article (which I haven't read in it's entirety, I'll admit)