Is This Ocd Or Trichotillomania?

[MissLA]

Hey All,

Iv just been reading all about tricotillomania (sp?)

I think I have it myself but only very slightly, iv only been doing it for about a week, Iv been doing it at work today without even realising it, there was a pile of hair all over my desk.

I also do it at home, I know for a fact i was doing it last night while i was reading becuase my boyfriend spotted all my hair all over the sofa.

Theres not much chance of anybody noticing at he moment as my hair is sooo thick.

I like to look at the root when i pull hairs out, does anybody else do it for this reason? I also select which hair i pull by the roughness of the strand, the rougher the better!

Another thing i do is pick my boyfriend spots, hes been telling me for months and months that iv got a problem because i enjoy doing it so much. I've even gone as far as paying him so i can get his blackheads.

Any comments much appreciated

[saskia]

Hi,

I have trichotillomania and as far as I know it's a form of OCD. I used to pull from my eyebrows but people kept commenting on how sore they looked so now I do it in private mostly from my legs and pubes. If there's a hair that looks different (darker, coarser, thicker) I have to pull it out. I also need to look at the root and the thicker it is, the more satisfied I feel. I've tried to stop but the urge is so strong sometimes.

Since you've only been doing it for a week, please find a therapist asap. I've been doing it for 12 years and there are times when I can spend more than an hour a day pulling! Has something happened to trigger your pulling?

Hugs,

Saskia

[hummm_mabbe]

YES

OMG

I do the same thing with facial beardie hair (imma guy in case that wasnt clear), eyebrows .. I move my fingers over the hair and the one that 'feels right' I twist it til it comes out, then I look at the root! I also like mushing the root against my skin and feeling the wet sensation ... Trichotillomania! All this stuff is kinna on a spectrum, little things we do cuz of the nerves ... compulsions etc

I dont have OCD though

[MissLA]

Nothings really triggered it ( that i can think of anyway!) iv been having some financial trouble recently but thats about it

Thanks for your comments guys

xx

[hummm_mabbe]

Pluck Pluck Pluck Pluck !!

Study Study Study Study !!

Mush mush mush!!

Mmmmmmmmmmmm

We are such adorable loonies :wub:

[saskia]

The gratification I get from it makes me feel so sick with myself.

[hummm_mabbe]

The gratification I get from it makes me feel so sick with myself.

Awww nooooooooooooooooo!!

Tis just a quirk, a loveable one

Huggs! :wub:

[saskia]

Thanks, I wish I could see it as just as quirk but it's a major thing for me at the mo - I think about it nearly all the time and my skin is sore and scabby. My main new year resolution is to stop that bloody plucking before I have no hair left at all!

Hugs to you too x

[hummm_mabbe]

Thanks, I wish I could see it as just as quirk but it's a major thing for me at the mo - I think about it nearly all the time and my skin is sore and scabby. My main new year resolution is to stop that bloody plucking before I have no hair left at all!

Hugs to you too x

I think like any compulsive behaviour, it tends to subside when we deal with the underlying emotional problem that makes us do it. I know that when i feel stressed all my compulsions get stronger.

Bring on recovery, I say ...

[catspiracy]

I do the skin-picking variation on this theme. My fingertips are always alert for texture changes on my skin. When they find a scaley texture, they just go to work. Like you guys, I have to inspect what I've extracted. Usually, it ends up being an ingrown hair anyhow. I pick holes into my face a cm across, and then pick the scabs. I usually do this when depressed, especially if I've been drinking. It seems to me that there is something buried in my flesh, like a sliver or -haha- an alien implant. If only I could dig it out, my skin would be so lovely. I lean into the mirror sometimes for an hour, digging and digging for the elusive cyst. Then the next day, I feel so horrible I can't go outside. People would see my tweaker-looking skin. No, I'm NOT a tweaker, I just have the skin of one. Miss LA, I pick my hubby's spots, too. He gets back-ne and it fascinates me to no end. Sometimes, I pick in my sleep (myself or my husband). Sometimes I wake up because he's barely stopped himself from socking me when I hit a painful one. I feel like a freak.

My friend told me a meditation she does when she catches herself touching the zits on her face. She imagines an energy field of love, health, and healing light bathing the broken-out area. I've been trying this, and also putting band-aids on anything I might pick if I'm headed into a drinking binge. I've also moved the picking zones to less obvious places, like my scalp. I can only describe the emotions I feel while picking as: trying to pinch myself out of existence.

I want to stop! there is so little info on this, but I found the following:

BACKGROUND: Repetitive skin picking, a self-injurious behavior that may cause severe tissue damage, has received scant empirical attention. The authors examined the demographics, phenomenology, and associated psychopathology in a series of 31 subjects with this problem. METHOD: Subjects were administered the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV for Axis I and Axis II disorders. They also completed several mood questionnaires and a new self-report inventory designed to assess phenomenology, triggers, cognitions, emotions, and consequences associated with skin picking. RESULTS: The mean age at onset on self-injurious skin picking was 15 years, and the mean duration of illness was 21 years. All subjects picked at more than one body area, and the most frequent sites of skin picking were pimples and scabs (87%). The most common comorbid Axis I diagnoses were obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD; 52%), alcohol abuse/dependence (39%), and body dysmorphic disorder (32%). Forty-eight percent (N = 15) of the subjects met criteria for at least one mood disorder, and 65% (N = 20) for at least one anxiety disorder. The most common Axis II disorders were obsessive-compulsive personality disorder (48%) and borderline personality disorder (26%). CONCLUSION: Self-injurious skin picking is a severe and chronic psychiatric and dermatologic problem associated with high rates of psychiatric comorbidity. It may be conceptualized as a variant of OCD or impulse-control disorder with self-injurious features and may, in some cases, represent an attempt to regulate intense emotions. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10453800?dopt=Abstract

[hummm_mabbe]

..and may, in some cases, represent an attempt to regulate intense emotions.

Id go for that I think :(

[ann51]

Yes, do I ever relate to this. I have trichotillomania......it got so bad years back that I began shaving my head. I still do. I wear skull caps. I'm not thrilled with it, but there are worse things than a damn bald head. What I particularly don't like lately is that I've picked at my eyebrows and it now shows. I don't like that at all. Also my eyelashes.

However, I'll count my blessings. I have heard that there are people with this disorder who actually eat the hair they pull out, which can create a dangerous health problem. I feel so much for those people.

[saskia]

Have any of you had any help for this? I once mentioned it to a doctor but she laughed at me

In any case, I've been pull-free for three days now on willpower alone!

Hope it lasts...

[catspiracy]

I think they treat it with OCD drugs, but that's just hearsay.

I find having twiddly hobbies like beading very helpful. "idle hands are the devil's playground", as they say.

Congrats on your three days! today will be my starting day to try again. we can cheer each other's pick-free sobriety milestones here. I feel optimistic.

[saskia]

Thanks, good luck to you too! I know how difficult it is.

Miss LA, how are you doing?

x

[Miko]

I feel compelled to defend your boyfriend

[catspiracy]

six days and I've only squeezed zits not picked them into sores. I've scratched my scalp but not gouged it. Things are looking up.

[saskia]

six days and I've only squeezed zits not picked them into sores. I've scratched my scalp but not gouged it. Things are looking up.

That's great!

I stuck it out for five days at home alone but as soon as I was back at work I let it slip. I got home after the first day back and went into automatic drive plucking at anything I could find. I'm annoyed with myself but at least I've discovered that work-related issues are my trigger... tomorrow is another day folks ;)

[MissLA]

Hey all

Sorry I havent been on for a while.

Things are ok at the minute, iv stopped attacking my boyfriend to get his spots!

But as for the hair pulling, well, I'd say thats probably worse. Im pulling 3 or 4 strands out at a time whereas before, it was just single strands. Im worried I could start pulling bigger clumps out and people will be able to see bald spots

Iv got very thick hair though so Its not a major worry at the minute, but who can say where it will lead!!

Hope all you lot are well

x

[catspiracy]

Hi MissLA,

Glad things are better with your BF. Sorry to hear about the multiple hair strand development, how frustrating.

Well, not last friday but the one before, I fell off the wagon. Mixed state plus panic plus a lot of vodka = huge scab on chin. The very next day I had a modeling gig, too, which is for the best I suppose because otherwise I would have hid in my bed for the entire weekend. I think my makeup covered it well enough that it didnt attract attention, but I was PAINFULLY aware of it. They are kind of like burns, abrasions, so they throb and burn. Anyways, it looks like i got it out of my system for the time being. No picking since then, so like a week and a half. Sigh.

[saskia]

How important is the pain? I was wondering because I don't feel satisfied if the hair comes out easily - I like the struggle and stinging sensation afterwards...

[catspiracy]

Yeah, I dig for the pain. I feel almost like I'm looking for a foreign object and when I wince, I know I've hit it and I dig in to try to pry it out.

Today is two weeks no picking! YAY! I've been on an upswing lately.

[saskia]

Woo hoo! Well done on your 2 weeks!

I've been terrible with the plucking since New Year... my pubes looked like a scabby mangy cat so I decided to shave it all off and 'start again'. But as the soon as the hairs start growing back I have to get at them with the tweezers... now they look worse than ever - like a bald scabby mangy cat! When will this madness end??

I find the pain gives me a sort of high for a minute afterwards and intense relief. I know what you mean Cat, about feeling like there's a foreign object under the skin. For me, it's like the hairs are some kind of nasty impurity that I have to remove.

[catspiracy]

right after I wrote that, I did it again, big ones on my back. They are finally healing now. 1 week without picking. It's totally linked to drinking so I haven't drank since Sunday.

[suzi]

Hi, I'm new to this forum but I think I have problems with OCD and trichotillomania so I thought I'd join in this conversation.

I started pulling my eyebrows and eyelashes when I was about 13 - around the same time I started self harming. I never understood it until recently when I came across an article on trich on an OCD website. I can totally relate to the foreign body thing - I don't pull every day but every couple of weeks once my brows/lashes have started growing back it suddenly feels like there this horrible foreign body on my forehead that shouldn't be there and I just have to pull them out. Problem is once I start I can't stop until there are no hairs left. I hate it - sometimes I go around with half-eybrows, sometimes none at all, and sometimes I draw them in, but whichever way I go I know people notice which makes me not want to go out at all. I also have really sore and inflamed eyes where I pull my lashes out. Does anyone else relate to any of this?

Those of you who are trying to stop, well done!! I think it's great, whether its a day, a week or two, or a month or longer, it's still heading in the right direction... keep going!!

Suzi X