What is trichotillomania?

This weird term “trichotillomania” derives from the Greek “thrix,” which means “hair” and the word “tillein” which means “to pull”.

The second part, “mania,” is also a greek word which means for “madness” or “frenzy”.

It is an insane condition in which a person has an uncontrollable impulse to pull out his or her own body hair, including the one from the scalp.

Other places in the body where they pull their hair out of the root include even, the pubic area, eyebrows and eyelashes.

Considering all the efforts that people do in order to maintain their hair healthy, and avoid baldness, imagine how sad can it be to suffer from such a condition!

People suffering from trichotillomania, hair pulling is compulsive habit, very hard to avoid.

Doctors and scientists believe that the cause of this type of hair loss is supposed to be the imbalance of chemicals in the brain.

Personally, I don’t think this is the cause, and I would try to solve the insanity in pulling even one strand at a time, “healing the soul” rather than the brain, but this is another and completely different type of talk.

Some people even pull handfuls of hair, which can leave bald patches on the scalp or eyebrows.

Some patients, inspect the strands and play with it after pulling them out, others have the weird habit of inserting the plucked hair in their mouth.

This condition was first described at the end of 1800 by the French doctor Francois Hallopeau, and luckily the condition is rare, affecting only 1% to 3% of the population, twice as many females as males.

It usually begins during the adolescence years, but it has even been observed cases of people starting to pull their hair (creating in this way both a receding hair line, general thinning locks and interruption of the hair growth cycle) already as young as one year old.

As you can easily imagine, it is often the cause of depression, shame and embarrassment for people affected by it, and low self-esteem, social alienation and hair loss are natural consequences of it.

Wigs, hair clips and hats are often used the effects of this type of “forced” male pattern baldness.

The real causes of this condition are unknown by doctors, some believe it is genetics that matters, because this disorder can from time to time run in families, but since it is a medical condition, it is not something that patients can just stop doing as they feel like.

Provoked and forced alopecia

It’s impulsive and out of control.

Regular hair fall cures will not help whoever has this condition, and even natural baldness treatments won’t help.

Treatment for Trichotillomania

1.  Try to have a sense of belonging to a group: this is very important having and nurturing close relationships and cultivating self-expression.
People feel shy, but isolating yourself will increase your urges to pull.

2. Avoid bad diets and junk food: eat healthily and regularly.
Eating, sleeping and exercising regularity will help you overcome the problem.

3.  When you feel confronted with negative thought, consciously shift to positive thoughts.

4.  Force yourself to act and be happy and positive about things. Smile a lot, it’s free 🙂

5. Try to live in the present time, and think about the future, not the past. Past is gone, and whatever happened can not be changed. Life is in you today, and you create your future.

Talk to your doctor if you realize you suffer from it, as our program can not really help you with this type of provoked baldness.

For some people,this disease may be not too strong  and usually manageable. For some others others, the compulsive feeling to pull hair is really overwhelming.

Here are a few more treatment options have helped many people diminish or even stop entirely their urge to hair pulling .

Seeking help is the first step in treating trichotillomania. At first you may see your primary care doctor or a dermatologist. He or she may refer you to a mental health provider.

These are some good tips that will make your consult with your doctor easier>

• Write down a full list of all the symptoms you have noticed in yourself, even if they may  seem not related  to hair pulling.
  Trichotillomania can create different problems and the symptoms are both physical and psychological.
• Bring relevant and important personal information about your recent life experiences, including any major stressful situations  or recent life big changes.
• Report whether hair pulling is a problem that has been running in your family.
• Write down a list of all  vitamins, supplements, herbs and medical treatments and pills that you’re taking, including the dose you are on and how long you have taken them.
  

Go prepared to your visit with the doctor. These are some questions you should ask him:

• What do you think it might have caused me to develop this disease?
• How would you diagnose this disorder?
• What if I can’t afford to pay for any treatment??
• What therapy do you recommend for my problem?
• How much improvement can I honestly expect if I follow your medication plan?
• If I decide to take the cure, how long will it take for my symptoms to get better?
• Are there any side effects of the cure you’re recommending?

Hope this tips and suggestions can help you in fighting successfully this disease!
The Endhairloss.eu team