Is this trichotillomania, or just heavy shedding?

[prettyinpink]

Hey guys!

I know this may sound strange, but I have an obsession with pulling my hair. I don't pluck out individual strands, I'll just grab a chunk of hair and tug until "dead" strands fall out. I can do this for an hour. The feeling of having "dead" strands in my hair bugs me, so I just keep pulling till more comes out. My hair is getting thinner and thinner. I cant tell if I have trich, or if I just have lots of shedding. I cant really tell how many strands I lose a day.

What do you think?

Thank you very much

[goldcopperbrown]

Hey guys!

I know this may sound strange, but I have an obsession with pulling my hair. I don't pluck out individual strands, I'll just grab a chunk of hair and tug until "dead" strands fall out. I can do this for an hour. The feeling of having "dead" strands in my hair bugs me, so I just keep pulling till more comes out. My hair is getting thinner and thinner. I cant tell if I have trich, or if I just have lots of shedding. I cant really tell how many strands I lose a day.

What do you think?

Thank you very much

Since you feel a compulsion to pull hair out, I would say it's probably not heavy shedding. This may sound like a dumb question but how do you feel when you DON'T pull your hair out?

[prettyinpink]

thanks for answering (: When I dont pull my hair out I feel fine actually

[Viola88]

Can you try wearing it up 99% of the time?

I touch my head less when I bun. As soon as my hair comes down, my $#%& fingers go right to my scalp to pick.

(ETA: I've got seborrheic dermatitis. I swear my scalp itches more when my hair is down.)

[lapushka]

Since you're mechanically manipulating hair, I say no that's not shedding, that's something else entirely, whether it's trich is for a doctor to decide. I'd try and get some help with that, esp. if you can't leave it alone (wear it up?) most of the time.

[Anje]

It doesn't sound like "standard" trichotillomania, but my understanding is that trich tends to be something you do partly due to stress or out of compulsion. The usual description says that there's some sort of release of tension when you do it, but I think in practice it tends to be a stress/boredom/hands need to do something activity and is a lot like picking at scabs or one's fingernails.

Either way, it's probably not the best habit to get into. Find something else to occupy your hands.

ETA: I've got some trich myself (not officially diagnosed, but when you find yourself with half an eyebrow, you know....)

[Purdy Bear]

Yes it does sound like Trich, if it was heavy shedding it would fall out on it's own but you are pulling it out. I've been told that Tich is similar to OCD and is a repetitive, as you say you can do it up to an hour at a time. The sufferer can also suck their hair to the extent they get hair balls just like cats.

If you are sliding your hands through your hair then the hair comes out that would be shedding, if you actually taking a hold of the hair and pulling then it's Trich. Either way I feel you need to see your Doctor for them to have a look, they will be able to tell by the scalp condition if it is Trich, a hormone based shed or something like the beginnings of Alopecia and thus give you treatments for it.

[Atlantic]

It sounds trich-like and I would stop it right now. :) I have mild trich that I've managed to stop most of the time, and the danger point for me is when I start twiddling and sliding my hands through my hair a lot and tell myself that any hair that comes out when I do this was probably going to come out soon anyway. That may be sort-of kind-of true, but it's not a good sign. Besides, something like 10-15% of the hair on your head at any one time is in the dormant 'dead' phase....if you encourage those hairs to fall out sooner than they would have otherwise, that could be a LOT of hair.

[prettyinpink]

Thank you everybody! =D