Sanitywarp.org:: Diary of a Trichster

man.  So I’ve had a better week with the hair pulling… however, while writing an email just now, and laying in bed (another trigger.. .I probably should have been more cautious about this even just due to those 2 factors…) I was stressing out over the situation… and barely even noticing that I was steadily pulling at my right eyebrow this entire time.  Now… 20 minutes later… the email is written, and sent.  And I am missing almost my entire eyebrow.  =(On a regular basis I often think to myself, “It’s ok. At least I’ve had my eyebrows for a long time.”  Eyebrows used to be a big problem for me…I hardly ever had full brows a year or two ago.  I was constantly worrying about the drawn in eyebrows coming off in situations.  Especially around my boyfriend.  Now I’m going to see my boyfriend tomorrow for the first time in awhile.  Spend the night… and be all worried about my one eyebrow smudging off, the whole time…into the night, and the morning.  Now I have to carry around an eye pencil again and worry about putting on makeup for the next month until it grows back.  =(  The next MONTH!   And I’m going on a vacation in 2 weeks with a friend… where we’ll be swimming… thank god this is a trusted friend who knows about my problem… so I don’t have to be as worried… but still… it looks awful……….. I look diseased again =(This just shows how dangerous and aggressive pulling can be when it’s a secondary action… my main action was writing the email, but there was stress involved, on top of a trigger situation… and I wasn’t able to work hard at resisting…. and it just happened so fast… now the aftermath is going to last for a long time.  =(   Blahhh.  After I had such a decent week with the other hairpulling…This is the first time in I can’t even remember how long since I’ve had missing eyebrows…. dammit…  I hope I can hold onto the other one and that isn’t the next target…..

Tags: restlessness, pulling in bed, embarrassment, anxiety, pulling eyebrows, relapse, stress, side effects, trichotillomania, eyebrows by Isis
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still pretty bad.  the whole right side is becoming bald… starting to creep further around the back of my head and the top of my head where it’s reachable under the extension cap…

scalp is starting to get swollen from the trauma.  It feels so good that I can’t stop.  but it’s making me feel awful… knowing how long it’s going to take now for that to grow back.. it’ll start to look normal maybe 6 months from now..

it’s pretty constant now.  during class, in the car, and at night in bed are the worst times.  It feels like I’m always pulling.  There are piles of hair everywhere.  It’s gross yet doesn’t stop me from what I’m doing.   Thankfully I’ve been able to leave my lashes and brows mostly alone… although I plucked a little from those areas too.

at the point where I feel helpless and hopeless… =/   and so stressed out about it starting to become noticeably visible even under the extensions…  people are going to start asking any day now, I know it….

I think I’m going to give my therapist a call tomorrow.  I have an appointment to see her on Weds, but I don’t think I can wait that long .. I need some help….

Tags: pulling in class, follicle biting, sore, pulling in bed, pulling in morning, pulled all day, constant pulling, embarrassment, pulling at night, follicle obsession, trauma caused by pulling, hair extensions, ttm, trich, trichotillomania, pulling, relapse, trichster, bald spots, stress by Isis
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The extension cap has moved further back and is exposing the crown, which I’ve already caused a lot of damage to.  The snow DID indeed cause my appointment last week to be cancelled, and my only other option was to wait an entire week to schedule for the following Wednesday.  Thanks a lot, New England.

In this time I’ve been particularly bad.  I haven’t seen my temporary therapist in some time now and I don’t much see the point of even going to see her at this point as my regular therapist is almost back from her leave.  I will probably see the temporary one more time in the interim.   And hopefully my appointment this Weds will be kept, although it looks like we’re getting even more snow soon. Wonderful!    If not for my appointment getting cancelled last week, none of this severe crown damage would have happened. I am very upset about it.  =(   It’s going to take a very long time for that to grow back now.

The hair on my sides is entirely missing again, as it usually is, but thankfully the extension cap does a good job at hiding this.  The pain and soreness of my scalp is a depressing reminder of the tearing and ripping ..  which I did some of… but usually, it was the singular pulls, and that’s really what kept me locked into doing it for so long.  Everything about it…  the feeling of the hair.  The pleasurable feeling when the hair was pulled… the sound it makes.  Somehow even the sound is good right now.  And of course the biting of the follicle.I just try to remember that right now I’m in a pulling state … and that for awhile, my mind was completely removed from all of this and in a more normal state.  I will be able to get back there again, but I’m going to need the help I was getting before.  And until then, all I can do is try and hide it.  =/

Tags: pulling in bed, obsession, follicle obsession, sore, follicle biting, embarrassment, pulling in morning, pulling in class, follicles, relapse, trichotillomania, hair extensions, ttm, depression, pulling from scalp, crown, trichster, bald spots, trich by Isis
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well, it’s been a month now since I started cognitive behavior therapy (CBT).I am sad to say that I don’t see much of a difference yet.  My awareness has been increased a bit, but it has gotten no easier to stop the behavior, despite coming up with a list of incompatible behaviors (putting a hat or gloves on, clasping hands, moving around, etc) … the urge is just too strong for any of that to work.

so, I am taking the plunge and trying medication to go along with the CBT, which is the most successful way of going about this…….I am not sure which medication will be tried first, but I am sure there will be a period of unpleasant trial and error, and I’m sure I’m not going to like the side effects of whatever SSRI I am taking… but… at this point, I am willing to sacrifice other things (like my sexual functionality, which is what the Cymbalta / Duloxetine messed with when I tried it, and the main reason I stopped taking it) to try and conquer this…  if there’s any time to really try medication again, it’s right now.. I seem to have no other choice.  It’s becoming incredibly difficult and frustrating to hide my scalp, which is at least 50% bare, especially from my significant other.  It actually distresses me quite a lot when he wants to spend the night with me now, because it’s extremely uncomfortable to sleep with clip-on extensions (they pull at the hair I do have, making my scalp very sore in the morning)  aside from the fact that the hair is all gross and poor quality now because of sleeping on it so often.  I like seeing him but I find myself wishing he didn’t call me so much, just because of the hair thing…  *sigh* I should be happy to spend time with him =(

I had a massive session just now while writing a final paper for school.  It was just awful… I couldn’t stop.  I even pulled my pubic hair (after I tried putting on a hat, the trich monster just moved along somewhere else) for over 20 minutes which is something I haven’t done in a REALLY long time.  :(

I did dye my roots last night in hopes I won’t get stuck in the mirror pulling all my numerous amounts of grays anymore….

I really hope I can get better.  :(

I will update as things progress..

Tags: school stress, pulling at night, pulling at desk, follicle biting, peer pressure, embarrassment, mgh trich clinic boston, pubic area, significant other, anxiety, cognitive behavioral therapy, treatmeant, restlessness, white hair, trich, ttm, medication, stress, cymbalta, hair extensions, trichotillomania, bald spots, crown, pulling from scalp, pulling, depression, duloxetine by Isis
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so my extenionist had to cancel on me; her work required some out of state travel….  was too late for me to cancel the trip to Chicago, I tried to make the most of it.  found a salon near here after searching for awhile… Noelle Salon…  they quoted me around $500 but haven’t seen me yet… so, my consultation is tomorrow…….been pulling non-stop, even though I was on vacation… it seemed to get even worse then??   It’s to the point where I’m walking around in public and still doing it, and just not caring if anyone sees or not.  I have a bandana over my head now cuz the crown is so bad.saw my bf for the first time since last week and while we were laying together, his hand touched my head a few times and I got really nervous that he could feel that it was all weird… so I moved his arm away quickly, or would shift my body around so his arm would get moved…..  blah.wish me luck tomorrow, I hope they can help me cover up all this damage!   :/

Tags: embarrassment, bald spots, trichotillomania, hair extensions by Isis
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