Am I the only one who ...
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is fascinated with roots and "strange" hairs?
(There is a lot mentioned in this link, including a list of activities
many consider to be related to hair-pulling. However, many people find
it disturbing to read such a list, in part because just reading about roots
can make them want to pull out their hair.)
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has more white hair than I should for my age? (One poster called
each white hair that she didn't pull out a badge showing that that particular
hair had won the fight against trich ... just a thought. :-)
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has coarser hair than I should?
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has different colored hair from my usual color or different textures
from my usual texture?
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has carpal tunnel syndrome or undiagnosed wrist pain and finger pain
and thinks it came from pulling?
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has numbness and thinks it came from pulling?
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has wrinkles they think came from squinting into the mirror to pluck?
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has unexplained and sometimes agonizing itches? A recent suggestion
to combat the itch was "tea tree oil," which was both mixed in with shampoo
and dabbed onto the itching spot. Another suggestion is alcohol on the
itching spot.
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gets pimples or blisters or styes on the site of my pulling? (The
blisters I think are called "folliculitis.")
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feels they must pull symmetrically?
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is sometimes tempted to pull hairs from other people or pets? (Please
don't follow through on this. You don't want your loved ones to be afraid
of your hands. I know about this. It was hard to change my behavior and
sometimes I still ask my husband to clip particular hairs, but it was definitely
worth it when he stopped tensing up when I came near him. :-)
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sometimes feels self-hatred, depression, etc.?
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sometimes feels "crazy?"
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came from a dysfunctional family?
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came from a relatively normal family?
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sometimes pulls on purpose?
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enjoys the pain or doesn't feel it or feels more pain leaving the hair
in than pulling it out?
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pulls more in certain weather or in certain seasons?
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sometimes can't stop pulling even though I am totally aware of what
I am doing?
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can control my pulling in some situations but not in others?
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is such a perfectionist that I can't get anything done?
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finds that activities which should be relaxing cause me even more stress
because I am always worrying about what I should be doing instead?
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can't seem to get anything at all done because I am worrying about one
particular thing I am not doing but think I should be doing?
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has severe PMS or pulls more during PMS?
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gets migraines?
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cracks their knuckles?
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is obsessed with many or all bodily discharges?
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has one of the following disorders?
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ADD, ADHD, Asperger's syndrome, bipolor disorder, body dysmorphic disorder
(BDD), body picking, clinicial depression, compulsive hair-cutting, eating
disorders (such as anorexia, bulemia and compulsive eating), fibromyalgia,
grinding teeth ("brux"ing?), nail-biting (orynchophagia, orynch), post-traumatic
stress syndrome, obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), restless leg syndrome,
self-cutting, substance abuse. [This isn't to be considered exhaustive.
I probably won't be updating this. Just remember that there is much
still to be learned about trich.]
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has family with one of the disorders mentioned above?
Of course the answers to all of the above is "Of course you are not the
only one!" or they wouldn't have been included in the list. More might
be written about some of them in the FAQ as suggestions are presented on
the board.
A couple more questions were emailed to me, but computer difficulties
have resulted in me losing the emails. I doubt I will update this again.
You get the message, I hope, about the diversity of some possibly associated
symptoms and/or other disorders.
Go back to the questions