What are the Signs You Have Trichotillomania?

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It took me awhile to even realize that I had Trichotillomania at first, I mean years and years went by.

The signs have always been there, since I was just child, but I didn’t even know to look for signs?

What little kid is out looking for

Clearly my mom didn’t either or she would have probably sought help.

Signs You Have Trichotillmania?

Most of these Trichotillomania symptoms are happening on a subconscious level, I’m not even aware it’s happening right away:

the urge to pull out hairs
the urge to continually twist hair
continual self grooming of hair
thumbsucking
continual skin picking
biting nails
picking nose
chewing inside of mouth
eating hair, skin, nails and even boogers.

…and now that I have completely repulsed you… you can see why I tend to shy away from social situations. I’m totally unaware I do it until someone tells me… awkward.

Others will pull eyelashes, eyebrows, pubic hairs – I’m only focused on the hairs on my head and really, only in a targeted spot.

Strange stuff.

But really easy to self diagnose once you see the signs.

I have to admit, I’m pretty good at multi-tasking my trich habits..

I can suck my thumb and pull hair at the same time.
I can bite my nails and chew on the dead skin on my lip.

Chap lips are common in the desert area I live in and I’ve noticed that I chew on the dead skin around my lips a lot more now that we live here.

Drives me crazy because I want to pick and chew my own lips, then while my fingers are near my mouth, I subconsciously just start biting my nails too – hey, why not?

You know I come to appreciate my husband a lot more now that I’ve been writing this stuff down, I mean dang, he’s put up with this for 15 years!

Wheeww…

I expend a lot of energy just trying to be normal and stop moving my hands

I do a lot of videos for work and the one thing I try to stay aware of is my hands.

“Head up Lesley, hands down.”

I’m getting more aware of my triggers when I blog about them.

Causes of My Trichotillomania

Definitely my job sometimes.
Definitely certain family members.
Definitely being tired.

The first two I can manage around if I’m aware but the last one, being tired… that’s the worst and most frequent trigger.

I’m tired every day before bed, right?

That’s when it’s the worse for me because who wants to resist an urge when they’re tired?

That makes the battle harder.

I did buy this thing called the Sleep Styler, it’s like soft curlers you can sleep with, that should be here soon.

It’s suppose to style my hair while I sleep but the trich advantage to it, I’m hoping anyway, will be that my hair is wrapped up and I can’t pull or twist it before bed.

That’s the hope anyway.

I’m always trying different things.

Sleeping with braids is hard, it works but they’re not comfortable and then I have hair fro in the morning.

I’m really hoping this thing helps with the bed time trigger…

What about you?