Trichotillomania

[dcmom]

Just spoke to my dearest friend, who told me that out of the blue, her daughter has started pulling out her eyelashes and eyebrows: trichotillomania. Her daughter is 9. She is seeing the school counselor, but for the life of everyone around her NO ONE can see any signs of anxiety or stress.

 

So, I know this board is full of brilliant, compassionat Moms. Does anyone know anything about this?

 

I know trich can be considered a form of ocd. I wanted to tell her to get a strep test- but didn't want her to think I was out of my mind. It has been probably going on since prior to Christmas- the only thing her mom may have noticed is that she complained of being tired around the same time this started. I told her there is a strong possibiltiy the cause could be medical, not psychological, and that I would let her know what i find out.

 

Has anyone dealt with this? Any thoughts or resources?

 

THanks!

[sf_mom]

Yes, it was one of the symptoms we had. Our psychiatrist wanted to know if he was eating it too....... The thought of it was so heartbreaking to me, I couldn't bear to ask our son if he was eating the hair he was pulling.

 

I know Dr. K has dealt with other children who have had Trichotillomania as part of their symptom presentation. One child pulled the entire side of his head of hair out. I suspect its most likely PANDAS. Happy to help if needed.

 

-Wendy

 

 

Just spoke to my dearest friend, who told me that out of the blue, her daughter has started pulling out her eyelashes and eyebrows: trichotillomania. Her daughter is 9. She is seeing the school counselor, but for the life of everyone around her NO ONE can see any signs of anxiety or stress.

 

So, I know this board is full of brilliant, compassionat Moms. Does anyone know anything about this?

 

I know trich can be considered a form of ocd. I wanted to tell her to get a strep test- but didn't want her to think I was out of my mind. It has been probably going on since prior to Christmas- the only thing her mom may have noticed is that she complained of being tired around the same time this started. I told her there is a strong possibiltiy the cause could be medical, not psychological, and that I would let her know what i find out.

 

Has anyone dealt with this? Any thoughts or resources?

 

THanks!

[7upMom]

My daughter did this when she was around 8 for a very short time ( mainly eyelashes for a couple weeks). She is now almost 18 y/o. She does not and did not have PANDAS. She does have OCD though, she is a 'collector of things' ( things I think are trash )

She is very happy and does not show stress and anxiety in ways like other kids. It comes out in OCD behaviors- counting, touching, collecting and that one and only time it was her eyelashes.

But my 9 y/o does have Pandas and it NEVER hurts to get it checked out. JMO: I would recommend she just gets it done to rule out medical before pursing anything that would consist of medication for ocd behavior.

[Phasmid]

Oh my gosh, this has tormented us for years! Happily, it is now RESOLVED through antibiotic treatment. Tell your friend that there is hope!

 

Pulling eye lashes was my son's first OCD. It only got worse, with full blown OCD, tics, the whole nightmare. I completely overlooked this as OCD, and attributed it to stress. I know now that it is not something kids do when stressed. It is an OCD associated with PANDAS/PITAND. My poor boy had two years of school pictures without his eyebrows or eyelashes. They only grew back this year! And sadly, I forgot to send his picture order form with him the day of school pictures

 

My son recovered from most of his OCD/tics during winter, 2009. He was very sick with immediate onset coprolalia and tics. He had been fine (except for eyelash pulling) since 2004, when he had his first OCD episode, also immediate onset. In 2009, he was put on vancomycin for a gut infection (Clostridium difficile colitis). His symptoms disappeared in a couple of weeks. His eyelashes and eyebrows began to grow immediately following his recovery. What we now know is that he wasn't entirely successfully treated back in 2004 (we thought he was, ignoring the stupid eyelash pulling). It took from about March or April of 2009 to about February of this year for the lush lashes he once had (last seen in 3rd grade; now he's in 6th grade!) to grow back! My son just began further care under Dr. Trifiletti in New Jersey (we are in CA, so it's a long-distance relationship which is fine for now).

 

Now we know that trich. is the indicator which we must look for as a sign of things going bad. Let your friend know she can contact me anytime about this.

 

Mary

[dut]

Hi - I would suggest a thyroid test too. I was a BAD nail biter and trich/skin picking and nail biting are all basically the same problem from the OCD spectrum. My urge to bite stopped completely 5 days after starting thyroid meds for borderline low thyroid. Also m,ake sure that they go to a progressive endocrinologist who treats boderline levels/symptomatically. TSH and Free T3 and Free T4 needs to be checked.

 

Could also suggest they look at n-actyl-l-cysteine. It has been used with trich with some realy good improvments -

 

A simple supplement could help treat people with an impulse disorder that manifests in hair-tearing, say experts

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8132387.stm

 

(Also, both my dd6 and ds2 started biting their nails suddenly the week they had a flu-like illness. My ds stopped a week later but my dd still continues. We had her thyroid tested last year and she was ok. Following the flu her thyroid was low but ds was ok. Often thyroid issues will follow a virus and then inappropriate immune response but can level out again later.)

[MomWithOCDSon]

As so many OCD onsets seem to be related to either PANDAS or PITANDS, it would certainly make sense for your friend to fully explore that possibility first via all conventional methods.

 

Failing that, or if the condition has in any way become "behavioral" and PANDAS/PITANDS intervention cannot fully set aside the hair pulling, I know this condition is considered to lie on the OCD spectrum, and there are therapists who specialize in it.

 

The OCD Foundation might be a good resource for finding a local practitioner with the experience, especially with kids and the disorder. In my area, we have the Anxiety and Agoraphobia Treatment Center, with CBT and ERP professionals who specialize in this disorder:

 

AATC - Trichotillomania

 

All the best!