Prayer request...

[Matrona]

I wonder if I have Trich... at least I could tell people I do to explain my hair loss hmmmmm

It's very hard for 20-year-old girls to make up excuses for hair loss. Luckily most people are not nosy enough to ask, but you never know when you'll run across someone who is utterly devoid of tact.

 

[Miss Shelby]

Sometimes mine just happen for no reason. During some of them I just want to be by myself for a long time, and during some of them I can't stand to be alone. Sometimes being by myself will trigger it. I'll hear a noise and think it HAS to be someone breaking in.

Trichotillomania. (That word's a mouthful. ) People with trich have a compulsion to pull out their hair. For some reason, for them, well us, pulling out hair relieves stress. Usually, though, it'll end up causing even more stress, especially when people ask, "What happened to your hair?!"

I have a mild case--I can usually "snap out of it" soon enough that I'm able to cover the "damage". Some people with trich have to wear wigs or scarves all the time because their hair is so sparse, and they have trich episodes much more often than me. Stopping is not as easy as someone else saying to you, "Quit pulling your hair, stupid!"... it's a compulsion... I can't control having the compulsion. I can only control my response to it. Sometimes I can "break" the compulsion before I do anything. But sometimes I just can't.

Wow. That sounds just horrible. I have heard of compulsive disorders, but not that one in particular.

Michellel

 

[Miss Shelby]

It's very hard for 20-year-old girls to make up excuses for hair loss. Luckily most people are not nosy enough to ask, but you never know when you'll run across someone who is utterly devoid of tact.

One of my nephews has alopacia. (total hair loss, it all fell out)-- He's had it since he was about 7 or 8. He's a teenager now. Alot of people ask him if he has cancer.

Michelle

 

[geocajun]

I keep my head shaved in an effort to hide my hair loss

 

[Miss Shelby]

I keep my head shaved in an effort to hide my hair loss

Very valiant! Much more bold than wearing a baseball cap. I have the utmost respect.

Michelle

 

[geocajun]

yup, alot of people just don't realize exactly how humble I am

 

[Matrona]

One of my nephews has alopacia. (total hair loss, it all fell out)-- He's had it since he was about 7 or 8. He's a teenager now. Alot of people ask him if he has cancer.

In the past I have been diagnosed with alopecia areata. (There was a spot on my head where the hair was missing for obvious reasons, and the shame inherent with trich makes you lie even to dermatologists. For the record, a lot of dermatologists actually don't even know about trich--which is unfortunate because a lot of people have it and don't realize that they're neither crazy nor alone!)

There are three kinds of alopecia--alopecia areata which makes you lose hair in a certain spot on your head, alopecia totalis which is a kind that makes you lose all hair on your scalp, and then alopecia universalis which takes all the hair on your body. It's an awful disease, but I don't have it. Trich is not so much physical as it is psychological. Pulling can make me feel better for the time being but it doesn't in the long run for obvious reasons. One bad episode can force me to have to cover it up for months, until the hair grows back.

 

[Matrona]

Wow. That sounds just horrible. I have heard of compulsive disorders, but not that one in particular.

http://www.trich.org/ provides a lot of information.

I was so relieved to know I wasn't insane and that I wasn't the only one.

 

[Aaron-Aggie]

 

[Debi1967]

Michelle, for pannick attacks in general, have you ever tried bach blossoms?

Or St. John's Wort
It is supposed to keep you balanced chemically so that they don't happened. It is a homeopathic remedy and I know my local drugstore carries it in the viamins/herbs section.
debi

 

[Miss Shelby]

I was so relieved to know I wasn't insane and that I wasn't the only one.

I know how you feel. I didn't tell anyone about my panic attacks for years because I was afraid that people would think I was crazy.

Michelle

 

[geocajun]

*cough*

 

[Miss Shelby]

*cough*

 

[kimber1]

hoping you're feeling better!

 

[Miss Shelby]

hoping you're feeling better!

I am. Thanks.

Michelle

 

[Matrona]

I am. Thanks.

 

[ProCommunioneFacior]

 

[KC Catholic]

I have mentioned this in the past and have requested prayer for it, and many of you obliged my request. I am going to bother you all again, because it has been especially bad yesterday and this a.m.

I suffer from panic attacks and they come and go on an occasional basis. They're really hitting me hard today, so hard that I cannot concentrate even to pray.

So please pray for me... if nothing else just so I can get through today.

Thanks,

Michelle

I've been having them today as well....hang in there and get to the doctors!

Zoloft has worked wonders for me. It's mild and there are days I still have attacks - they are less intense than if I'd gone without the meds.

I am praying for you Michelle!

KC "panic attack" Catholic

 

[Michelina]

 

[Miss Shelby]

I've been having them today as well....hang in there and get to the doctors!

God bless you, KC. I have been having little 'aftershock' episodes all day, but NOTHING like the big one this morning.

Zoloft has worked wonders for me. It's mild and there are days I still have attacks - they are less intense than if I'd gone without the meds.

I am praying for you Michelle!

KC "panic attack" Catholic

My doctor has me on something else, similar.. and I can't think of the name. (ding)--but it works as an antidepressant, too. I'm praying for you, too.

Michelle