About 3 weeks into the NAC treatment, I am having urges to pull. Strong urges, and I have pulled a lot of eyelashes today.
I haven't missed a dose, and have been taking it like I did the first two weeks. Strangely enough, I began pulling again today. The feeling isn't as relieving or good as it used to be, but the urge is still there, and I still pulled.
This is making me think that the first two weeks were simply a hopeful placebo.
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Thursday, February 23, 2012
Two weeks after taking NAC
It has been 2 weeks since I started taking regular doses of 1200mg of NAC daily. Although I missed a few doses (about 3) scattered throughout the two weeks, I have noticed a significant improvement.
To put this into perspective, I have pulled maybe 3 or 4 eyelashes in the past week. For me, this is an improvement considering I had bald eyes.
What has struck me by surprise, however, is not the reduced urges to pull. After only 15 days of taking NAC, my eyelashes are all growing back. In other words, every single hair I have ever pulled is already a visible baby hair (and it seems to me that they are growing back thicker). None are to full length, but I predict that in another 2 weeks (a full month of NAC) I will be able to go out without wearing makeup. My lash lines will no longer have bald spots due to the significant amount (and speed) of growth on them. Again, not to length, but the hairs are present.
I still pull one hair or two a day from my scalp. My eyelashes I have stopped touching. I will note that I do rub my eyes constantly, but there is little urge to pull.
I should note that I have continued to pick at my sores (on my scalp). There has been no decrease in urges to pick at my skin, only to pull. (This suggests that NAC is not for OCD but for hair pulling in particular).
In another 2 weeks I will mark my progress. Insofar I recommend NAC to all hair-pullers, severe and moderate alike.
I am using the brand SISU, which was recommended to me by a pharmacist. I was told it is the best vitamin/mineral supplement company on the market right now.
You can view the bottle here.
To put this into perspective, I have pulled maybe 3 or 4 eyelashes in the past week. For me, this is an improvement considering I had bald eyes.
What has struck me by surprise, however, is not the reduced urges to pull. After only 15 days of taking NAC, my eyelashes are all growing back. In other words, every single hair I have ever pulled is already a visible baby hair (and it seems to me that they are growing back thicker). None are to full length, but I predict that in another 2 weeks (a full month of NAC) I will be able to go out without wearing makeup. My lash lines will no longer have bald spots due to the significant amount (and speed) of growth on them. Again, not to length, but the hairs are present.
I still pull one hair or two a day from my scalp. My eyelashes I have stopped touching. I will note that I do rub my eyes constantly, but there is little urge to pull.
I should note that I have continued to pick at my sores (on my scalp). There has been no decrease in urges to pick at my skin, only to pull. (This suggests that NAC is not for OCD but for hair pulling in particular).
In another 2 weeks I will mark my progress. Insofar I recommend NAC to all hair-pullers, severe and moderate alike.
I am using the brand SISU, which was recommended to me by a pharmacist. I was told it is the best vitamin/mineral supplement company on the market right now.
You can view the bottle here.
Friday, February 10, 2012
Glutamate is to blame
"As psychiatric symptoms go, hair-pulling is among the earliest recorded. According to Dr. Jon Grant, a trichotillomania expert at the University of Minnesota School of Medicine and the lead author of the new paper, Hippocrates himself said that in order to test whether patients were faking their illness, doctors must ask whether they are pulling out their hair. The behavior is so commonly associated with distress that the stock phrase to describe a stressful situation is that it causes you to tear your hair out.
We seem wired to attack our hair under traumatic conditions, possibly because forcibly extracting hair is painful; it can divert attention from stress to the more immediate matter of how to solve a pressing problem. For chronic hair pullers, that diversion turns into addictive psychological relief. Some people with trichotillomania pull out hairs not only from their heads but also from their pubic areas and armpits; as many as 20% eat their hair; a small minority pull other people's hairs. "Many say it's not painful but more of a sense of just a tug, one that provides a calming feeling," says Grant. "Some of these people are not even aware they are pulling their hair. Their spouses will say, 'Stop that,' and they are not even aware they have a clump of hair on their lap."
Grant theorizes that trichotillomania may be a kind of grooming irregularity that falls into the obsessive-compulsive family of disorders. "Some parrots pull out all their feathers," he says. "Some mice pull out all their fur."
That may explain why the antioxidant N-acetylcysteine can help prevent it. The compound is thought to work by reducing the synaptic release of a neurotransmitter called glutamate. As Grant told me, glutamate is the communication chemical that "tells the brain, 'Do it! Do it! Do it! Do it!' And the rest of the brain can be overwhelmed by this drive state." Reduce glutamate and you may reduce the drive state. Previous studies have suggested the supplement may also reduce urges to use cocaine and to gamble."
Original link
We seem wired to attack our hair under traumatic conditions, possibly because forcibly extracting hair is painful; it can divert attention from stress to the more immediate matter of how to solve a pressing problem. For chronic hair pullers, that diversion turns into addictive psychological relief. Some people with trichotillomania pull out hairs not only from their heads but also from their pubic areas and armpits; as many as 20% eat their hair; a small minority pull other people's hairs. "Many say it's not painful but more of a sense of just a tug, one that provides a calming feeling," says Grant. "Some of these people are not even aware they are pulling their hair. Their spouses will say, 'Stop that,' and they are not even aware they have a clump of hair on their lap."
Grant theorizes that trichotillomania may be a kind of grooming irregularity that falls into the obsessive-compulsive family of disorders. "Some parrots pull out all their feathers," he says. "Some mice pull out all their fur."
That may explain why the antioxidant N-acetylcysteine can help prevent it. The compound is thought to work by reducing the synaptic release of a neurotransmitter called glutamate. As Grant told me, glutamate is the communication chemical that "tells the brain, 'Do it! Do it! Do it! Do it!' And the rest of the brain can be overwhelmed by this drive state." Reduce glutamate and you may reduce the drive state. Previous studies have suggested the supplement may also reduce urges to use cocaine and to gamble."
Original link
A gene mutation behind Trich?
This video (which many of you probably have seen already) states that Trichotillomania is linked to a gene mutation; that is it not a learnt behaviour but something we are impulsed to do as a side effect from this mutation.
How old were you when you started pulling? I was in 3rd grade (and I didn't know what I was doing at the time). This whole "it's genetic" thing might not be as far-fetched as I had originally thought, because my mother is a skin-picker, and my hair-pulling was a result of urges, not a learnt behaviour.
On the downside, if it is something that is genetic, I don't want that to justify my pulling and make me feel less inclined to stop pulling because "it's genetic anyway, it's who I am and I can't change that". But if it is genetic, then it is simply a predisposition to compulsive behaviours. Because after all, there are hundreds of recovered hair-pullers, and they didn't have to change their DNA.
How old were you when you started pulling? I was in 3rd grade (and I didn't know what I was doing at the time). This whole "it's genetic" thing might not be as far-fetched as I had originally thought, because my mother is a skin-picker, and my hair-pulling was a result of urges, not a learnt behaviour.
On the downside, if it is something that is genetic, I don't want that to justify my pulling and make me feel less inclined to stop pulling because "it's genetic anyway, it's who I am and I can't change that". But if it is genetic, then it is simply a predisposition to compulsive behaviours. Because after all, there are hundreds of recovered hair-pullers, and they didn't have to change their DNA.
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
We pull because we want to?
"Trichotillomania is formed by a perception of abandonment fused with an unconscious mindset that “my power is the cause of my abandonment. If I ‘bleed off’ my power through hair pulling, I will be more acceptable to others.” Resolving it can be so complex because hair pullers have developed layers of addiction as a result of this perspective.
Over time, bleeding off your power disconnects you from your authentic self and causes tremendous inner pain that hair pullers then attempt to numb through even more hair-pulling. This causes the Trichotillomania cycle to become even more entrenched."
What do you think?
P.S I bought NAC today and started on my doses. We will see if it is of any relief. The link above also talks about NAC which is becoming huge on the market for hair pullers. Ironically, it works better for hair pullers than for those suffering from OCD.
Over time, bleeding off your power disconnects you from your authentic self and causes tremendous inner pain that hair pullers then attempt to numb through even more hair-pulling. This causes the Trichotillomania cycle to become even more entrenched."
What do you think?
P.S I bought NAC today and started on my doses. We will see if it is of any relief. The link above also talks about NAC which is becoming huge on the market for hair pullers. Ironically, it works better for hair pullers than for those suffering from OCD.
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
N-Acetyl Cysteine
Many Trichsters have claimed that the amino acid NAC (N-Acetyl Cysteine) has entirely stopped their urge to pull hair. As seen in a previous blog, this could possibly be why certain foods eliminate the urge to pull.
Check out the following declarations of hair-pullers who have stopped after beginning on NAC.
Urges stopped after 3 days
Pull-free after 37 years
...could this really be it?
A clinical trial was conducted in testing the effects of NAC versus a placebo in the treatment of Trichotillomania. The results can be seen here.
Check out the following declarations of hair-pullers who have stopped after beginning on NAC.
Urges stopped after 3 days
Pull-free after 37 years
...could this really be it?
A clinical trial was conducted in testing the effects of NAC versus a placebo in the treatment of Trichotillomania. The results can be seen here.
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