Lost

[maldonado85]

Good Evening Everyone,

So i have been feeling a bit lost here lately and not for myself but for how or what to do to help my daughter. She is 12 yrs old and was diagnosed with Anxiety the beg. of Oct. However since the end of summer as school was getting ready to start back up and I started a full time position at my place of employment, she started pulling her eyelashes out. I talked to her about it and she wasn’t sure why she was doing it. As school got going it got worse and she pulled all her eyelashes out. She explained that she was extremely stressed with school. She had this co-teaching english class that she just was not understanding. I reached out to the school and we had her evaluated for extra help. However she did not meet the levels to have extra help. So a counselor has been going to the school at least 2 times a month to check in with her. I have since got the school to switch her class and she seems to be doing better. Now she has started pulling out her eyebrows! I reached out to the counselor because i am hiding razors and tweezers at home to hopefully help this. She has almost no eyebrowns left now as well as no eyelashes. I have reached out and have been told by 2 doctors she has what is known as trichotillomania and I should have her seen by a psychologist and put into Cognative therapy. I have bought her a fidgit cube to help with anxiety. Has anyone here ever delt with someone they know that has done this? If so what worked for you? What would you recommend? My only fear is that when i get her in to see one they will want to put her on medication and I nor she want that. She has also missed a week of school because she was feeling really lightheaded and dizzy all day long. Her doctors found she has an issues with her body retaining the sodium she needs and she has now started on medication for that. She is also a type 1 diabetic, has cough varient asthma, allergies and GI issues. Any insight from everyone would be great. Thanks for your time

[Eowyn7]

I'm sorry you are your daughter are struggling with all this.

My husband has trichotillomania although he has never been diagnosed. He pulls out the hair on his arms so no one really notices. It does cause some scarring. For years I thought he had acne until he finally told me what it was. It's worse when he is stressed out. He isn't interested in treatment. Obviously, your daughter's case is more difficult because her eyebrows and eyelashes are more noticeable to people. If it is impacting her life it is probably best to seek treatment. I just wanted to share that its surprisingly more common than you think, and not something she should feel ashamed about.

[SelfKitten]

omg, I am sorry to hear this. I have a sister with anxiety who chews her nails down to almost nothing.. Anxiety will do this. Hm, treatment is different for each person, but i think it will help to find some distractions to keep her from pulling out any more hair. My sister chews her nails and she is given gum to chew when she is anxious or stressed. It works for her. There are endless amount of options to try out there and try everything until you find something for her. Everyone is different like aroma smells help distract my mind from panic attacks coming. Or passing out..and its calming for me. And try eliminate stressors.. Hope everything gets better for you and your daughter. 🙏 And hope i helped a bit.

[Ollie33]

Hi I myself have trichotillomania . I started at 12 and I am 27 now and I still pull my lashes out to this day . I started doing it as my parents used to argue A lot and make me nervous . I actually started to wear my glasses all the time to hide it . I went to counseling it did nothing I’m afraid for me . I only ever pulled my lashes not any other hair. Hope your daughter is ok it’s so hard to stop. Like even to this day I do it over and over . It’s so hard to explain to anyone xx