PLEASE! Help my child, 7 yrs

Submitted by dmz82 on Wed, 09/23/2009 - 16:50

My daughter is 7 and has been pulling her eyelashes for a year. Half of her lashes missing right now and the other half aim downward. I have bought her beads and activities she can do with her hands, she just got glasses but they didn't help. As hard as it was I even limited her time at her grandparents because she seemed to do it most over there, but then she just started pulling more often at home. I'm open and willing to get her whatever help I can. OCD and other disorders are common in my family, so when I see this behavior I know I need to help her. I don't know where to start. I don't know what kind of dr. she even needs. Please help me... it would destroy me to see my baby girl in getting teased, having self-esteem issues over this, permanant hair loss, etc. Anybody have ANY advice PLEASE?

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Reading about your daughter

Submitted by Susan on Thu, 10/01/2009 - 02:28.

Reading about your daughter there nearly brought me to tears. Rminded me so much of myself.
I am 21 now, started pulling my scalp haird, eyelashes, pritty much everything i could as i grew older.
I think alot of people dont understand this condition in people. I have never had eyelashes since i was 7, apart form once i ment my first love and treyed so hard to stop, which i did for several months only to start again and not be able to fight the craving you get ot do it.
I think when it starts young in a person like you daughter it can only grow and get worse.
I remember when my parents noticed an they took me to the doctor then phychiatrist, this only made it worse for me as you tend to notice it more and this make the person do itmore, in my opinion. From this it got worse and i couldnt stop and had massive parts to m hair missing in school which attracted bulling attention, butthat is kina expected it you stand out like a sore thumb like that. I wouldnt know what way to advise you.
The doctors i was taken to never knew what it was so for yer i never jnew myself and thought i was the only one who did it till i decided to type Hair pulling into google one day a few years back and discovered its a type of OCD called Tritchotillomania.
I think even when your daughter gets older she will still suffer with this Impulse Control Disorder of Tritchotillomaina. I too now as a young woman wish for nothing more to have baeutiful hair and lovely long lashes i can put mascara on (somehting i have never done) but i cant, if i a truly honest i can sit and tell myself i want it more than anything but the urge to do it is far to strong, its like something you just need to do and you cant stop doing it.
I feel so sorry for you and feel for your pain in going through this with our daughter. My mum never knew what was wrong with me so used to tape gloves to my hands at night and give me dolls to pull there hair out, extreme but nothing you can giveto that person will help as it is the sensation of pulling and what it feels like when they do it that they crave.
I hope this helped, in anyway possible.

I am so sorry to hear about

Submitted by This can be you on Fri, 09/25/2009 - 05:11.

I am so sorry to hear about your daughter. I also pulled, but I pulled from the top of my head for 30 years. I have stopped.

My grandmother pulled her eyelashes. I never pulled in that area, but we all get different areas that have the same urge to pull from.

Can you give me feedback, any sudden changes that might have caused her pulling spree to begin?

Mine started at age 15 when I lost a dear friend in a car wreck.
I will try and help.

Sincerely Wanda H.

I'm guessing it's her dad.

Submitted by dmz82 on Fri, 09/25/2009 - 05:32.

I'm guessing it's her dad. They were pretty close, then he just up and left town when she was 5 (no calls, visits, anything since). That's when she started pulling. She even made a comment to my mom that if he comes back now he won't recognize her because she has no lashes. But anxiety seems like it's always been inside of her. When she was 7 months old she was hospitalized for what we thought might be seizures. After 3 days of monitoring her they said she was having Shuddering Attacks (she would just break into hard shaking from stress and anxiety, but she grew out of them). I will do whatever I can for her but just don't know where to begin. She's the most loving kid and I'm a single mom on medicaid that doesn't know where to start. Last time she was at the eye dr. I mention her pulling and the dr. had no idea why she would do that. So I need to find the correct doctor(s), therapist(s), whatever she needs asap, I don't want to wait any longer just assuming she'll grow out of this too. I want to help her. Thank you for your concern and help. Any advice is very appreciated.