Are Medications Effective for People with Trichotillomania

photo credit: e-MagineArt.com

Many people with trichotillomania have tried various medications to help eliminate the urge to pull, including anti-depressants (SSRIs/SNRIs, tricyclics), anti-psychotics (thienobenzodiazepines (i.e. Zyprexa)), anti-anxiety (benzodiazepines), and others. Most the time, these medications are not successful at helping people to stop pulling hair out (data shows that they work for about 10% of people that try them at most), although some people do have success for periods of time.

Almost all of the medications used to treat trichotillomania work to either (1) shuffle neurotransmitters around, (2) mimic specific neurotransmitters or (3) antagonize specific neurotransmitters. You can quickly see that what these drugs are trying to do is manipulate neurotransmission in one way or another. However, because these medications do nothing to help correct the underlying issue of neurotransmitter imbalance (and most cause further depletion of many neurotransmitters over time), they will only work for a short period of time if at all.

One of the main underlying causes of trichotillomania for many people is an imbalance in one or more neurotransmitters. The ONLY way to correct this for the long term is to supply the body the amino acids and co-factors it needs to restore proper neurotransmitter balance, which will eliminate the urge to pull, allowing you to stop pulling hair out.

Medications can sometimes be used to trick the body into believing proper balance has been restored. However, that trick can only last so long and symptoms will return. However, if we provide the body the nutrients it needs, proper neurotransmitter balance can be restored and you can eliminate the urge to pull. The science is there, the clinical proof is there (we’ve worked with people from 7-65 years old); the question is, are you ready to eliminate the urge to pull once and for all?!

If so let’s Get Started!

What has been your experience with medications with trich?

Dramatic pictures of how M. is beating trichotillomania

This guest post to stop pulling hair out is one of the most powerful testimonials we’ve ever received.  It’s from “M.”, who asked us not use her real name.

When M. first came to us, she didn’t have any hair.

This is her after 1.5 months on the program.

This is her today, after 6 months on amino acid therapy:

Here is M.’s story:

Life with Trich started for me around age 8.

My family was not very understanding and thought I was misbehaving and used to spank me, restrict me, and punish me for pulling my hair. They even went so far as to cut off all my hair and made me wear it really short stating if I didn’t want hair and would not stop pulling than I would not have hair. (see old pictures from school particularly 5th grade)

I was often mistaken for a boy and that was very painful to me.

My childhood was not the happiest because I was an outcast in my own family and really had no support or understanding. I felt alone and different enough without this added burden and thus created a very high anxiety level that I feel I maintain to this day.

I can not sit and enjoy a movie I HAVE to keep moving often times getting up from dinner to switch the clothes over in the washer or to load the dishwasher…really anything I can find to do.

I think if ADHD had been a diagnosable condition when I was in school they would have had me drugged. It might have happened anyway if my parents had understood that I could not stop pulling my hair, as it was I was responsible and something was wrong with me.

Being a survivor (had to or I would have never made it through life) I overcame by hiding my problem with hair styles and being careful where I “picked” so socially I was accepted in school. It helped that I was very athletic and friendly. I moved to Georgia the middle of my Junior year and by the time I started my Senior year was wearing a full wig.

I could not hide it with hair styles anymore. I am not sure if it was the stress of the move or that I had accepted that I was weird and trying to change was not going to help, either way most of my hair was gone.

This was also around the time I found out there was a word for my behavior “Trich”. I brought the article to my mom (dad had left by then) and she took me to a physiatrist with the articles.

I took IQ tests, personality test, etc and became his Guinea pig. He did not know anything about this condition and wanted to learn and I was his source. He put me on Prozac which I took for about 2 weeks. It made me nuts…I could not keep a thought in my head for more than a second and could not shut down my mind and rest at night.

I lied to everyone and told them I had cancer and guess what I eventually did. Then I felt like God was punishing me for lying and gave me cancer because I was using that as my excuse.

When I was undergoing treatments for the cancer I still picked. I just started picking other areas because I no longer had hair on my head. I continued using cancer as an excuse though my adult life saying that my hair never came back because the pores were closed due to the wigs I wore.

I was married for over a year before my husband ever saw me without my hair. He and everyone but one person still believes that my hair never came back after Chemo. I avoid having my family around my friends, kids and ex-husbands family as much as possible because I never want them to slip and spill the beans about why I really have no hair. It is extremely stressful maintaining the lie and lifestyle.

My life has always been and lie and I have always felt alone. I have a hard time making myself vulnerable and keep walls up, so no one can hurt me. I think my control issues, sanity issues stem from the Trich.

Once I know that there was a name for what I did, I researched and learned all I could about the illness. I used that information as my crutch whenever I felt all alone and weird. I really think learning that others have this issue helped me accept myself to a degree. This was my coping mechanism. I tried everything that came out, enrolled in all types of therapy and in secret have been looking for help since age 17.

I have finally found help in Dr. Chad and the Natural Path Health Center. I am doing well under the Amino Acid therapy. I sometimes feel anxious about when the shoe will drop and the treatment will no longer work. What will I tell everyone then, when my new found hair disappears. As time progresses I worry less and less about that. I am a worrier either by nature of as a mental side effect of all of this.

This is all so new to me and I am not sure how it will affect the rest of my life. What issues will lessen, what traits are mine and which ones are situational?

If I seek help for some of my issues will I find they are my issues or can therapy help reduce them now that the “trich” is managed.

All I know for sure is I am having the time of my life riding roller coasters, learning to scuba dive, swimming, riding with the windows down. I am going to try skydiving, a motorcycle ride, and more.  All things I never allowed myself to do before because of my wig. I might even be able to open myself up to have a true relationship where I can be completely honest and not push him away because he was getting to close and might find out my secret.

Who’s to blame for trichotillomania? Not you.

photo credit: gcfairch

We visit a lot of different trich blogs.  As we try and educate people about why they can’t stop pulling hair out, we see a common theme:

People just blame themselves for trich.

We don’t think that’s fair, and we know it’s not right.  Because the simple fact is that anyone suffering from trich would stop pulling hair out immediately if it was as simple as saying, “That’s it.  I quit.”

But it’s not.  Because with trich sufferers, there is another culprit who should be blamed.  We encourage you to read on, and find out how the blame game should be played with trichotillomania.

Why pointing fingers will help you stop pulling hair out

We are definitely a culture of finger-pointers.  Just look at our political system for a perfect example.  It’s easy to pass the buck and blame the other guy for your problems.

In this case, however, it’s warranted.  Because you’re not the problem.  You’re not the only one who is telling yourself to pull.

It’s your body.  More accurately, it’s the neurotransmitters in your body.  Of the two main types of neurotransmitters (excitatory and inhibitory), one is significantly off-balance.  And because they’re out of whack, a chemical imbalance is making you want to pull your hair out.

So don’t go dumping on yourself.  You didn’t ask for a neurotransmitter imbalance.  These were the cards you were dealt – so don’t drown in negativity.  You can’t; not if you’re going to get better.

And just how exactly will you get better?

Stop pulling hair out by getting your body in line

Okay, you understand the problem. The underlying cause for trichotillomania is a neurotransmitter imbalance in your body.

But now the onus is on you.

Now is it’s up to you to take the steps necessary to get your body in line.  What will that involve?  It’s simple.  It starts with setting up a phone consultation with Dr. Chad Oler of the Natural Path Health Center.

During the 30 minute phone consultation, you’ll review your history and your goals, and then Dr. Chad will set up a specialized program designed just for you.

What’s included in that program?  That really depends.  Generally it involves taking supplements, which are part of the amino acid therapy to help rebalance your neurotransmitters.  You may also need to make some dietary modifications.

In every case, the exact program is different.  That’s a big reason why we’ve been so successful.

So now the ball is in your court.  We’ve identified the culprit behind your inability to stop pulling hair out – your body and its neurotransmitter imbalance.  Now it’s up to you to take the next step and correct the problem.

Trichotillomania relief for Lacey and hope for her son

photo credit: Preston Kemp

Say hi to Lacey.  She’s another example of how balancing neurotransmitters helped a trich sufferer stop pulling hair out.

Lacey has been using Dr. Chad Oler’s approach to rebalancing neurotransmitters.  She was referred to us by NeuroAssist.com.  “I research treatment for Trichotillomania every so often to see if there have been any breakthroughs in treatment,” she said.  “Last time I was surfing the internet, I found NeuroAssist’s website and was referred to Dr. Oler because he does phone appointments.  There were no providers in my state.”

She feared trichotillomania would be passed on to to her son

After suffering from trich for 28 years, Lacey was desperate for a change – and not just because she wanted the pulling to stop for herself.  She also was thinking about the health of her son.

“I had constant and uncontrollable urges to pull my hair,” she said.  “At times of stress or fatigue, the urges would get worse but they were always there.  I’ve pulled for 28 years with no end in sight.

“I’d read that it could be passed along to kids and I was determined not to enter my 40s with this, and also not to pass along the ‘behavior’ to my 4-year old son.  That would have been my worst nightmare!  But, I could not stop no matter how hard I tried to wish or pray it away.”

Different approaches to help stop hair pulling – none worked

Lacey had tried many different approaches in the past.  “Conventional meds did not work,” she said.  “I also tried hypnosis and that did not work either.”  After a brief phone consultation with Dr. Chad, she decided his approach sounded right.

She’s been using Dr. Chad’s approach since June 22^nd, and the results have been amazing.  “The urge to pull is gone.  I am not trying to undo a 28-year habit, but I can stop myself now if my hand wanders to my head.  I really feel I am cured and I feel optimistic that I can control trich through supplements and diet.”

Lacey now has renewed peace of mind.  “The best part is that I know I do not have a mental illness now – a weight has been lifted,” she said.  “And I know that my son will not inherit trich, because if he has a neurotransmitter deficiency, we can address it right away.  This is a miracle!”

How we helped C.P. stop pulling hair out

photo credit: John Mee

We like to publish our success stories, not only to prove the efficacy of our approach, but also to offer hope to trich sufferers.

The following comes from C.P.  We helped C.P. overcome her inability to stop pulling hair out, as we do with all our trichotillomania cases, by restoring balance to her neurotransmitter levels, thus reducing the urge to pull.

Unable to stop pulling hair out since she was in 1^st grade

C.P. writes:

I’ve been on a program with the Natural Path Health Center for almost a year. After following Dr. Oler’s recommendations, I have almost no urges to pull and my hair has almost all grown back; the only urges I have are when stress gets really high, but I can deal with those. more »

She wants to stop pulling hair out

One of the great things about social media is that everyone’s story can be told – including people who suffer from trichotillomania.

One story can be seen on YouTube.  A woman named “friedamour” talks about her struggles to stop pulling hair out in a series of videos.

It’s reassuring to know you’re not alone – but Friedamour’s videos also show how difficult it is for people to overcome this condition.  In the first video, she talks about how she’s on the road to recovery.  By the fourth video, she’s pulling again. more »

Different ways she tried to stop pulling hair out

I came across a blog called It’s Trichy.  It’s written by a person who suffers from trichotillomania.  On one of the pages, the author talks about things she’s tried to resist the urge to stop pulling hair out.

I thought her comments provided a perfect example of how Amino Acid Therapy (AAT) can really help establish a proper neurotransmitter balance, which then allows Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) to be much more effective.

more »

Supplement may not make you able to stop pulling hair out

In a post on her Alternative Medicine Blog, Cathy Wong noted that the supplement N-Acetylcysteine (NAC) could help tame trichotillomania.

She cited a study in which 50 people with trichotillomania took either a NAC supplement or a placebo pill daily.  According to the study’s author, NAC appeared to moderate levels of glutamate, which is a brain chemical known to trigger excitement.

The study’s authors believe this may lead to a decreased desire to pull.

Secondary therapy to help stop pulling hair

We believe NAC can be beneficial for trichotillomania, but we use it mainly as a secondary therapy, and only if needed.

There are two reasons for this approach. more »

Trichotillomania article doesn’t include natural therapy

eHow article on trichotillomania

A recent article entitled “Trichotillomania & Treatment” appeared on eHow.  The article provides a cursory look at both the condition and the treatments for trichotillomania.  We bring it to your attention because it neglects to mention a therapy that gets at the root cause of the problem – balancing neurotransmitters. more »

Irate trichotillomania sufferer wants hope

Comment by "Tricky Tears"

Support critical for healing trichotillomania

We’re writing this blog in response to a comment made on Daily Strength, in a trichotillomania support group designed to help people stop pulling hair out.

The post was made in response to a paragraph written by Dr. Fred Penzel in his book “The Hair Pulling Problem.”

The author of the comment, Tricky Tears, complimented Dr. Penzel for all the research he’d done on trichotillomania, but took issue with a paragraph in the book.  Her comment made us think about our approach at StopPullingHairOut.com. more »