Delaney came to us when she was 16 years old. She had started pulling when she was 11, just after she hit puberty. Originally, she started pulling at the temple area of her head, but it progressed to other areas of her head and her eyebrows. Her pulling became progressively worse in the past two years and she pulled to the point of being totally bald twice.
As she began pulling more, she also became more and more desperate. She started lying about her urges to pull and whether or not she was pulling. She also started pulling only in secret and would wait until she was alone to pull her hair out, such as in the bathroom or in her bedroom when no one else was around. Her internal struggle was increasing as well. Delaney said, “I don’t want to do it, but I feel like I have to.” It got so bad that she quit cheer-leading because of her trich and was starting to isolate herself more and more.
In addition to pulling her hair, Delaney also had a hard time sleeping and had “ridiculous” cravings for junk food and sweets. Her mood was also suffering – she was becoming more negative and depressed and didn’t see a way out. In her own words:
“I came to Dr. Chad to find an answer for my urge to pull my hair out. I could also never really sleep well. My cravings for junk food were ridiculous and never really went away. Nothing satisfied me. I had a horrible attitude all the time and never looked on the bright side.
After four months of working with Dr. Chad I feel a lot better than before – my mood and attitude are a lot more even and a lot more optimistic. My diet has consisted of healthier foods, not much junk food and I eat at more set times during the day (not so random). This is amazing because I work at a fast food restaurant; I just don’t crave it anymore.
I sleep much, much better – I fall asleep faster and stay asleep as opposed to staying awake for hours every night.
I no longer have any urges to pull and I’m no longer pulling. My hair has been growing in in places that I had pulled out – I have ‘peach fuzz’ on my head and eyebrows – and I’m very happy about that. I can now sit there and not feel the need to pull my hair out and it’s easy to keep my hands off my hair and that feels great!”
Delaney’s journey to eliminating the urge to pull was not straight and easy; there were times when she had relapses and increased urges to pull as well as moodiness. However, she stuck with it and we got her to the amino acid dosing she needed to not only eliminate the urge to pull, but also help her sleep better and get her appetite and cravings under control.
