Trichotillomania (Hair Pulling) Support Group

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Eliminating sugar eliminated my Trich!

kmik05
kmik05

Hi folks, I'm a 51 year old woman who has had Trich since I was a pre-teen. A couple years ago, I noticed my own pre-teen daughter was pulling. They call this an OCD or a mental health issue, but I wanted to share with you all that eliminating refined sugars (just refined, not naturally occuring sugars, like in fruit, just the white powder stuff, and high-fructose corn syrup) has almost entirely eliminated our Trich. The worst that happens now is I might get a little itchy spot, that I'll scratch for a moment, but that's it! No more pulling! I've been pull-free for over six months. If I ever decide to "forget" this correlation, like at a birthday party, and I have some cake, sure enough, I'll have a flare-up, maybe about 48 hours later.


If anyone else tries this, please let me know if it works for you! I don't remember ulitmately how long it took to get results. I would say though, plan on trying it for a full month before you decide if it helps or not. Going a month without sugar is sure to make your body happy regardless! Good luck, and I hope to hear that this helps others!

trickster2016
trickster2016
So happy for you and your daughter that you have beat trich by eliminating sugar. I am just a little older than you and have had trich since age 9. Through the years I have had periods of not pulling, and a full head of hair, but the last 12 years have been bad. Right now I am bald and just got a new wig today. I hate having trich. I so need to be rid of it forever. I have noticed that sugar and chocolate and caffeine, and lack of sleep, stress, etc, are all triggers for me. I looked up the John Kender Diet and I found that I ate many of the things on the " Bad foods" list and often had big pulling sprees after eating them. I think for me it is a combination of things - trich has become a deeply ingrained habit for me, and then diet, stress, anxiety, lack of sleep are the other things that help to bring it on. Would love it if you add me as a friend. I need some support in this. I just started a journal today and going to try to write in it regularly, as a form of therapy.
LilyBubble
LilyBubble
I feel that many different things can cause trichotillomania in people. For some, it's sugar- for others it could be a lack of something.

It could be that eating healthier in general makes your body happier and thus makes YOU happier- which in turn would reduce the urge to pull. I encourage everyone to try eating healthier and see if it helps reduce the urge to pull.

I'm happy that this particular solution has helped you! Best of luck!
kmik05
kmik05
Thanks LilyBubble, but it's one thing to speculate. It's helped both myself and my daughter, two of us. Yes, a very small test group. Why don't you try it, and see if it works for you too?
kmik05
kmik05
Lily, just read more posts and saw that you beat trich already. Very good for you! Here's one angle I had with my approach, I didn't have to fight anything, I didn't even have to think about it. After almost 40 years, I kind of just "forgot" that I ever had it! If you ever still have the urge to pull, I would say it might not be a bad thing to try the no sugar route.