YES! Mine is always worse right before my period. Part of the reason I pull is to regulate my emotions so it makes sense that my urges increase when my emotions are all over the place.

Makes sense if one is craving 'simple carbs' for comfort. I think pulling has a connection to sugar, fat, and gluten intake as well.
I think an overall diet change would be of help in our struggles with anxiety and stress levels. I use food as medicine and believe that what we eat has a huge impact on behavior and health in general.

Absolutely... that is why I always thought that hormones play a role in this disorder. Maybe our brains are just sensitive to the hormonal fluctuations that occur prior to pulling. And maybe that is why more woman than men have it. Ditto nabby1 - Add sugar and carbs to the mix and it is a pullin' frenzy.

I've never particularly noticed but now that you mention it i'm having a bad pulling day and it's a couple days before my period. hmmmm.

I just watched a show on KPBS, about 'The OMNI Diet, by Tana Amen.' In reference to this diet, she talked extensively about 'Sugar Addiction' and all the foods that turn into sugar rapidly in the body. This makes sense for those who could be sensitive to sugar to adhere to this way of eating. Its a very restrictive diet, but it makes sense to start swapping out some of the more rapidly effecting insulin foods in favor of complex carbs that hit the blood stream slower and not cause the spikes. In the explanations of sensitivities was Hair Pulling, Dermatitis, OCD, Metabolic syndrome, Diabetes, Bulimic, among other disorders.
Knowing that Trich. is a chemical imbalance in the brain,
I feel there is a lot we can do with food, we can think of food as medicine- to stop and control our pulling.
Please look into this program and hear for yourself some of the very interesting comparisons to insulin spikes and various disorders.
Hugs, everyone....