My poor Emi is running out of hair. She’s done this for at least 6 months, but while she’s been sick in the last 2 months, it has really gotten bad. Essentially it started out by her twirling her fingers in her hair… leading to the inevitable pulling some out. Now, she actually puts her hand in her hair and pulls! Then, the hair goes into her mouth.
Sometimes it’s like she’s flossing her teeth with it… of course, then she can’t get it off her fingers and whines until Ron or I get it off. We’ve started to try to distract her when we see her hand in her hand… to get her to do something else.
She’s pulled out so much that the left side of her head is getting quite bare! 🙁
There is a syndrome/disease called Trichotillomania which can manifest itself in children as young as 1, but is usually found with preteen and teenage girls. It’s essentially an obsessive compulsive disorder which most don’t realize they are even doing, let alone see the results until it’s too late.
There are behavioral therapies, but they also suggest that it can be treated with medication — that an SRI or SSRI might work… but I think that’s in an extreme case.
So, I’m taking her to the Dr. tomorrow to have her checked out. I only ever see her do it with her left hand (she’s very left-handed). Emi is also the more emotional of the two girls, Abby being super-laid-back and Emi a bit more high strung, so it doesn’t surprise me a bit that she does it and not Abby. It definately gets “worse” when she’s 1) tired 2) stressed and thus whiney or 3) just hanging out by herself.
The bigger problem lies with Abby’s hair being so much more full than Emi’s that now it looks even worse!
Of course, knowing that Joseph’s anxiety is hereditary, I think through Emi’s issue and have an idea of where it comes from… this time it’s me. I tend to have my hand in my hair often… but I don’t pull. I just run my fingers through it or scratch my head. I do it A LOT… and I know I do it when I’m 1) thinking 2) concentrating 3) studying…. all the times Emi does. Often I’ll pull out my hair thing in order to pull, but not to pull OUT my hair… it’s stress relieving to me… and another reason why I love to get my hair cut… it’s that tugging on my head. Things that make you go hmmmmm….. ????