My Little Trichster's Christmas Vacation

My little trichster and his two siblings are in Florida spending this holiday season with their father. I have been wondering if the change would cause him to pull more, to pull just as much, to pull less, or to pull not at all. Of course, I guess I won't know if he isn't pulling because he is with his dad, or if he isn't pulling because he isn't in school.

However I just received an update from their dad saying that my little trichster pulled on his eye lashes the first night, but hasn't been seen pulling since. Of course I will believe it when I see it (it, in this case, being the regrown hair). If he really has stopped pulling I think the primary assumption should be it is because he is out of school, and not because he is with his dad. I will have them back later this week and will have them for almost 5 days before school starts back up again, and I can see if there truly is regrowth, and if he starts pulling again once he gets up here to me even before school starts. If he doesn't pull, then it really supports the case for homeschooling him. We shall see.
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Sunday Update

We managed to get through an ENTIRE Mass today without any hair pulling at all!! This is a major accomplishment for my little trichster! Though he did rub his eyes quite a bit during Mass, he did not pull at all. I am so proud of him.

After Mass we went to McDonald's like always and played for several hours. I love watching my children play and have fun so easily and seamlessly with other children whom they have never met (though occassionaly we run into kids from school or scouts too). I was such a shy and insecure child that I never would play so easily with other children. I am glad that despite his issues, my little trichster is still friendly and plays easily with others.

New problems?

I realized this morning that my little trichster has started biting his toe nails, as well as biting through his clothes until they have holes in them. This seems to be a new behavior that has never been noticed my family before. All I can figure is he can continue to play his nintendo game with both hands while chewing on his clothes and or toe nails (you should see him twist into a pretzel to get at his toenails while playing his game.) I will have to talk to his therapist about these new behaviors. I did get a picture of him biting his pajama leg, but it shows his face so I didn't want to post it.

Update after school today

My little trichster has been at it again while at school today. He has a fresh cleanly bald spot above the place he had been favoring, right below my hand.

In case you are wondering, he isn't covering his eyes from embarrassment, but to "hide" his identity from nonfamily who read this. He knows that this blog may help other children, so he wants to post pictures, just not showing his face.

When I asked him why he pulled out more hair he replied that he didn't. This sort of lying, I have read, is not uncommon for trichsters, and he may not even realize that he is pulling out his hair. I had tried putting a bandana on his head, and when his hand would brush against it he would realize it and put his hand down. However, he doesn't want to wear it at school.

Making himself bleed

So, my little trichster has found a new spot to pull, at the nape of his neck. He even has a few pin prick scabs where he pulled so hard he bled. You may not be able to see this in the picture.

I joined a yahoo group for parents of kids with TTM, and have already heard a few stories from them. I am glad I found the group.

Thankfully my little trichster hasn't stabbed himself in class recently, and for that I am very thankful. The stabbing really terrifies me.

I am ready to start homeschooling him. I think it will be the best decision for him. He has straight A's in school and perfect conduct, but most of his pulling happens in school.

Well, speaking of, it is time to take them to school, I will update more later!

Update on my little trichster

So I called Seton homestudy and found that they will test my little trichster n each subject and then place him in an individualized curriculum that is grade level appropriate for each subject.

Unfortunately, today, he pulled out more of his hair while at school.

As you can see in the picture below, the hair is starting to grow back in this spot, he hasn't been pulling it here recently.

However, he has pulled the hair on the side of his head quite a bit, as can be seen in the next picture, and though there is some regrowth, it is also quite bald.

The last picture is of his poor fingernails that have been bitten all the way to the nailbed. His middle finger was bitten until bleeding just two days ago.

I am becoming anxious to homeschool him, I am worried about him staying in school. I am not sure about the specifics of how I will go about it, and I do still need to get his father on the same page.

Hello and welcome to my blog

So, you're probably wondering, what is a "trichster" (pronounced Trickster) anyway? Well, that's where the story begins.

I am a busy single mom, who relies on the help of family with my children as I attend college full time, as well as apprentice with a midwife full time. I spend every weekend usually home with, or out and about with, my children. Sundays are usually our most fullfilling day together, we wake up early for Church, go to Church together, hang out at the after Mass social to talk with other parishioners and have a snack, then head to McDonald's for lunch, to play in the playplace and let mommy catch up on work online through wifi (since we have no internet at home). We will stay there and play (and work) for several hours before heading home (longer if it's too yucky outside to play).

A few Sunday's ago, while at Church, I noticed my oldest child pulling at his eyelashes during Mass. I fussed with him to stop, and then noticed him pulling out the hair at his hair line, looking at it after he pulled it out, and playing with what he pulled out. I was thinking to myself, what would make him want to do that? I fussed with him to stop and then thought nothing of it.

The next Sunday while at McDonald's I noticed that my child was missing whole *patches* of hair! I asked him what happened to his hair, and he replied, shyly, "I pulled it out". At this point, my mommy alarms start going off, and I start thinking, what is wrong with my child? Is this common? Now, I worked in a pet store for many many years so I am familiar with the fact that birds will pluck their feathers when they are stressed, and I begin to wonder if people will also pluck their hair out when they get stressed. I immediatly pull up a google window and search for "child pulling hair out" and instantly have a diagnosis: Trichotillomania.

As I am reading, I become more and more concerned with what I learn. In the online community, in support forums for people struggling with TTM, they refer to themselves as "trichsters" and thus, the name for my little trichster in this blog. I have found such a large amount of information online about TTM and it's relation to gifted children, children who have been through a divorce or death recently, and children with family histories of mental disorders. My little trichster is lucky (not) enough to have all three of these "triggers". I learned that TTM is very rare, with a male prevelance of only 1.5% of the population. I learned that when children develop it before age 8 it usually resolves on its own, but after age 8 (which my little trichster is) it becomes a chronic, long term problem.

My little trichster suffers from pulling the hair on his scalp, as well as his eyebrows, eyelashes, and arm hair (which he bites and pulls out). Though trichotillomania is regarded as an impulse control disorder, it is very closely related to OCD (and some texts will argue that it is part of OCD). My little trichster has also begun biting his nails until they bleed, and even at times will stab himself with pencils, usually at school. This self mutilation behavior can lead to very serious behaviors as he gets old such as cutting (especially the tongue, where it is harder to notice). As a result of the seriousness of the disorder and the possibility of it escalating, I immediately sought out counseling for him.

I went to Catholic Family Services first, but they referred us out almost immediately, deciding that it was outside of their scope. I then got my little trichster and appointment at a local mental health facility. We have been seeing the therapist every two weeks, and right now are planning an independent IQ test as well as a full psych evaluation for my little trichster, and do not have plans as of right now to medicate him. The therapist recommends homeschooling him, which seems to agree with alot of what I've read about gifted children with TTM, including from this amazing website. Another website that I have found helpful is the Trichotillomania Learning Center.

So, though we plan to get his independent IQ test (the school system did not put him in gifted due to him just barely not meeting their rubric score required), I am struggling with the idea of homeschooling him once again. I have thought he doesn't do well in school, even though his grades and behavior speak otherwise, he is very unhappy about not being homeschooled like he used to be. The romanticism of going to school has worn off on him and he just feels done with it. I have looked into many homeschooling programs and curriculums trying to find what would be right for my Trichster, and I am settling on the idea of enrolling him in Seton Homestudy.

Well, I will update more on my little Trichster as more comes about!