Hair Pulling Madness

Jazz has a wide variety of diagnoses beyond TBI and FASD.  One of these is Trichotillomania.  In Latin, Trichotillomania literally means "Hair Pulling Madness."  People with Trich pull their hair out and then usually eat it.  They pull all types of hair from their body and will even cause themselves to go bald over night.  They find the sensation of the pulling relaxing and reduces anxiety. 

Jazz has been doing this since she was about 5.  She will pull out her hair on her head and use it as floss.  However, her eye lashes are her favorite.  She has never pulled enough hair to even cause a bald patch, but she has pulled out every single one of her eye lashes.  It is a real shame because her eyes are shockingly gorgeous and her lashes were longer/thicker than any I have ever seen, and they had a natural curl to them.  My mom and I have wished she would leave the eye lashes alone and perhaps direct her pulling attention towards her little uni-brow, but no such luck...

Since Jazz is 11, she has begun the small steps towards puberty.  This includes the thickening and darkening of body hair, plus the growth of new hair in the axillary region.  One day while shopping with my mom, which can either be a fun activity or an anxious one for Jazz, she came running up to my mom holding small hair shouting. "Guess where this one came from!" 

It was indeed an armpit hair that she had discovered while she meticulously stared at herself in one of the store mirrors (our worst nightmare as mirrors increase symptoms of Trich).  Of course my mom felt mortified as Jazz announced this to the world.  But on the bright side, it was one less difficult conversation to have about "changes" and it was hair we were going to have to carefully plan the removal of anyway, since we don't trust her with a razor.

So, next time your kid embarrasses you in public remember: They could always be running up to you with armpit hair in their hand asking you, "Guess where this one came from?!"

Much Love!