Trichotillomania is an impulse control or brain disorder, similar to an obsessive-compulsive disorder or addiction, in which the person pulls out their own hair. The hair can be anywhere. Trichotillamania can be caused by trauma, rape, physical violence, torture, child abuse, and very serious emotional abuse. It can be minor and manageable or it can be severe. This disease can overwhelm the person. It is very important for the person with this condition to eliminate or minimize contact with seriously negative people in their life who are abusive or exploitative. It is an emotional disorder that usually requires multiple therapies to be successfully treated. There are many alternative therapies that are unproven for this disease, but these can be successful due to the large emotional component of the disease. Trichotillomania appears to be similar to addiction, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and a bad habit. Calming the mind should be one of the goals of any therapy. Alternative therapies that calm the mind include yoga, scalp acupuncture, ear acupuncture, Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT), plant extracts, transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), and orthomolecular medicine.
This person must be evaluated by a doctor. A complete physical and diagnostic evaluation of hormones and neurotransmitters must be done. This patient needs to be evaluated for AIDS and a brain tumor. There are several diseases severe enough to result in very erratic symptoms. It is extremely important to be very aggressive when treating this disease. Amino acid therapy may be useful for this and could include 5-HTP, theanine, GABA and phenylalanine. Patented Chinese herbal formulas can be considered along with Chinese liquid herbal extracts. Head acupuncture can be very successful in treating this type of condition. It should be done with larger needles for this type of disease. Scalp acupuncture treatments last approximately 30 minutes to an hour. It can take nine treatments to see results. Laser therapy with a medical cold laser can work well for this patient. You may need several sessions of cold medical laser therapy before you see a significant change.
It is important for this person to sleep well and eat a balanced diet free of nitrates, amines and food coloring. This person should avoid genetically modified foods, food additives, MSG and turmeric, and drink plenty of pure water to stay fully hydrated. The diet should allow for Swiss-method decaffeinated coffee or organic coffee and tea. This person should consider trying the rotational diet, which allows each food to be eaten once every four days. It’s also a good idea to identify and reduce exposure to all allergens. You may want to consider some form of allergy treatment. Traditional allergy treatments with shots are an alternative. NAET is a painless alternative that combines chiropractic care and acupuncture with a special diet to treat allergens. This person needs to consider some form of regular exercise such as walking, gym, bicycling, bikram yoga, walking, and dancing.
©Dr. R. Stone, MD-India
Thanks to R Stone
