[TheMajor]

Something occurred to me the other night - while I was in college, my trich wasn't nearly as bad and uncontrollable as it is now. I pulled much less often, and I also think much less hair when I did get the urge. Also, while I was in college, I was generally on an anti-psychotic (to help manage my BPD). As soon as I stopped taking an anti-psychotic, my pulling got worse (but I never made the connection till now). I've been on a variety of anti-psychotics, including but not limited to risperdal and zyprexa (I preferred risperdal, but started having hormonal side effects so I had to change it to zyprexa - which wasn't terrible, it just had the side effect of making me extremely tired and increasing my appetite a bit, fyi). I currently have a prescription for seroquel to take "as needed" to manage agitation (from BP mood swings). I have actually taken seroquel in response to intense pulling urges (as resisting the urge makes me agitated), and in some way, I feel that it helps. Often, my most intense pulling urges come at night while I am lying in bed trying to get to sleep - so taking a seroquel then helps me to calm down and get to sleep without lying there either pulling, or being agitated while trying to NOT pull.

Has anyone had experience with an anti-psychotic helping to dull the urge to pull? I may try to research if there have been any studies done on this sort of treatment because I think there may be a real correlation.

[ayana95]

When I was on zyprexa it helped a little. I also had to stop.. because of the weight I'd gained. I haven't told my doctor about my problems. I'm not sure of how to talk about it. I feel so bad about it.

[TheMajor]

Originally Posted by ayana95

When I was on zyprexa it helped a little. I also had to stop.. because of the weight I'd gained. I haven't told my doctor about my problems. I'm not sure of how to talk about it. I feel so bad about it.

Thanks for your input. It's really helpful when people actually respond to my posts with personal experience, especially since I'm trying to find an adequate treatment for this condition.

Also, are you saying you haven't told your psychiatrist about your trich? I know that many psychiatrists aren't very helpful when it comes to treating trich, but it probably would still be in your best interest to tell them. They understand that it's actually a condition that who have no real control over.