Advice needed please

[ladybird64]

Hi everyone

I could really do with your expert advice please but this time it's not regarding me, it's about my daughter.
She is 18 and has a disability, one of the "traits" that seem to go with people who have the condition is skin-picking..picking at scabs until they bleed repeatedly, that type of thing.
She has never shown that type of behaviour but every so often she sits and pulls at her eyelashes as she says that they are making her eyes itchy, this often ends up with her pulling out a lot of the lashes.
The eyes often get very sore but she eventually stops yanking them out and the eye heals. Since Monday she has been pulling at them constantly, no diversionary tactic has worked and I have just had to call the GP for an emergency appointment this afternoon as the eye is so swollen it has now closed up completelyand there are no lashes left at all. As you can imagine I'm at my wits end. :weep:
I have asked about this behaviour on a specialist forum but received no replies, do you think this could be a form of OCD?
I don't want to give her labels but it would help to know if anyone has come across this particular habit before..I'm getting desperate.
Thanks to anyone that replies. :)

[titchjd]

Hiya hun ...hope u get on ok at the docs ..let us know .
Has your daughter had anything stressfull happen recently .
also has she tried putting elastic band round wrist and each tym she goes to pick just twang the band .
Does your daughter enjoy doing it as a relief thing or just cant help herself ?

let me know how docs goes and try not 2 worry hun xxx
Titch xxxx

[ladybird64]

Hiya :)

Well, the appointment went as I expected, she has got quite a serious eye infection and has been given some ointment to use.
Only trouble is, we got her an eye patch yesterday to try and discourage the eyelash pulling and doc says it's not a good idea to keep it covered up. No suggestions on what else we can do though! :dry:
She hasn't had anything stressful recently but I am going to suggest your elastic band idea to her and see what she says..it's definitely worth a try!

Thanks for caring :)

[titchjd]

Hiya .....how are you 2day hope u r well......
didnt doc give u any more info as why she dus it or any other people that she cud go and see ?

take care
Titch xxx

[gtrgrl3369]

Pulling the eyelashes out or any form of pulling out hair is a form of OCD. Ot has a long name like trich something. When she says they are itching here does she have some small bug that might have attached itself to the lashes? I dont pull my hair out but I do pick at my skin. I have been known to make myself bleed by picking so much on my are. It is a nervous form of OCD and there are meds for this that will calm her down. I hope she gets better. This is not a pleasant way to calm yourself. Good for you for getting her help. Take care.

[ladybird64]

Hi folks :)

No titch, the doctor couldn't give me any explanation but asked me why she does it..! I'm being a bit unfair really, I didn't go there with the intention of asking why it happens because the GP wouldn't know, I just needed to get treatment for the eye.
My girl has a rare syndrome which few people have heard of, most doctors only know very little about it hence the GP's questions..I can't blame them for not knowing all the ins and outs of this particular condition!

gytrgrl3369, my daughter is on other medication so would probably not react well to more, she is on HRT among other things. I am still trying to figure out exactly why she does it, there are definitely no creepy-crawlies in the lashes!
She almost seems to do it as a pleasurable activity but gets really irate when I tell her to stop..I'm wondering if she does feel stressed at these times and I just haven't realised it..:blush:
Today has been better, no picking so hopefully she's on the mend. I am going to suggest the elastic band technique now she is calmer (I wouldn't have dared suggest it these past few days!).

Thank you both :hugs:

[gtrgrl3369]

I did the rubber band technique and all I got for it was a sore red wrist. You say she gets a pleasure out of it. It sounds like she gets the same relief as what a cutter gets. The release of pressure.Some of us get so wierded out in our heads we need to do something to release the pressure that we get. I hope she gets better. Has she ever been on this site? I am sorry about saying the bug thing, it was just a thought. Take care.

[Anxious_gal]

there is a thing called Trichotillomania- most people pull the hair from their head but other's oull hair from eye lashes or eyebrows, their has been genic studys in mice when they inject the genes into a mouse n the mouse pull's out his hair, it's a impulive thing and i think the cure it some kind of CBT,

[Bill]

My guess would be that this is a symptom of stress. Sometimes parrots pull their feathers out when they're in a cage. They think they do this because they feel stressed because they feel "trapped". Often when we feel under stress, we also feel trapped so we often focus on health fears or an obsessive behaviour such as pulling out hairs.

I think what often happens is that we will pull one hair out but while we're pulling it out we'll hear or think of something that creates a fearful thought so to cancel out that thought we then pull another hair out. Sometimes though because the anxiety increases with each hair that's pulled out, we then feel we need to pull out a "certain number" of hairs to be "safe" but it becomes hard to stop due to the anxious thoughts.

It's a bit like checking a door is locked. The more we check the more anxious we feel, the harder it is to stop and the more worn out we feel as a result.

However, because of your daughters condition I'm not sure that what I've described above is what's happening in her case although I do feel it's stress related. It may simply be a compulsion and pure stress without any fearful thoughts that's making her pull them out.

I would suggest you look at the circumstances when she's doing this. What is she doing at the time she starts? What is happening around her? Are there any outside influences that could be causing her to start this behaviour? Is it just that she's bored? Sometimes what can happen is what I call "boredom stress". We feel stressed simply because we've nothing to occupy our mind so just like people play or doodle with a pen, others might turn to hair pulling or nail biting because of boredom stress so it "could" be a form of boredom stress.

Has she any hobbies she really enjoys? Something like drawing, painting, reading, sewing etc? Is there something you can think of that she'd enjoy doing that would keep her mind away from this behaviour?

I think it's likely that she feels stressed by something but if you can find an enjoyable interest for her it "might" stop the behaviour.:hugs:

[ladybird64]

However, because of your daughters condition I'm not sure that what I've described above is what's happening in her case although I do feel it's stress related. It may simply be a compulsion and pure stress without any fearful thoughts that's making her pull them out.

I would suggest you look at the circumstances when she's doing this. What is she doing at the time she starts? What is happening around her? Are there any outside influences that could be causing her to start this behaviour? Is it just that she's bored? Sometimes what can happen is what I call "boredom stress". We feel stressed simply because we've nothing to occupy our mind so just like people play or doodle with a pen, others might turn to hair pulling or nail biting because of boredom stress so it "could" be a form of boredom stress.

Hi Bill :)

I think you may have hit the nail on the head here. She often seems to do it when she is just sitting watching TV and she may well be bored.
It's often easy for me to forget that although she hasn't got the thinking abilities of most 18 yr olds and cannot express her thoughts well to others, she must sometimes feel sometimes that she is missing out on a "normal" life.
I'm going to explore a few different ideas of handicrafts she could do..maybe sewing is a good idea.
Many thanks for your reply and also to you Mishel for the info you provided.

[Bill]

I realise my wife doesn't suffer the same condition but often she will sit watching TV but when I ask her about what's being shown, she often can't answer because she can't take it in. She appears to watch it just as someone might watch goldfish in a bowl because it's moving pictures. She has no interest in reading or listening to music and needs constant motivating.

Please don't misunderstand because I'm not saying your daughter is anything like my wife. I'm just trying to say that often "any of us" can watch TV without taking in what's going on and be thinking other things because some programmes can be boring but we still watch them because we don't feel like doing other things. I can remember my mother knitting because she used to say she couldn't sit there without doing anything whilst watching TV. She's always doing something to keep her mind occupied.

Even when we suffer from anxiety, sitting watching TV often isn't enough to prevent our mind thinking about worries because it often doesn't stimulate our minds enough. An active hobby can be for more beneficial for keeping worries at bay as well as preventing harmful behaviours.

I sincerely hope that you can find something that works for your daughter. I'll be thinking of you.:hugs: