143- Trichotillomania (2) : hair loss and anxiety colluding

I've discussed a bit my previous trichotillomania issues, and am sad to report that this past week, I have been once more in its grip as massive stress and anxiety overtook me, and my hands. 

Indeed, after 4 and half months, I finally got a hold of a painting company who was supposed to come fix our damaged walls (from water and mold-type issues from last winter, which had claimed the life of our poor 7 year old subwoofer) ; I had been calling them as well as our housing landlord people, and each time their secretaries would promise someone would call me back and never followed. 




Last Monday, as I once again called the company and threatened I'd contact consumer affairs, the secretary  magically could pass the foreman with whom I set an appointment for the following day.

Tuesday (27/09), he and a painter came to see what had to be done and we set up the work for Monday - Thursday this week (3-6 October), after we'd clear off the living room and they'd finish other jobs. 

All week I had stressed about 2 strangers in our appartement, for what I thought several hours a day for 4 days - during which I would have no access to my PC, nor music, nor videgaming as these live in our living room and I'd have to be elsewhere.

I'd set my mind up that I'd read most of the time but that didn't help to alleviate the soaring anxieties which made 2 concomitant hair losses much worse : 
I seem to be shedding for turn of season, as well as losing some hair subsequently to a difficult, stressful summer, and having been sick a few weeks ago. 

Trichotillomania's return really didn't help : I was already losing hair, and found myself more than once twirling and pulling on my hair, breaking many strands as I un-tangled them - many of them at a time. I know that my twirling was excessive, and my attempt to limit the damage of hair pulling, replacing one obsessive act by another, slightly less destructive. But, this week's twirling didn't stop there and went on into pulling. 

It took me several days to reduce my automatic hand, but the collusion of my anxiety and hair loss have both shortened my long hair, which I hadn't had cut for 2 years... 

I hope this phase is really over and that my hair will grow back longer, after so much patience and work to get them going... 

(PS, turned out that the painters come only for a little while at a time, and are working on several other projects, coming and going between each appartement. This is both good and bad. Good because they aren't constantly here, bad because they keep coming in and leaving, and interrupt and cut my poor routines into pieces).