Does anyone suffer from trich?

Trichotillomania (TTM), or "trich" as it is commonly known, is an impulse control disorder characterized by the repeated urge to pull out scalp hair, eyelashes, facial hair, nose hair, pubic hair, eyebrows or other body hair. Trichotillomania is classified in the DSM-IV as an impulse control disorder that is not elsewhere classified under another axis or disorder. It is classified in this manner to control diagnoses of TTM. It is an Axis I disorder. It affects about 11,000 women and 9,000 men in the United States.

I've had it since age 15 after moving to another country--- huge malajustment for me. I love to pull the center of my scalp-- feels wonderful. I have been ridiculed by my entire family calling me Koyak. I mask my habit--- look at my avatar. I am wearing a cap.

Not me, but I have known two people that actually did that. I felt very sorry for them. Both were woman and had very short hair, both with large bald spots. They were both married and had a child each.

I've seen quite a few postings regarding trichtillomania on here. I had a little bit of a problem with it as a child but I stopped pulling out my hair when a hairdresser commented on "bald spots." hehehe.

My aunt does. She's been wearing wigs for the last 25-30 years. She pulls out the hair at the nape of her neck. She just began shaving it all and wearing a wig, but will still pick underneath her wig. Several years ago, she saw a talk show with a doctor talking about "trich" and sought out the treatment he was advocating. It worked for a while. She grew her hair back and wore it short. However, she stopped the treatment (I'm not sure why) and is back to wearing her wig. (I was rather surprised by the stat you offered. I didn't realize it was that rare.)

These statistics are incorrect. Never use Wikipedia for research. That is not scientifically gathered information. Trichotillomania is now estimated to affect 2.5 million in the U.S. (Diefenbach, Reitman, and Williamson published research on this in 2000.) It is often unreported and untreated so perhaps the statistics you found were how many people are being treated at a certain time.
There are now some good research publications which you can look up online at scientific journal sites. If you are interested in learning more, I recommend this kind of research. I will suggest a decent research paper on the treatment and diagnosis, in the source section. If you can not find the article on your own and are interested in reading, you may contact me and I will help you find more reliable sources.

I had this worse in years past, starting from age 9 or so, until present. It comes and goes. I wear a hat or bandanna when it comes back. It's not as bad anymore, and at least knowing what it is helps resolve the problem some.