Anna-Marie's story
Hi,
My name is Anna-Marie de Kock. I stay in Welkom for the past 36 years. I am married to Michiel for 16 years now, and we have three daughters, the youngest of them are twins.
I am a sufferer of Trichotillomania since 11 years. It was very difficult for me to handle it, for there wasn’t any information on the disease, and as far as my parents was concerned , they linked it to stress and depression. They took me to several doctors and all them treated me for stress.
I was always shy, and never really had any friends, and was always on my own. There was a time in my life, when I even wore a wig for a year, and it was absolute hell for me, for it felt for me as if I was putting another face on. I made many promises to the Lord, if he would just help me to stop pulling. Most of the promises never came true, for I felt that the Lord have dropped me, and didn’t help me.
When we got married in 1986, my husband didn’t know that I was pulling my hair, and I only had the courage to tell him after our twins were born. I saw an article in the newspaper, in which Amanda made it public that she suffers from Trich, and it was a disease.
I couldn’t believe that I was not alone any more, never mind the fact that I thought I was mad in my head.
I contacted Amanda, and it that way I started working with myself, and some stages I was totally in control, just to snap the next moment, and pull most of my hair out. I felt that I was a no use case.
I started to help Amanda with the Trich work, and in the process, I made peace with the fact that I have this disease. At one stage Amanda recommended that I start the diet, I started, but not for long. Soon I was back to where I started.
Since the birth of our children, I suffered from depression, and at stages I had it so badly, that I felt useless and that I was the most pathetic person God could ever created.
I was on Prozac, Lorien and a lot of other anti-depressant tablets, and all of them made me even worse than the condition I was in.
I had the courage to talk to my parents in November 1999, and was so relieved to hear that they were trying to understand me, and for what I did.
I am on the diet for more than 2 years now , and can only praise the Lord, for the courage that he gave me, as well as the ability to believe so strongly, that He will help me through this. I can only thank the Lord and Praise Him for all the help and support that He gave me and my family.
Since I have been on the diet, it all went very well and then I fell back to where I began. I am very disappointed in myself, but know that it is because of the wrong food that I took. I am going through a very difficult time, and know that all my friends are praying for me, and although I feel bad about it all, I am still the person that I was before I started pulling again.
I feel that God have a reason for everything that happens in our lives, and I know, that I will look back on the difficult time that I am going through right now.
If you are also a sufferer, and you feel the same way , just remember, God loves you for who you are, and not how you look.
I hope this will mean something to you, if you are in the same position.
Remember, God will never leave you alone, and He will support you all the way.
Most important I want to thank the Lord for helping us start a trich organization , to help other people, and then my husband and family for all the support I received till now.