Klerksdorp Record Article (20/1/00)

This article was done 7 weeks after I arrived in our new town.  Read the background of this story on page5, ok?   There was a pic with the article, but very small, and I didn't look very friendly on it (even after the reporter took 8 or so pics!).  I'm translating it - it was in Afrikaans.

Head held high after shame over hair 

For a big part of the population, it is more than just a saying to say:  I"m going to rip my hair out of my head!  For sufferers of tihs disorder it is a sentence of isolation and heartache.

"This disorder is a nightmare.  It has almost ruined my life", says Amanda van Rensburg.  She is the founder of the first support organisation for sufferers of Trichotillomania in the country.   Trichotillomania is a disorder which causes people to pull out their hair.   This disorder has been written about since the 1800's, but there are very litte information and lots of ignorance, even under the medical community.

According to research, this disorder usually starts during puberty, between the ages of 8 and 13.  "I became the victim of this disorder at the age of 11.  My parents had no idea why I had bald patches on my head and took me from doctor to doctor, but no-one could find a medical cause.  I was too ashamed to admit that I was pulling out my own hair", says van Rensburg.

Eventually she got to a psychologist who ascribed the hairloss to a behavioural problem and blamed her parents for it.  "This resulted in my parents carrying this blame for the next 20 years."

For 24 years, this brave woman had to live with the idea that there were something wrong with her psychologically.  Until the day when she discovered a website on the internet.

"It was like being declared free after a long imprisonment.  Suddenly I wasn't 'crazy' anymore.  There were millions of other people across the world, who shared this with me."

Here (on the internet), Trichotillomania was described as a medical problem, not a phsychological problem or an obsessive compulsive action.   Currently there are no scientific proof, but the disorder are possibly caused by an intollerance for malassezia yeast.

"By sharing my experiences and information, I an prevent a young sufferer to go thougth the same deep waters that I did", van Rensburg explains her motivating force.

The Trichotillomania Learning Centre (TLC) can be contacted at www.jly2.com/ttm or via e-mail at amanda@jly2.com

Phone van Rensburg at 082 460 1440 for more information.

(As always... what is written in the article isn't always exactly as I would put it, but well.. that seems to be how it goes)