Wheatgerm may be a problem

Hallopals,

While searching for links between lecithin and sebum (hair grease), I
discovered that lecithin has been used as a growth medium for the
yeast I suspect to be involved in pulling, Malassezia. I hadn't found
such a link before because I had been searching under the technical
name for lecithin (phosphatidyl choline). This removes one mystery:
lecithin is in fact linked to Malassezia, and it causes Malassezia to
produce large amounts of hexanol, an alcohol with anesthetic
properties (which may be one reason why pulling doesn't hurt).

Further, it suggests the following. Lecithin is converted in the body
to choline and acetylcholine, and people with depression have been
found to be overly sensitive to acetylcholine, which tends to have
calming properties. My guess is that this is related to the "trance"
aspect of TTM. That is, the common ground between pulling and
depression may be the trance-like state, and the trance may be due to
sensitivity to acetylcholine.

The grand conclusion to this is that chocolate, egg yolk, peanuts, and
legumes in general (and probably wheat germ) may not only stimulate
yeast growth causing discomfort in the skin and anesthesia around
roots, but they may also cause the trance. One is then pulled into an
abstracted state, spent in removing irritants, without any pain to
serve as a reminder. This would also help explain why SSRIs are not,
in general, effective: the acetylcholine system is unaffected by them,
and one can still trance (even if one "feels better").

In the meantime, we have received one report that suggests wheat germ,
which is high in lecithin, too, may be a "bad" food. I will
eventually do the experiment, but I am still recovering from the
lecithin granule experiment, but in an unusual way: for the past week,
I have been picking tiny (pinhead or smaller) hard bumps out of my
skin, which look like they are due to the lecithin itself. If so,
this could provide a link between TTM and picking, via the irritating
annoyance of various kinds of skin greases dumped by the body into the
follicles.

Standard disclaimer applies: this is all speculation, and if you
experiment, you are on your own. I would be interested in hearing
anyone's responses to lecithin or wheat germ, however.

John Kender