u/PurpleEyedGemini

First and foremost, this title isn't to diminish those with negative feelings of their trich or those doing to the work to quit. I absolutely applaud you!! I guess I'd just like to share my perspective. I rarely ever talk about it so maybe I just feel like venting a bit.

I've had TTM since I was 7. I am now 42. I also have some other ticks, including a severe case of bruxism since I was even younger. That's been so bad that it's to the point that my jaws regularly click and my back teeth are shattered. Throughout my many therapists over the years, I've never been diagnosed with anything except the note that I have TTM. Wild.

As a child I was VERY self conscious about pulling. My eyelashes were more my go to at the time so I lived with my bangs in my face and dealt with light teasing from friends and other adults about my bald lids. I remember the first day I even did it. My lashes used to be super long and would tangle and I despised that feeling. So one day I found the tangled hairs and pulled them out. That started everything for me and before I knew it, I was sporting bald lids for years. Being the early 90's, the Internet didn't exist and we had no idea that this was even a thing. I was just that weird kid with a few bad habits.

As I got older I leaned more into it and would openly educate anyone who questioned my missing facial hair (I pull everywhere but my head, but my face is obviously most noticeable). I actually enjoyed talking about it then because 9/10 times, they didn't know this condition even existed, so it was a learning experience. In high school I just began shaving my eyebrows off regularly. I figured if Marilyn Manson could pull it off, I could too 😂 and I had hoped it would curb me from pulling. It actually made it worse. It wasn't until my senior year that I began drawing my eyebrows on, and that became the norm up until this point. But really, that's only for special outings now. Running to the store or even at work these days, I couldn't care less.

And I think that's the point of my post. I stopped caring. Not about my health, but about the guilt and the shame. We're human. This is part of our experience, and tbh, I enjoy pulling. Maybe one day I'll attempt to quit, but this has been most of life and I don't plan on stopping. I won't be disappointed if it never happens. But we're all beautiful in who we truly are. We have a unique factor, and embracing it can be so freeing.

Anyway, I just wanted to share. 🫶

So our cuties are the pickiest eaters. We got them back late February and have been exposing them to Harrison's since then. I started with it wet with a little bit of Zupreem so they would get the taste. Been doing that for months and I think it was helping but I'm not super sure. There's still a lot they pick out in the cage tray. Recently Ive just been putting in the smallest amount of Zupreem at the bottom and putting much more of the Harrison's dry on top. Maybe I shouldn't, but they refuse to eat the Harrison's completely and I don't want them to starve. As it is, the blue one has been looking skinnier to me lately. I'm not sure if that's just me, she's always been a bit small compared to the other.

Anyway, I'm not sure what to do at this point. Harrison's is so expensive and I feel like I'm just wasting money. And the fact that it's been months with no change has been difficult. I haven't even introduced chop because we're still working on the Harrison's but I feel like we should anyway. They do get their vitamins in their water so there's that but I'm a bit at a loss. Any advice would be appreciated!

I also know we need stainless steel food bowls. That's on the list for this week.