A posting to ttm@cs.columbia.edu by John R. Kender

In case anyone wonders: although I do believe that what I have observed about diet is effective for many people, I haven't found most people eager to embrace it, and it is not my personal style to encourage people to try it. I have noted it takes most people more than one year to decide to experiment seriously with it, and I haven't found many ways to cut down that time. Since TTM is chronic, some people eventually give it a try anyway.

But I think the vast majority of pullers are caught in a difficult spot. They are afflicted with a pleasurable but disfiguring disorder without many quick or long-term remedies, and are being asked to acknowledge that there may,after all, be something genetically different about them that would require a permanent and limiting change to their lifestyle.

I think the world needs its Amandas and their enthusiasm. But after over four years of trying to get the word out, I am not convinced that even if a dietary approach were medical orthodoxy and the first line of attack by medical professionals, that it would be any more popular than diets are with any other disorder. Food is food, the battle is continual, and the long term consequences of even a small lapse are discouraging. I am reminded of it every time I myself cheat. So: yes, try a dietary approach if you feel the time is right for you. You will know when that is. And if there is an allergy and yeasts involved, neither will go away, so it is likely that eventually that time will come. In the meantime, people have my sympathy for sharing what, I believe, is an unfair roll of the DNA dice.

Editor's note:
Amanda is an avid proponent of controlling compulsive hair pulling by dietary means. For more information, please visit her web site at http://home.intekom.com/jly2/