cure

Is Popping Pills The Answer???

05:26


So recently I have been researching new ways to tackle TTM. I fell off the wagon I was doing so well for 60 days (the longest I've gone in the past is about 3-4 months, but that was a lifetime ago now). I actually need to get back into a better routine, get my training back in gear, try hard not to over eat macros and to remember to charge and wear my Fitbit and Pavlov wristbands.

Pills I've tried or currently taking:

So the new pills I've decided to try are Probiotics with 30 billion CFU's. I am not sure what 30 billion CFU's does or what it means but it was suggested on a blog.  I read and heard from the TTM community about these and in particular a blog reporting the benefits of it. It's worth a shot. The blog can be found here. Give it a read it's interesting. I'll talk about my experiences further in the blog.

I've tried a supplement back home too a while ago, which was a form of Amino acid and what some body builders use apparently. This particular amino acid is called N-Acetyl Cysteine. I took this back in the day a bottle cost me a whopping £8. It costs more to order some online now in Korea though, however I am willing to buy some of them to take in conjunction with the rest of my supplements.

St. John's worts are supposed to be a natural way to treat depression and anxiety type mental illnesses (supposedly). I don't believe in taking SSRI's or anti-depressant's, just because I don't think it's safe messing with brain chemistry. Now I used to take these, sadly I can't take these anymore, as these interfere with the effectiveness of the contraceptive pill (as in, I can get pregnant on the pill.) It was what influenced me to come off the pill for a few years amongst other things associated with my weight and mood. So this is a no go for now. I can not comment on the effectiveness of these as it was a very long time ago I took these. I didn't take these for a long enough time to really give a verdict on these. But I would like to take these again one day.

Omega 3 capsules are what I use regardless of mental health or not, these are great, I feel less foggy, my attention and memory genuinely do improve If I take these for long enough. I feel they must contribute somehow to my mental health just because of the memory and alertness substantially improves. Fogginess and the fact I zone out a lot and easily distracted is a huge issue for me, so these really work for me. Plus all the other added benefits of fish oil.

Again not TTM related but living in Korea means increased risk of getting ill namely because working with kids, hygiene is not as highly regarded here, I think personally, not to mention the fact people even when contagious still go to work here. Another thing is the yellow dust, which causes me to cough etc. I feel germs can be easily spread in that way also.

Multi-vitamins, people claim you just pee them out but I feel like I should be taking them. I take this brand, because of the added greens which I think is important in maintaining health. These make me pee fluorescent yellow though. So be warned! Again, I don't know if they are effective I just feel I don't eat enough fruit and vegetables and want those added nutrients. I haven't noticed a correlation between these and hair pulling sadly.


Lastly, I used to take a lot of stacks aka bodybuilding supplements in forms of pills (L-carnitine, BCAA's) etc. Basically more Amino acid's. They are NOT steroids I just want to make that clear. They are supposed to aid in weight loss but I did not notice an increase in fat loss. It's best not waste your money on them personally. I took these specific ones due to reviews and the endorsement model. They again have no correlation with mental health in any way.



Pill's I want to try/ yet to try:

I've wanted to try Biotin for a while now after seeing those blue gummy hair vitamins advertised all over social media. I saw the ingredients and it contained biotin amongst other stuff. So I decided it's probably best just to buy biotin tablets at a cheaper price because they aren't endorsed by a Kardashian. Now this isn't associated with stopping the behaviour of pulling but aids in growing healthy hair fast, but as I find a mix of castor and coconut oil so effective in doing the same job and probably more useful in terms of restricting hair pulling, I am not in a rush to add it to my already high consumption of pills.




Probiotics do they work?
So here's the down low on my experience thus far, I received these pills on the 5th May, I started taking them on the day, I take just one pill a day, with a meal because I've only bought the 30 pack, so I didn't waste my money if they proved ineffective. A month seems sufficient enough to test these. The first 2 or 3 days I was pulling my hair way more than normal (when I am not stressed.) I was pulling like I was under extreme worry and stress, this is usually when I zone out and pull for hours and when I regain awareness 2 hours+ have passed and theres thousands of short strands in the perimeter of my bed. After those 2 manic days it calmed down and yesterday I was thinking, I don't have that urge but I do miss the sensation.

Now usually when I grasp a hair before even pulling it out usually the tension would start this intense tingling/itching sensation I am so addicted to. This time all I felt was the pain thats usually masked and overwhelmed by the tingling/itching sensation, it usually takes a back seat, becomes almost non-existent, even though we subconsciously know it's there it's not enough to affect the sensation or urge.
Well this was different, I reached and there was absence of that sensation of ecstasy all I felt was pain and I immediately stopped without hesitation, without second thought. I literally have this feeling in my chest that wants to pull, but no sensation in my head to want to. I just tested this, I have just pulled a hair out and the unpleasant sensation is not only more amplified but lingers after the hair is removed no tingly/itchy sensation I enjoy. The satisfaction is lacking, I mean we never are satisfied hence why we keep pulling out hairs, finding that holy grail hair, we may or may not find it, but it doesn't satisfy that craving. I'm going to continue and I'll come back to report again soon on these.

Cherry.







abuse

Karma's a bitch and I'm no better.

06:22

Have you ever felt a sense of regret? Have you ever felt racked with guilt, because you could have done more to help someone?

Well this is the first time, I've ever regretted a decision, I'm feeling sick to my stomach, I'm racked with guilt, I just want to cry endlessly and drown in my own tears. I've never felt so responsible for another person's wellbeing before to the point I feel like it's destroying me inside. What do you do when you hurt someone you are supposed to love?


Whilst you were hurting and I did not respond to your cries for help. I was frozen in a state of fear, I hurt you and I feared me doing anything else would have just made things worse. I was fighting with my thoughts and worries, but I was paralysed and felt helpless. But I did NOTHING! 

I could feel your pain, I feared you were going to hurt yourself and yet I did nothing. I know full well what it is like to be in that position, crying endlessly for hours, hoping for someone to embrace you, tell you everything will be ok and to help calm you down, but I didn't. I didn't try hard enough, I let you suffer on your own for hours. What sort of person let's another person suffer alone in your presence. A bad person. A heartless person. A selfish person.

Why this is affecting me so much you ask? I have a troubling past, abuse from an ex, which funnily enough didn't evoke those emotions because I didn't know better and thought abuse=love. No I am referring to the troubling years at home living with my mother and her husband. 

Most people knew it, I ran away from home at young age many times, weeks on end no contact with my family and guess what? No one reported me missing or even worried. Police have been called so many times to my house by my mothers spouse due to fabricated incidents. The last time the police was called, I ran away and 6 police cars came to my house, because he had reported I had stolen my mothers jewellery. (Theres a full back story to how that came about but it's not important or necessary to what this post is about.)

The main point of what I am saying is,  for a large part of my life I have been around vindictive, manipulative people, people who don't really care about me. Which meant, I would end up in physical and verbal fights with this man, (i'm not kidding this man punched me in the jaw before, and I punched him back). But the general jist is, he would fabricate some bullshit to piss me off, which would cause me to flip my lid and start an argument, it's really not hard to get on the wrong side of me, I will swear and insult him, this was no difference, some times I was so mad I would smash stuff and throw things, slam doors repeatedly. He would provoke me on a regular basis and make up lies, my mother the person who carried me for 9 months, my flesh and blood, the woman who is meant to protect me, would side with this man, she would even argue and protect him and always believe his bullshit. (Just some of the stuff he's fabricated: I had an abortion at 14 years old, I accused him of molesting me, made up stuff I supposedly said or did. He also did this to my brother, I saw him pick up my brother when he was younger and chuck him on a table.)

Do you know what it's like when someone you love who should support and care for you abandons your trust? Well I do, I would cry for hours, until all energy has left my body, eyes swollen, face puffy usually followed by headaches and aches through out my body (I would physically tense my body when angry.) I was so stressed it was physically taking a toll on me.  I was depressed, I would eat to try and cope. This happened so often, our neighbours complained all the time and hated our family. 

I would call my boyfriend at the time, crying down the phone, he would tell me to meet him but he never took my cries for help seriously, his family would get annoyed I went round their house, when I desperately needed comfort and help. Only when we broke up and I moved to Thailand did he tell me he realised how severe I was suffering at home. To put it in context he also told me he loved me (a year later), it's weird because his excuse he cheated and our relationship went to shit was because he didn't. (But, who cares? Am I right? Because I don't.) He was always full of shit and let's not pretend he or his family really cared about me or my wellbeing.

The problem when carrying your life's burdens is no one hears your cries of suffering, everyone calls you dramatic, brushes it off with "attention seeking". That's what happened to me, my boyfriend told his family all my secrets, everything, from TTM, to my home troubles. All they did was judge me and victim shame me for feeling that way. I was "weird" "boring" etc. That family have no empathy or remorse for other people, they just judge and insult other people and belittle them for anything they thought was weird or different.

So you can imagine when I graduated I had to leave home fast, I forgive my mum for the bullshit, she is my mum she is getting old, she's more sick all the time, I have to let that go because soon enough I will never see her again. I guess there was nothing she could really do, if she sided with me we would have been homeless.

The whole point is, I've felt that suffering, too often, this went on for years until the day I left for Korea. I needed help and the only escape at the time was my abusive asshole of an ex. But he didn't help me, I suffered alone and that made me deeply angry person inside, that's something I live with every day. I am angry, no one heard my cries for help, no one embraced me when I was choking on my tears. All I can feel is that pain from then and I'm plagued with this guilt from now, I am no better than any of those people. The thoughts that ran through my head whilst I cried myself to tiredness was I hate these people, if they loved me they would be here comforting me and not making me feel crazy and they wouldn't let me suffer like this (my family would literally tell me to shut up and leave he house and drive off.)

 I did the same thing, I hurt someone I genuinely love and care about. How do you live with that knowing full well what that suffering feels like?

anxiety

Relapse or learning curve?????

08:00

So I need to come clean, around the day 60 mark of being pull free (it should be day 85 now.)  I went through a stage of being overwhelmed with worry on a daily basis, to the point one day I was consumed by this worry and without even knowing it, sub-consciously I reached for my head and pulled out hair. I maybe pulled 10 hairs that night, the following day this occurred again the amount increased to maybe 50-100 hairs by the time I came to realise this I was in bed surround by clumps of fresh new short strands of thick glossy black hair and plagued with guilt.
This of course made me more stressed and since then sub consciously I've been pulling and I don't even know it. It's like my mind has been over ridden by this urge and found a way to fight back when my hair gets to a certain length.

I'm increasingly finding more white hairs, I am getting old but thats not it, I've pulled so much over the last 17 years, it's come to the point I've damaged the follicles and the hairs are now growing back grey. It started with just a couple, but the past day I found 6 grey hairs in one pulling session!!!!!!!!!!!! These were from new spots, I already know of a couple of spots other greys grew. What makes it worse is those white hairs are the holy grail of hairs to pull out, the amount of satisfaction removing them fills me with so much elation. Yes it sounds crazy and thats because it is. Pulling out hair enjoying the pleasure of it and yet despising yourself is crazy!!! Yet here I am 17 years later still doing it and with no signs of me actually stopping!!! It's a fucking paradox, I cant fix. No one can.
I literally can't tell you which day's I have pulled and haven't because it's all a blur, even I don't even know. I am not sure if I have had a pull free day since then.

I've just had this thought, life is on the upwards turn and yet I am stilling ripping out quite a lot of hair. I'm slowly going back to day 1 before shaving my head,  its not as scarce and the areas circumference is not as big as previously,  but its nothing to be happy about either it is still pretty bad how much damage I have done to myself,  it will get worse if I don't take action now.

I've just run to the bathroom and rubbed tons of oil on my head in hope this can save my scalp and help the new growth catch up and maybe even prevent me from touching those precious new strands.

Which got me thinking what am I doing to prevent this? So here I am charging up my Pavlok and reverting back to electrocuting myself to sanity again. Who says 21 days can create good habits? Because I went way past that and yet I am back here again, guilty of my own self-disfigurement and all I can think is, that bitch YouTuber is right, we will never be cured, we will forever live with this, we just have to find a way to handle it much better and to accept it. Should I accept it? I don't know. I have no answers, just many of my own questions.

So here I am hitting the reset button, I don't really want to shave again, I feel like I could make this work If I can integrate this Pavlok in too. It's worth a shot, if all else fails then its no longer hitting a reset button but a whole factory reboot and starting from baldness again. *sigh* I just want to be pretty.

Peace, positivity and love.

Cherry x



50 shades of grey

What it's really like to date a Mr. Grey.

07:31



So last month, the second movie of the 50 shades trilogy was released. I didn't go to the theatre to watch it because unlike the majority I can see what this story and movie for what it really is. Abuse and manipulation.

There is absolutely nothing sexy or romantic about the story. Unless you think rape, manipulation and dating a control freak is attractive and morally OK.

The reason why women find this character attractive is because he is rich, handsome, and charming, until he uncovers his secret desires and by that point it is too late because you've fallen in love with Mr. Grey. This occurs often in real life as I am about to explain.

It took me a while to realise my relationship was built on manipulation and abuse because I was young and emotionally vulnerable at the time. I read the books and watched the first movie I was probably in my 4th year into my relationship at this time. So this stuff came out whilst I was deep into this relationship, thinking I can relate to the character, I thought because it was popular and so many women wanted to be the protagonist in the book, what I experienced was normal and something I should be happy with. I even went as far to defend the movie against the feminists who said it was abuse filled, I wish I had listened to them because they were so right. This shows just how deluded I was in that relationship, I believed I should be treated this way.

Now lets make this clear I am not knocking anyone's sexual fantasies, if you enjoy BDSM, you don't harm anyone, you both consent and are safe then that's your business. But there's the right way to carry out this type of behaviour and the wrong way.

I didn't know this then but what I was experiencing wasn't harmless fantasies it was real life abuse. If you know anything about BDSM there should always be a safe word, so at anytime the activity can stop when it gets too intense. Mr. Grey didn't have one and nor did the man I was involved in.

Its kind of hard to tell when this began because we of course grew together sexually, we were each others first we were young finding ourselves and what we liked, it started innocently, some handcuffs, light spanking etc. however as our relationship progressed became more toxic with our arguments and inability for me to trust him, things also grew worse.

It grew worse but I never noticed then, he would be extremely jealous and have physical fights with men, but he would freely tell what he would explicitly tell me what he would do to other women he saw when we were out,  I mean there was a point when I realised this feels wrong I am not comfortable with this its going  into actual pain and mistreatment in the sense he was forceful and controlling, which later started to occur outside the bedroom also.

If you recall in the books Mr.Grey would control what Ana used to eat. If she wasn't hungry he would insist to the point she would have to eat, it was forceful. Well that would happen with me except he would do the opposite he would guilt trip me into eating less, take food from my plate and told me to lose more weight, he wanted my body to look like a porn stars (his exact words), (at that point I had lost a substantial amount of weight) I was a healthy weight, but guess what because he told me I was not good enough I believed it and did everything I could to make him be pleased with me and to make him feel attracted to me, but to him I was still fat and my body wasn't too his liking.

This wasn't limited to food and exercise, in the bedroom he would address me as a slut (a term i despise with every cell in my body) he would make me sleep at the foot of the bed "like a dog" as he would say, and i would have to stay there the whole night.

He would even force sex upon me even when I didn't want it, he wouldn't stop even if I wasn't interested and expressed it (something Mr. Grey and him also have in common.) If he did, he would guilt trip me again until I gave in despite still not wanting to.

It took me a long time to realise what he was doing was rape. When people think of rape they think of strangers or a random person doing these actions with physical brutal force. That's not true, I was physically forced at times but I was also emotionally manipulated into believing I should give him sex if I want him to love me. I found out years later un-consented sex even with a partner is considered rape.

The physical pain was more tolerable than the emotional manipulation honestly, he would force objects in me (i wont give too much details but i'm sure you can guess what places), clip things on me in intimate places that was painful. He ignored my dislike towards these things, he would say "just keep it on a bit longer." I guess he got off it because they were physically hurting me. For me, my desire to have sex dwindled. I dreaded sex and realised this man was a worthless piece of shit not worthy of my love.

After countless times of leaving him then begging him to take me back, a day before our 6 year anniversary I left him for good. The fact he cheated on me 2 more times made it much easier. So in that respect I am grateful, if he hadn't I think I would still be in and out of that relationship, no doubt stuck in my miserable London life, broke and depressed.

Two years after that I was pretty much abstinent, my sex drive had crawled into a dark space and died.

For these reasons and experience alone, I will never agree with the books or movies, it glamorises abusive and manipulative relationships. Its not normal to experience these things, if you feel uncomfortable with your situation voice it if you can, I was lucky and didn't experience domestic violence in the sense he wouldn't hit me, our arguments were extremely volatile we shouted and screamed, he would break stuff. Nevertheless all abuse is abuse and some can lead to death. So I urge every man or woman to seek help if you experience these sort of behaviours. It is hard it took me 3 years to leave this guy, but once you do, only then do you start living life.



depression

Reasons why life is so good right now.

06:40



I GOTS PINK HAIR!!!!!!!!!!!
.. I don't really, my hair doesn't grow that fast.

And now I have your attention, as you know I purchased a new wig on payday just because why the fuck not, it was relatively inexpensive to what I am used to spending but again this is synthetic not human hair, but I am really loving it! Let's have a little catch up on my life shall we?

For a few weeks, I'm at my peak, I don't how or why now, I've turned into this super woman, I'm literally kicking my life in the ass, I've gone from focusing on how much I hate my body and myself, pulling out my hair, to this person I know I have the potential of being, I feel so empowered, strong and positive, life is so easy right now.

So let's start with the obvious, I'm here because I have a reason to celebrate, its my big 30, (not my birthday) but I hit the first 30 days to the rest of my life being pull free, I'm so fucking proud. I don't know where the will power has come from but I'm stoked let's hope it stays that way. Also hair is growing mad fast!

The next thing I wanted to touch on is due to the fact my motivation has sky rocketed, I've started to believe in myself again, I'm not wallowing in this pool of self hatred, I really really reallyyyyyyy dislike my body still but I feel less "hatey" about it, and what is the most logical thing to do if you don't like something? Well, you try and remove it from your life, or  you can try and live with it and end up like me, developing a psychological disorder that makes you foggy because all you concentrate on is all your flaws and how much distaste you have for them.

So 24th January 2017, I took it upon myself to start taking nutrition seriously again and start to slowly integrate exercise again, I'm sick of feeling like a fat lumpy whale with rolls, I look like the fucking Michelin man. I literally don't know how I came across it, but I remember hearing about macros back in my weight loss day but I ignored it because I was set in my ways with my clean eating (it worked for me, why fix whats not broken?) I had no clue about macros, I studied nutrition back in 6th form college and I can recall macro and micronutrients but for the life of me I had no idea what that meant (blame my old woman memory).

This next part I don't know if it was fate, coincidence or what, but somehow on FB I came across the IIFYM page (If It Fits In Your Macros), it's also known as flexible dieting, I have no idea how, but I found it, I joined and saw people's posts of success in such a short time and the best part of it all is, nothing is off limits, like the name suggests, if you can make it fit your macros you can eat it. I won't go into huge detail about it, you can google it if you want to know more, also I am no expert yet, I've been partaking for just under 2 weeks and up until about 3/4 days ago I got my macros correct and started to meet my protein requirements, but I can already notice differences! These are some of them:


  • Increase in energy.
  • Being able to push harder and recover faster during exercise and extending the length of time I workout.
  • Walking faster to work (my phone tells me everyday how many minutes it takes to walk to work it usually varies from 12-14,  I walked to work in 10 minutes today!!!! 
  • Waking up early for work so I can eat a decent breakfast (I used to sleep in 15 minutes before i had to leave and not eat or I packed my breakfast to eat at work), the reason this changed was in order to meet the protein allowance I needed to plan better for an even dispersion of protein throughout the day otherwise, I will be left at the end of the day trying to eat 2 whole large chicken breasts after being full from my already large protein filled dinner, not to mention I will be starving in the morning.
  • I weighed myself I've put on weight, I measured my body, I'm still the same size, so I gained muscle, I can also physically see that I am less bloated around my abdomen.
  • No more intense cravings for sugar and gauging on sweet foods. I got cravings twice and I was able to control it and adjust my macro intake to have a small treat for that day.
  • I'm so much more positive and feeling a lot happier.
Say Goodbye to Fat Michelin Man, Hovis rolls Cherry!
That's just some things, I've experienced over 2 weeks and despite re-adjusting macros a couple of times and having a 4 day junk food and alcohol weekend, I was still able to see results without hindering progress. There's more to come but heres my starting picture, my soon to be "before picture" if you will, I took this before I started IIFYM or at the beginning, I can't remember that either haha.

So life is pretty awesome, I have pink hair, my natural hair is growing real quick, not pulling, become more dedicated to a healthy lifestyle. I've also been desk warming for a while now at work and while going to work and do fuck all is awesome, I feel its hindering me in further progressing with my results, sitting on my ass all day means, I am not burning as many calories. 

Valentines day is around the corner as well as my trips to Boracay and Bali, so a lot to further look forward to!

Time to get my sleepy ass out of bed and do today's HIIT session! See you for another update soon!!!

Peace, love and positivity.
Cherry x




bald

Positivity= Productivity.

19:23

So life is going great, I was on vacation for the past 10 days and had my family over the past 2 weeks.  I'm back to work today but all I am doing is desk warming which means I'll probably do some working out because I am in the English building completely alone, not even Lester the rat is here to keep me company today.

 I'm motivated to exercise especially with all this space available, however, I always feel run down and hungry at the moment with nausea on top, but I must find my motivation again!!! Caffeine wouldn't hurt either! I just paid for 1 month of premium service for my fitness pal, because today I am taking this Macros thing seriously. Using macros to burn fat is a lot more lenient than you think, you are allowed to indulge as long as you can fit it in your daily macros which is freaking awesome! I've noticed I'm eating way too many carbs it seems, despite my breakfast being one piece of brown bread with PB and a banana. My lunch is gluten free brown rice pasta with tuna, plain yogurt and a little mayo mixed in. Dinner is going to have to be carb free I think and I need to eat more protein!!!!  (Taco seasoned baked chicken breast with steamed broccoli anyone?)
Sadly due to the bird flu epidemic here eggs have gotten too expensive *cries* I would like to change my breakfast to poached eggs and toast if possible!

Anywho, I am not here to touch too much on diet and exercise, even though it is encouraged in helping with TTM and my other disorders. I am here to report on my progress. Tomorrow marks 3 weeks since I stopped pulling completely and it has been 2 weeks since I shaved my head, I've been using the castor + coconut oil mask and just after 2 weeks there's been miraculous results, they speak for themselves. However I am a little concerned, the hair that is growing, is growing fast healthy and thick, I feel my head is looking gappy and lacking hair, I'm hoping this is because it's still early days and hair renewal for more damaged hair may take longer to grow. I pray I haven't done any real serious damage and my hair catches up.


I really don't know where I am finding this strength to not pull, I have had urges but I've been able to say to myself no, I want to grow my hair out and I don't feel it anymore. I feel like something inside me has lost the fight to make me pull, I am really not finding it difficult yet, but I am also not really working right now, throw in stress and worry again and It's possible it may return, although, it's difficult to pull with my hands, only with tweezers on this length of hair right now which I guess is good it means its only half the battle. I am also avoiding mirrors when going to the bathroom because my head close up opens up the opportunity to notice hairs that stand out and that of course means wanting to pull.

I only have desk warming this week tomorrow and Thursday then its a Korean holiday woooo until Tuesday which means more desk warming, also tomorrow is payday which means I can buy some adventure time and gudetama work stationary in downtown and buy a new and affordable wig! Wooo!!!! I've decided now I'm open about my disorder and wigs, I'm going to have fun with it and invest in a few colored wigs, I got my eye on a rose gold one and a grey one, I'm also going to look into some turquoise and blue ones.


Oh and I'm off travelling by myself in 3 weeks. my motivation to work out is just to lean out a tad, I don't expect much in 3 weeks but let's see what I can achieve in a safe and healthy way for the beaches of Boracay and Bali. (More will reported on my trip on my travel blog.)

Peace, love and positivity always!!
Cherry x

BFRB

The Introduction to the Fidget Cube

07:01

So I introduce to you a fidget cube!




This is the one I mentioned in an earlier post that I had ordered. But this is one from eBay, not from the original creators, they are having issues with productions and thousands of pledgers are still waiting for theirs, only some have gotten their orders so far. I hear though these cheap knock offs can vary in quality from cheap and awful to close but not perfect replicas.

If you don't know what one is here's a short video on the original.

So let's have a look at what I received in the post. 








Here's a short video I filmed about it:


bald

I braved the shave and survived.

18:14

So I went through with the shave, pic is below. I feel so empowered by it and the shame and embarrassment of my hair has gone.



What made me do it? Refer to my last blog post I listed reasons why I wanted to do it.

Do I regret it? Absolutely not, in fact I wish I didn't spend years  umming and ahhhing about it and just went ahead and did it. I want to say thanks to my boyfriend for making me feel more empowered and confident about myself than I have ever felt before.

So now its shaved, I am not yet brave enough to go out in public exposed, so I will stick to wigs until it gets to an "acceptable" length in Korea. I live in a country of vanity and group mentality, when someone looks different here it's automatically seen as a negative thing. Which is also why I wear wigs to work.

I did notice that once my hair was shaved how sore and red my scalp was,  I noticed all the pull sites have scabbing and dry skin (eeeew) I had not seen this before, but it made me realize just how badly damaged my scalp was from pulling out my hair. So now I am dedicating my free time to nourishing and caring for my scalp and hair, which includes hair masks, massages and hair oil treatments.

My hair grows pretty fast like I'm sure I've mentioned so many times before, but I feel 16 years of pulling out my hair could have some lasting damage on my hair growth.
Since I was a kid my mum used to rub coconut oil in my hair and fresh aloe vera plant on my scalp, so I grew up with real awesome hair (before I decided to rip it out).

 I heard recently from the TTM community that castor oil is a miracle oil for hair growth because it promotes circulation, makes hair grow back faster, renews roots faster and hair is all round healthier and thicker. Some have mentioned an increase in amount of hair on their head. So I'm going to give it a try, bald or not I think its a great way to promote healthier hair.

The video is below on how to make your own hair mask. It's recommended to apply it twice a week and within a month results are rather noticeable, but I heard it being as soon as 2 weeks. I've got coconut oil and I applied it after my shower yesterday to help relieve the dry skin. Coconut oil is a multi-purpose product so it not only nourishes hair, it moisturizes and is also an antibacterial. WIN!!


Also today marks seven days being pull free!!!! So I'm going to celebrate today with my family in town with some chicken wings!!!!! Will update on hair growth, pull progress soon!!! WOOOOOO!!!


Peace, love and motherfucking positivity!

Cherry x



bald

Braving the shave.

23:12

I've been contemplating this for years, and after this weekends positive events, I have made the decision to  do a full  shave of my head. I figured I am doing so well without pulling my hair out, why not reinforce it further by shaving it,  theres so many pros to why I think I should do this.


1. Other TTM sufferers do it and find it helps in prevention of pulling and when they get urges they just shave regrowth, I guess if I can keep up this no pull mentality, the urge to do so may go completely. Well this is what I am hoping.  

2. Shaving hair makes it grow back healthier and thicker. This along with coconut oil massages on my head should stimulate healthy regrowth, which is a lot easier to apply when your dont have long strands of hair in the way.

3. The shaved head looks bad ass maybe not on me, but it would be nice to look at myself with a more even hair style, right now my hair is  wild looking sticking up at random places and I look like    Einstein.

4. My hair is growing back rather quick, because I am blessed but shaving means my hair will grow back at an even rate all at the same length so I am hoping in 6 months I can at least have some sort of style to it, without looking crazy.

5.   Cutting off my extremely long locks was a hard step but  it meant I manage my hair so much easier no more tangles and matted clumps of hair and its easier to maintain. It will become even easier if I shave it.

I was against it for a while because I had this fear  of my wig sliding off with nothing to grip onto. Well I don't have to worry anymore there's 2 methods that will secure it in place. I'm going to do this first until I can find decent elastic and try the elastic band method. Vids below.






Here's to shaving when It looks more even all around, I'll start posting growth progress pics!!!
Peace, love and positivity.
Cherry x

anxiety

Life can surprise you sometimes.

07:58

So the weekend has been and gone, I must say its been rather stressful, I woke up at 6.30am Saturday morning to travel 3 and half hours to the airport to pick up my brother and dad, and meet my least favourite aunt to give her stuff my mum packed for her (which was a lot of stuff by the way). After faffing around trying to locate someone that had no wifi, but kept sending me text messages knowing full aware I had no credit on my phone to reply, it was agitating. We finally unpacked and gave her stuff and we took the 2 o clock bus back. We arrived in Gwangju at almost 6pm and we grabbed a cab to downtown looked around bought some food and walked for what felt like an eternity and waited for a bus back to Hwasun. I guess journeys feel longer when you are in a rush and/or tired and just wanna head home, eat and get comfortable, or in my case get ready to head out.

So as you can imagine I was extremely tired when I went back out and hadn't eaten properly all day from the hectic schedule so naturally I was knocking back alcohol because I was happy, but I also got drunk so quickly. I ended up feeling really tired and drunk for the whole night, which also meant only one thing, drunkness and tiredness is a disaster waiting to happen.

My boyfriend I headed home when the night was over, I was feeling rather emotional and crying a bit, him being the amazing person that he is, he gave me words of comfort and support I have not experienced from anyone before, no one has shown me kindness, understanding and immense amounts of support like he has.
He knows the right things to say and how to instantly make me feel better, usually I don't believe peoples words of support because they feel fake and not heartfelt. But not once has he ever done that, I don't know how he does it but he just naturally spoke to me in a way that I found was comfortable and easy to open with, I never felt ashamed, embarrassed or shy to talk about TTM, my hair, the fact I wear a wig with him (I really hate saying the word, I literally get embarrassed, but nope not once with him did I even cringe about it), it was an epiphany for me. I knew this guy loved me but to what extent can you love someone who suffers from several mental illnesses and feel like they are losing grasp with reality?  But I knew in that moment that when he said he loved me he meant it, this love ran deep it wasn't superficial and shallow, he genuinely wanted to do everything for me to be comfortable, happy and supported, even if that meant seeing me with no wig on. I have always felt too ashamed to shown anyone (except my family) my natural hair but the fact he loved me that much and wanted me to feel comfortable around him no matter what, that was the lightbulb moment for me.

I felt it within my soul this guy knows what he's got into and that hasn't scared him away, lost interest etc. I know everyone has their hangups on themselves, we are own critics after all, but this for me is life changing. I don't think I have loved anyone like I love this man. I know this is the guy I will spend my life with and possibly have kids with in the future.  I have so much respect and love for this man I would be a fool to let this guy go.

So I'm feeling a lot better than last week, feelings will not completely leave but right now I am on the uprise of positivity because he has helped me discover this new found strength within myself. I don't know what I did to deserve such a perfect person, but I am grateful he came into my life at the right time.

Peace, Love and Positivity.
Cherry. x


anxiety

Day 3 of the Pavlok Journey.

02:52




I've been following the 5 day course that is recommended to do whilst using the Pavlok and todays task was to write down the following answers to these questions: Pros of stopping the bad habit, Cons of stopping the bad habit, Pros of continuing the habit, Cons of Continuing the habit.


So I figured what a better place to record this than on here, I wont lose it and its here for my record.

1. Pros of stopping the bad habit- 
  • Save a load of money by not having to spend £300/£400 on a wig each time.
  • Not worry about my appearance and people judging me on how my hair looks.
  • Grow back my long luscious thick silky locks.
  • Go swimming and do other activities with no fear of my wig coming off or getting damaged.
  • Do stuff with my hair I can't do on lace front wigs. 
  • Get my hair styled and coloured at a salon.
  • In the future when getting married, I can do so with all my own natural hair.
  • Running my hands through my hair
  • Other people touching my hair, without me tensing up and worrying about being judged.

2. Cons of stopping the bad habit- 
  • There are none its a disorder, except maybe missing the sensation of the hair being removed from my head but for me thats not a real con.

3. Pros of continuing the habit- 
  • There are none except feeling satisfaction from the sensation it gives to my head and the release it gives. Again not a real Pro.

4. Cons of Continuing the habit.- 
  • Feel ugly, low self-esteem.
  • Low confidence.
  • Hair may not eventually grow back
  • Spending loads of money for the rest of my life.
  • When living with someone having to wear a wig all the time.
  • Missing out on more opportunities because of my anxiety.
  • Never getting to experience going to a hair salon.
  • Never getting to feel the wind blow through my hair.

Stay true, stay positive, stay realistic.
Cherry x

anxiety

Grasping at Straws

20:32

So last night my tear ducts went into over drive, I was consumed by negative thoughts and I was, lets be honest a huge mess.  I couldn't function properly and all I could  do was lie in bed like a pathetic human being and cry like a baby. Yeah just like a baby,  the flooding of tears and whiney-ness. I'm usually a silent crier but last night I had hit rock bottom, I let it all out for a good 40 minutes.  I have not been in that way for a long time, I cried so hard I could have easily cried through the night and I am pretty sure my neighbors could hear me. I didn't care about that I was so stuck in this moment of defeat, I was at loss with myself, I felt completely helpless and I just felt nothing but pure hatred for myself and  I was so upset because there is nothing I could do about it.


So here I am, the next day, I'm not cured, I don't feel different, I'm just not as emotional today, my tear ducts have decided to take a rest, as well as my mind. But how I feel about myself hasn't changed, and will it? I don't think so. I still desperately want to change how I look, and goddammit if I had the cash I would be straight up to Seoul now getting Lipo and a breast augmentation. But I can't and I'm stuck this way, the only thing I can do that's remotely positive is to work out and try and stay consistent in my eating habits and exercise regimen. I feel I'm somewhat in control of my TTM right now too I haven't pulled despite the distressing  event last night. I'm really happy with how well my fight against TTM is going but for me it just seems to be one problem after the other, when one subsides the other heightens, its constant peaks and troughs with me and it's scares me. The degree of emotion I felt last night was extremely overpowering and I absolutely dread if this happens again because there's no saying what the degree of severity will be.

I haven't yet taken it upon myself to look further into BDD. I know everything there is to know about TTM because early on I knew about it and what I had and I've educated myself immensely on the subject I feel no Psychiatrist will tell me or help me in a way that I am not already aware of.

Going back to BDD I read recently it has the highest suicide rates even higher than clinical depression and bipolar which is extremely worrying. I can't recall the statistics but it was extremely high and this frightens me, whose to say next time I have an episode like that It goes too far and gets too much? Being in Korea makes it extremely difficult to deal with any mental health issue but when its also linked to your body, there's no way anyone here will take you seriously I am sure. That just makes me feel even more alone and helpless.

I'm going to end on a positive though, I'm doing great with TTM, my hair regrowth is looking good, my hair is looking less patchy and more fuller.

Peace.
Cherry x

anxiety

and the crazy award goes to...

06:13

I'm just writing this post off the cuff right now, I don't know why, but I just need to vent somewhere. I'm hysterically crying which for me is rather odd, and I don't know if this is hormones or what. But I just took a test for BDD from an official website for OCD. I mean I kinda had an inkling from the onset of my TTM around 11, that I had an extreme dislike for myself and my appearance, I was never complimented at school I always felt ugly and fat and I was so much slimmer back then, I felt like shit anyways, no one made me feel good, the only thing that ever happened to me was the constant interrogation of my appearance, why this? why that? blah blah blah.

So I guess its no surprise when everyone arounds you confirms that you need to lose weight and when you lose the weight you are told "you don't suit being fat", "you look great since you lost weight" or "you lost so much weight but you should lose more so you can look like a model". Which is true, at the time though I still felt like I wasn't good enough, I look back now and would do ANYTHING to look like that again, I mean ANYTHING!!! Now I am just constantly reminded in the country of pure vanity that I am fat beyond belief, you try be friends with Korean girls and not feel self conscious about your appearance, when they are literally perfection. Or when all you hear from dudes how they only like Korean girls, you be around these sort of people long enough and you want to be them and fuck I wanna be them, they're the epitome of beauty, why would any dude have an interest in a fat western girl when you got slender, perfect skin, gorgeous hair, stunning faced Korean girls everywhere.


It's a horrible feeling when you are consumed by your thoughts on your appearance, it doesn't end really, I am always thinking about my appearance. If I see someone attractive I hate myself ten times more. I just don't feel good enough as a human being, I don't feel mildly attractive ever, my hair never looks perfect, my body never looks how I want it to, and I feel so much worse when it comes to stuff I buy that I would hope would disguise some of my fatness but then accentuates it more and theres no hiding it. Lets be honest though nothing I wear can ever hide this crap. I have some piece of mind when I can hide most of it, I can accept it even though I know what its like really underneath and it will bug me anyways but I will feel some comfort knowing other people don't see it all on show.

I'm obsessed with the fitness lifestyle and anything to do with my appearance in hopes it will bring me happiness, I've realised this is why I have a shopping addiction, I hoard makeup, I own too many trainers and fitness equipment, I have a huge shoe and dress collection. 

These are my ways of coping with my appearance hoping buying these things will bring me satisfaction in my appearance and actually make me feel beautiful and attractive. What makes it worse is, not only do I feel fat and ugly from my weight but I have a disorder that severely alters my appearance and its all self-inflicting. I do this shit to myself, whether its ripping out my hair, or binge eating or not exercising because I am lazy. But it doesn't stop me hating myself and getting depressed about it. Then I have anxiety to top this all off, so these thoughts are all bouncing around in my head like a huge cluster fuck and the thing is they all work together well to fuck me up big time. I.e. I pull out my hair thus making me ugly, therefore making me anxious which in turn makes me depressed and binge eat which then makes me feel shit about my weight that causes more anxiety and makes me rip out my hair. This just goes on and on and on, right now I feel like I'm at breaking point where I think this is it, its gonna happen, someone is going to have to admit me to a psych ward at some point because I'm not coping and I'm going to lose it eventually, I feel it's inevitable.

Results are below, although they can not confirm it as a diagnosis, its an indicator of signs of BDD, so pretty much it is saying its a highly likely chance I have BDD. 


Thank you for completing our confidential online test for Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD).

Our test is not designed to provide a formal diagnosis, but it can help you get a better idea of whether or not you are exhibiting significant signs of Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD).

The total number of items you checked determines your score for the test. You can see the specific items you checked at the bottom of this email. Results for the test fall into three categories, depending on how many items you checked:

* 1 to 3 test items checked: There is a low probability that you have BDD. You may be more concerned about your body image than most people, but it is unlikely that these concerns significantly impact your life.

* 4 to 7 test items checked: There is a medium probability that you have BDD. You likely experience a moderately high amount of distress related to your body, and likely spend more time than most people obsessing about, and checking, your appearance.       

* More than 7 test items checked: There is a high probability that you have BDD. You most likely have a great amount of distress related to what you perceive to be a significant flaw with your body.  It is likely you spend a considerable amount of time checking your appearance, attempting to change and/or camouflage your appearance, and avoiding situations in which you fear others might observe your perceived body flaw.

The best treatment for Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD) is Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT), which has been found by research studies to be the most effective treatment for BDD.

The OCD Center of Los Angeles specializes in CBT for adults, adolescents and children experiencing OCD and related conditions, including Body Dysmorphic Disorder.  We offer the following treatment options:

~ individual therapy
~ group therapy
~ intensive outpatient treatment
~ telephone therapy (ages 16 and older only)
~ online webcam-based therapy (ages 16 and older only)

Guess what I scored?? Take a look for yourself...



1  I excessively worry about my physical appearance : Yes

2  I often check my appearance in mirrors or other reflecting objects (i e , windows, car bumpers, spoons, etc) : Yes

5  I often use make-up or clothing (i e , hats, scarves, long sleeve shirts, long pants, etc ) to camouflage my perceived flaw : Yes

6  I frequently attempt to hide my perceived flaw by using my hands, by sitting in certain positions, or by staying in places where I believe the flaw will be less noticeable by others (i e , a dark corner in a theatre or restaurant) : Yes

7  I regularly scrutinize others' appearance for comparison : Yes

8  I sometimes discuss my perceived flaw with others, or ask others to verify my perceived flaw : Yes

9  I often seek reassurance from others about the appearance of my perceived flaw : Yes

10  I often touch, pick, and/or measure my perceived flaw : Yes

11  I diet and/or eat only specific foods related to my perceived flaw : on

17  I am planning or hoping to have cosmetic procedures to alter my perceived flaw in the future : Yes

18  I am often anxious or depressed thinking about my perceived flaw : Yes

20  I often believe others notice my perceived flaw and/or are thinking negative thoughts about my perceived flaw  : Yes

21  I am significantly distressed about my perceived flaw  : Yes

22  I often believe others are discussing or commenting on my perceived flaw : Yes

23  My concerns about my perceived flaw are interfering with my relationships and/or with my academic or professional functioning : Yes

25  I worry most about the following parts of my body:: Arms, , back, stomach, waist, hips



Thats right I scored 16!!!! That puts me in the highest group of the categories:

"* More than 7 test items checked: There is a high probability that you have BDD. You most likely have a great amount of distress related to what you perceive to be a significant flaw with your body.  It is likely you spend a considerable amount of time checking your appearance, attempting to change and/or camouflage your appearance, and avoiding situations in which you fear others might observe your perceived body flaw."



I'm done ranting and I'm not particularly feeling positive, peaceful or loving right now. Just anger and hate and disgust at myself and the fact I am stuck in a body I don't want to be in. 

This is me signing out. Bye.




BFRB

Zap zap zap and the fun begins!

04:56


Here I am again as mentioned in my last post I spoke about the Pavlok, well I ordered one because I did some extra online teaching and well this isn't a splurge it's a necessity in my eyes, like I said, I am willing to try anything and I'm sure most TTM sufferers can also agree they feel the same way when it comes to managing TTM.

So here it is, naturally I went for Pink it's my all time favourite colour. They have various other colours, I also got 2 free wristbands they had blue, black and grey. I took the blue and black, they were free so why not?

I've put on the wristband and its weird to say the least because I'm used to wearing my Fitbit but to be also wearing one on my right arm for me is rather bizarre. So far so good, I'm getting used to how it works and such. I've downloaded the app, I am getting the hang of it. I zapped myself once for a tester, the other 2 two times was because the first time I pulled and the second time I had the urge to pull. I like that there's a course you follow and that it shows when you are most prevalent in your behaviours, however you got to log these yourself and it doesn't log them for you.

I've also come to realise you will not be zapped automatically, i guess this is because if it makes an error in your movements you will be getting shocked. I have noticed it has been vibrating a hell of a lot, when my hand is stationary or moving around a bit, I am hoping this is due to the fact the battery may need charging and not just poor craftsmanship, if not I may just switch it back to manual, which may lose its effectiveness.

These are just early thoughts on the tracker so far, you can set it to behaviours of your choice whether it be smoking, eating sugar etc. You can also set the strength of the vibrations and shocks and how many times they occur in one trigger, there is also a beep option but I don't really see myself using it.

I'm experimenting for the next few days to get the hang of it, I am also going to see if I can also at the same time condition myself to exercise and stop craving sugar or if this is solely just one behaviour at a time sort of deal.

I am fully aware the only time I pull is when I am alone, in bed. So I will not be wearing it in the day just when I get home from work, if that proves ineffective then of course I will wearing it consistently.

Please note though they cant be worn in the shower or any environment which will have contact with water so don't go swimming with it!!!

Will report again soon!!!

P.S. Still no sign of my fidget cube :(


Peace, love and positivity.

Cherry x





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