[EternalSnowXx]

Would this be classed as an OCD? And Could I get treatment for it?
I've been biting the skin around my nails for about 10 years. I can't even remember when I originally started. I know that I bit my nails, and then started biting the skin around them.
I no longer bite my nails, but I bite or pick my skin around my nails so much that it is now permanently red and scarred.
Sometimes, I do it compulsively, and I don't realise until my fingers really hurt or start bleeding. Other times, I get pre-occupied with my fingers because the skin isn't smooth, and there are jagged edges, and I feel like I need to get rid of them.
I don't bite my skin anywhere else, just on my fingers.
Is it considered "severe" enough for treatment?

Here's a picture if it helps:
i43.tinypic.com/208whnp.jpg

[Moreta]

I do the same thing! But that's just one of the many OCD tendencies I have. Have you ever tried CBT or DBT? Maybe you could ask your doctor about it.

One thing I have been doing is setting aside specific time each week to do my nails. I find that if I go get them done somewhere they don't do a good enough job on getting all of the dead skin off. Then during the week when I notice myself gnawing on my fingers I stop, pop a piece of gum in my mouth and put some lotion on my hands. Lotion tastes icky. Also I make sure to keep my hands moisturized especially the cuticles. Burt's Bees makes a lemon cuticle balm that works very good.

Good luck.

[Miss Laura]

I bite my nails and have done since I was a wee girl. I also bite the skin around my nails too. My hands look horrible sometimes, I have small hands normally but with no nails it looks horrible. My parents had for years the yucky nail polish which stops you from biting your nails but I would bite them anyways or wash it off.

I would like nails but just can't for some weird reason

[sugahorse1]

Yup, I also bite my nails and the skin

[Champagne]

Darlings

I know PIKA or PICA is a strange condition that is in pregnant women. Usually it is a deficiency in the diet. Often diagnosed as a mineral. Your habit could be a mineral deficiency.

Try this simple test. Buy a packet of a variety of nuts and seeds (like sunflower seeds) but in separate packets. Eat a handful of each different type of nut on different days. When you seem to be hungry for one type and keep going back for more until you feel full and satisfied, you are DEFICIENT in the mineral that is in that particular nut.

Check out it's nutrient value on the internet. Develop good dietary habits to include this missing nutrient and its other food components in your meals.

OR you do have a nervous or emotional affliction... then you have to ask yourself why you do this habit and what triggers it off. Sometimes it is BOREDOM and "chewing" is self soothing therapy... like a baby chews on a pacifier/dummy.

Hope this helps.

[Miss Laura]

Hey Champagne,

That's interesting what you have said.

Wonder why people do these things??? I don't think I even know

[_embrace]

I do the same thing, and have for years and years. The general rule of thumb is that if it bothers you to the point where you find it interfering with your general happiness/life/well-being, you should get treatment for it. You never really know what something like that is prompted by until you explore it, as others have said.

I've tried a bunch of things to stop, but nothing has worked for me so far. That said, I haven't really maintained the "stick to it" attitude, either. Some things that were suggsted to me are:

-A nail polish that tastes awful...it's made to break habits like this, and is therefore non-toxic, just really bitter. I can't remember the name of it, but Google would help.

-Wear gloves when it's not too hot, especially when doing things where I wouldn't notice the chewing (ie: reading, using internet, watching tv/movies, etc.)

-Practice mindfulness, to be aware of what I'm doing at all times/what's going on.

I think that if you really want to stop, you can. I dunno whether it falls into OCD, OCD tendancies, or just a habit/addiction that self-soothes, but it's definitely a bit bothersome. I haven't been diagnosed with OCD, but I definitely have some compulsive tendancies, so it's probably somewhere on the spectrum.

[BNLsMOM]

Me too, and I bite my lips and the insides of my mouth. I never thought it had anything to do with OCD until yesterday when my p-nurse mentioned that I might have OCD because of intrusive, obsessive thoughts.

i chew my lips... chew my fingers a lot less (just ocassional nibbles now yay!), pull hair and scratch, ruminate, obsess.... relaxing calms some things ...but exacerbates other actions
i dont know anymore how to calm it all down... just stopping doing it asap, having a drink of water, putting my back teeth together, opening my mouth and mouth breathing...

thanks for the idea of gloves....
ive tried things like that but the comulsion seems to override my willpower and i take the gloves off, remove obstacles... to hairpull or scratch

try try and try again is my motto

[Aunt Donna]

I hadn't thought about the biting of my lips and the inside of my mouth as part of my ocd. I do that all the time. OUCH!

[Moreta]

Originally Posted by faylowell

I hadn't thought about the biting of my lips and the inside of my mouth as part of my ocd. I do that all the time. OUCH!

Same here.

I had finally quit biting my nails for a couple weeks, then yesterday, I did it again. I didn't even realize that I was doing it at the time. I did stop as soon as I knew what I was doing, so maybe that is some progress.

[wottesworthgurl]

I do that all the time.....I also suck on the bottom of my lip alot which causes a red line under my lip which tends to stay for awhile.

[romanjames2004]

Haha I do this as well. I used to be a really bad nail biter up until a few months ago. However i still bite the skin around my nales. they eventually start hurting and all that but I just can't stop.

The other day I was actually getting a manicure and the lady making my nails look soo manicured actually told me that there are alot of people that do this. I felt sorta better. I just need to stop biting the skin around my nails and maybe start biting my hand or somehting and eventually nothing at all lol.

[feddy]

If this helps...

I sucked my thumb until I was 11 (yes, 11 years old, gross and I suffered 10 years of orthodontic HELL as a result.) When I was finally forced to stop I started to bite my nails. Over time, this has evolved into chewing both the nails, the skin and the cuticles, to the point where sometimes I bleed.

I also pop zits. No matter how tiny the pimple is, I HAVE TO squeeze it. They actually look a million times worse after I squeeze the living crap out of them than before I touched them.

I suffer from OCD in other small ways too, checking impulses and keeping things in order - in their rightful place, but never to the point where it's interfered with my life.

About 2 1/2 years ago, I quit chewing my fingers and popping pimples completely. It was purely awareness and determination. (I also quit smoking 14 mohths ago...to be honest, it is the same type of skill, just on a MUCH different scale.)

(However, when I became depressed again I started to bite my nails again, *sigh* but I will quit again.)

The moral of my long winded story is that you can change the behaviour and stop biting your nails and have pretty hands if you want to. It's mind over matter. My hands were so beautiful (now they are totally ugly again.)

Feddy

[Julial]

I definitely relate to biting the skin around the fingernails. I couldn't stand the the extra skin that would pop up and I started pulling and tearing it off. The bleeding would start and my fingers ended up extremely sore. Then I started using nail clippers to clip the skin off and that would happen numerous times a day. I thought maybe I had a skin condition, so I tried various lotions to no avail. Right now, for the last two weeks, I have not allowed myself to pull or clip any skin and it's almost as hard as when I quit drinking. I can see on my fingers where clipping is needed but I think I will just put lotion on and try to distract myself. When my fingers do bleed, there seems to be some comfort for me but I can't stand the sight of it. Sometimes when I modify one behavior, another pops up. Sigh...

[Kiya]

Yeah... i too bite the skin around the fingernails. As a kid I also bit off calouses on my hands. I picked up biting the insides of my mouth some time as a young teen and still do some 20 years later. That can get bad. Lips bleed, inner mouth bleeds... and I can't stop. =(