[Christina86]

Started about two weeks ago. Brushing my hair until my scalp bled. Now I'm picking scabs on a regular basis and I KNOW it's bad and it's very quite noticeable (blood kinda is!) but I literally cannot function with an uneven bumps on my scalp.

That makes me crazyyyyyyyyy. I used to do this, but haven't in years. Now I gotta figure out why I've backtracked into being self-destructive and obsessive and anxious.

And if that's not bad enough, I scratched my arms up and now I've got some scabs there too. And my cuticles are a mess, and I've chewed off my fingernails and I've chewed at the skin on my fingertips...

It's gross. I'm gross. It makes me sad. But I can't stop. And talking about it makes it worse. So this is making it worse. ARGH.

Just a vent. I know I'll quit again eventually soon and be fine for a while... but this cycle is horrid.

[Skeezyks]

[*Laurie*]

I tear at my cuticles until they are a mess, so I can understand your frustration.

I pick at scabs on my face and squeeze pores on my face and chest. It is disgusting. I also squeeze thick white discharge out of my breasts around the areola. It seems like a form if self harming to me. It gets worse when I'm stressed. But I do have OCD. I wonder if it is a kind of it. I don’t know. I have been doing it since I was about 11 or 12. I've had OCD since I was 9 so it could be related. This is the first if me admitting it to anyone. It is disgusting. My breasts are scabby as a result too. Luckily I am not entering a relationship again or it could get difficult to explain. Urgh..

[Nike007]

Greetings. The scalp one you mentioned is similar to me, though I just use my nails. I hate uneven bumps on my head. I pick the scabs I have left the previous picking. I mainly pick at clumps of dry skin since I have tried basically everyone to get rid of it. I believe it's mainly caused by stressed, since when school was over, my scalp wasn't dry at all. I feel embarrassed by it too, mainly due to social anxiety though. I feel people judge me when I do this, but I can't stop doing it. The things I have tried for the scalp problem are:
-cut nails with actual nail clipper
-shower more often to reduce dandruff clumps
-wear a hat
-wear gloves

The hat doesn't really work, since I still scratch, but I can't make my scalp bleed this way. The gloves work. The thing that's the best, but doesn't totally fix it is cutting your nails. The longer my nails, the more I pick because I can take more out at a time. With shorter nails, I can't so I don't try ask much because I think there is less there. Anyways, hope this helps .

I am just sitting here picking at my face. I ripped a bit of skin off my thumb. It is something I am not aware of doing. It does feel good though. I don't know why.

I squeezed my areola area this morning and got a lot of discharge out of it. It felt good. I was upset at the time. I do wonder if it's a stress release. Also this afternoon I squeezed my face for about 20 minutes. It hasn't been a good day. Have been quite sad and fed up with everything. I've been picking too.

I don't know if I should put this in the self harm thread or in here. Is it a stress release or just an OCD habit? Or both? I know how good it feels when the discharge is released.

Sorry, I don't want to hijack your thread. Just posting my experience. I need to make a thread of my own.