I Chew my Tounge

I have a terrible habit of chewing on my tounge. I chew it so bad that it bleeds sometimes and I end up getting super painful ulcers on my tounge.

Its like i cant stand the feeling of the little bumpies that are on your tounge, and I think its self injury because i do sort of enjoy the slightly painful feeling of one being chewed off.

Sometimes its just a little, sometimes i do it alot and end up with the whole side of my tounge ripped to shreds.

Dentist was gonna fit me with a night retainer cause im a grinder too but I cant afford it.

any other ideas?

anyone know if this is a known form of SI?

i constantly chew/play with my labret piercing.. and spike my upper lip with it.. i didnt ever wonder if this was SI for me.. its more of a nervous habit. i think you have to ask yourself.. are you doing this to avoid feeling? and are you doing it to actually hurt yourself.. or if the hurting yourself is sorta secondary.
sorry i couldnt be much help.
take care
~M

Hey Rainbowzz
I guess it can be difficult to say what is and isn't sh - I guess there is the medical definition and then there is the whole perception thing........what you are doing with your tongue feels like what I do with my hair, its not a major for me, but its still there, sometimes I am obsessive about it, sometimes it just doesn't feature in my life at all.

I guess the thing is to take care of yourself and if you feel its out of control or you need to seek medical support, then it is probably worth investigating further.

I soooooooooo understand the grinder thing - I'm one too, my dentist has to file my back teeth down once in a while cause I keep taking chunks out of them.

Take care
Storm

Dentist was gonna fit me with a night retainer cause im a grinder too but I cant afford it.

Jaw clencher and teeth grinder here.

My Dr. told me to use mouth guards like they do in sports.

I had to get a child sized one because the others were way too big.

I tried...I really did. But I couldn't do it in the end.
Had some "issues" get in the way.

Hey fellow teeth grinder

I have thought about a sports guard too, but I just don't think I could cope with going to sleep with that going on, it would certainly be very triggery for me.

Storm

I think it is a form of SI. It is for me anyway. I chew up the inside of my lips and cheeks and only do it during high stress times and when I feel like hurting myself, but can't.

I think the sport mouth guard idea is great, and inexpensive, i think.