Bandages :(

I am sorry you are suffering. I am not a hand chewer but I recently discovered this site and it has been a HUGE relief to hear others stories. I'm sure other people can offer advice. I know false nails are often suggested to prevent chewing of nails/cuticles. Also, I had mentioned this in another post, in my college microbiology labs we had to do simple swab cultures of our nails/ hands/ fingertips/ mouths in introductory class (to reinforce lab sanitation protocol)--and it worked! What grew on those petri dishes was disgusting and only gathered with the swab of a sterile qtip---made me always wash hands before and after class thats for sure! Also made me not want to chew my nails (though I had used fake nails for years to stop that). You can get basic agar plates online or simply make your own with knox gelatin and broth (cheap)...just google a recipe and try it and see what grows- you dont need to have a microscope and be able to go throught the processes to identify the bacteria to be shocked enough to at least have that mental *pause* before you chew. Seeing the staph aureus colonies on the petri dishes of even seemingly "clean" hands was enough for me-- And you have the ability to overcome this...there will be fever and fever bandaids in the trash as you progress...see it as a problem & challenge rather thana defect of character or mental health ( I beat myself up all the time and it made it worse)---in the meantime bandages are good for healing and preventing infection :) good luck!