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I finally cured my Dermatophagia (I think)
I have been a "wolf biter" for the past 21 years and after reading an article on this forum I believe I have finally cured my dermatophagia. I will explain how I did it but first let me give you a background of how bad it was. Firstly, I have had this disorder for my entire life, for as long as I can remember I have had a severe oral fixation. When I was very young (maybe 5 or 6) I used to literally chew the wood off of my bedpost like a beaver. A consequence of this action was terrible buck beaver-like teeth, which fortunately was fixed after 2 years of braces. I also used to chew the collar off my shirts when I was little, virtually ruining them, you can image how mad my parents were having to buy me new shirts all the time because I would literally eat them. Next, I would chew the inside of my lip, and the nails and skin on my fingers almost to the bone. Drawing blood was a daily occurrence and my fingers were often extremely sore, but for some reason I could not stop doing it. I tried many of the bitter tasting nail polish but to no avail. The habit was so bad that I would suffer through the nasty taste in order to bite my fingers until they bled. I was soon completely used to the bitter taste and it didn't bother me. Sometimes I would stop biting my nails for a week, but I always made the mistake of continuing to bite the skin on my fingers, so my nails would start to get long but I would still have fingers that looked like they have been chewed by a dog. Needless to say this was extremely embarrassing considering I would get blood on the keyboard at work that numerous people used.
I am happy to announce however that I am on about day 10 of not biting whatsoever and even though the cravings to bite are intense, they are getting better each day. Its a weird feeling having hands that actually look normal (besides the slight discoloration of some parts from 21 years of extreme wolf biting). I have also stopped biting the inside of my lip. So how did I do it? Cold Turkey... it is the ONLY way.
I am a strong believer that in order to quit an addictive habit you must do it cold turkey (unless its dangerous such as the case with alcohol). This is because any tiny taste of the habit throws you into a spiral. I quit smoking and chewing tobacco once and for all cold turkey after many failed attempts to ween myself off of it. I would have one cigarette and promise myself I wouldn't have another for, lets say, another 3 hours. In those 3 hours I would smoke about 5 more. I also tried to stop biting my nails in a similar fashion.. only biting the nails that were uneven to make them look better... After biting one nail it was literally a matter of two minutes before several of my fingers were bleeding and sore.
So how do you quit biting cold turkey? Most of you are probably saying you do it subconsciously, not even realizing you are doing it and that's exactly how I was. It is hard to stop if your subconscious mind wont let you. I am not a psychologist nor do I claim to be, but after doing my own extensive research I believe that all wolf biters share a similar way of thinking. We have minds that tend to wonder more than normal people, maybe people characterize as as "spacey." We can often forget what we are doing or things people normally don't forget. We constantly have to double check stuff because our brain is usually always on autopilot. Does that sound like you? I don't think this is a disorder but instead a different style of thinking. I believe this way of thinking actually suggests high intelligence as the brain is always analyzing events and problems of the day, regardless of if we want to or not. Many wolf biters are diagnosed with OCD or ADHD and this way of thinking comes with those disorders.
Let me stress here, and this is my OWN opinion, that ADHD and OCD are only disorders because our society labels them as such. The great ancient philosophers shared this disorder, but because we live in such a fast paced society where constant pondering is discouraged, we have a slight disadvantage. This is why our subconscious takes over and automatic habits such as nail biting are hard to stop.
So this still doesn't answer the question how to quit nail biting with this mindset, and the answer is to stop that mindset. Not forever, but until your brain gets used to the fact that the nail biting habit is gone. Once you stop for an extensive period of time, you will not bite even when on autopilot. I believe I am very close to being there and breaking the habit forever. This is how to do it: give you full 100% attention to everything you are doing and break out of daydreams. Daydreams are your enemy. When you are walking down the street think about your walking motion and always keep a conscious check on were your hands are (NOT IN YOUR MOUTH). Don't bite ANYTHING, not your inside bottom lip, not the skin around your fingers, NOTHING. I cannot stress this enough because any little taste of the habit before it is fully cured will throw you into a downward spiral. Also, DO NOT pick at your nails or skin.
This whole strategy is difficult and will be extremely uncomfortable so it is necessary to say you must be 100% committed. You WILL have almost irresistible feelings to bite, WHATEVER YOU DO, DO NOT GIVE IN. I PROMISE it will get easier with time and the cravings come and go throughout the day. ANY biting is RELAPSING, keep that in mind.
So to summarize this method, force yourself to pay attention to EVERYTHING you do, all day long, at least until the habit is gone (you will also realize you forget to do important things less).
l have bitten my fingers for as long as l can remember. l do think its a nervous,comfort habit. Last year my youngest daughter got married and l 'gave up' biting for about 4 months. l wanted nice fingers so l could have my nails done.l have fallen back into it since though. l would say like any 'habit' its hard to kick, but possible, maybe reward yourself with a treat each week you don't bite. Remember, it's not clever, and it certainly isn't pretty!
I have broken this habit after - get this - 45 years! My story is like every one else's - it started in childhood, I've tried everything, I do it subconsciously, didn't think anyone else did this. However, thanks to another forum, which is closed for comments now, I found a solution. It's quite simple - emery boards!
You gently file down the rough skin (even if it's been bleeding), then rub in a good hand cream (Burt's Bees cuticle cream highly recommended here). The effect for me was instant. The fingers were smooth, and even if I went to bite out of habit, there were no satisfying "edges" to work on. Initially I filed and moisturized one a day, now it's every few days, or whenever a notice a rough bit. I can honestly say, with smooth fingers, the desire to bite has completely gone. To seal the deal I treated myself to really nice nail polish. I think I did it due to anxiety, but I can see now it was making the anxiety worse - I'd see my fingers and feel even more stressed. I'd like to thank the person who suggested this approach, but can't, so passing it on here in the hope it will help someone else.
My story begins before I was even born. I have an ultra sound picture of me with my left hand in my mouth. To this day, I bite the left index finger and thumb together in my mouth with unrelenting force. All through my childhood I can remember times of stress, anxiety, anger, excitement, and anticipation all resulting in a strong urge to bite down on the two fingers. After 18+ years of this so far, there are distinctive tooth marks in my thumb and index finger that match my jaw line from when I was young until my fully developed jaw structure. My thumb is 70% covered in a huge callous that reaches from the tip opposite the nail, down to halfway between my first and second knuckles. My second knuckle being a dime sized callous itself that I tend to chew through. Removing entire chunks of calloused flesh before even reaching the layer of skin that blood lay beneath. The same goes for my index finger, though this callous is much bigger. It is exclusively on rightmost side of the finger and likely has the same area of three quarters. I will bite and gnaw at this until there was no more flesh to remove, often swallowing pieces. Sometimes I ripped until it hurt, reaching far past where the callous was. Some episodes of this, as you call, wolf biting, can last up to an hour of nonstop biting and gnawing. Especially when I am alone. I sometimes have to remove myself from the setting in order to find enough seclusion in order to bite my hand. Recently, I am home alone much more often as I have just graduated high school and therefore I am subjected to much more biting. And it hurts. For the first time in my life my finger actually hurts the way it should after such amounts of sharp pressure is applied to it. I need it to stop. And using methods such as distasteful nail polish or gloves has resulted in severe panic attacks as I am thus incapable of relieving my aforementioned emotions through the habit. All the anxiety, excitement, and stress try to burst from me in another way. I end up being unable to sit still and my mind brews incoherent thoughts that no one around me can understand, and I come off as strange and hyperactive. My family has become accustomed to my behavior, not the biting, but the hyper activeness, but I fear it will affect my coming social life. My family, at least, disregards what they see if they happen to catch me biting my hand. However, my father was the only one who actually removed my hand from my mouth anytime he found me doing it. This always caused my anger to bubble slightly, though now I appreciate his efforts in stopping this habit. Though he passed away about 2 years ago and a lot of my anger and sadness towards him came out through my hand biting... I'm sorry for rambling, I had just remembered that I was in a comment section, and not my journal. Well now that I've shared my story with people like me, perhaps I can find some answers. Please tell me what I can do... Also, the mentality described in the original article above explains my so god damn well that I thought you were copying the text straight from my own thoughts, or even my journal.
I have had this condition since I was a child, and my father before me had it, and now I've noticed my 2 year old daughter biting her nails! It's a nightmare as I have always found that I chew my nails and the skin subconsciously. Anyway, I've tried wearing white document handling gloves at work, which made me look like Michael Jackson, and I've tried bitter tasting stuff, but recently my dad believed he had cracked it and suggested I try the cream he had been prescribed. I tried it, and for me it worked. For a few months I managed to stop and grew nails and the skin got a lot better on my fingers. I have since relapsed as I stopped using the cream, and a particularly stressful experience in my life triggered it again. I'm now back to using the cream and it's helping. I'm in the UK and the cream prescribed was a GlaxoSmithKline tube called 'Dermovate Cream' - it includes clobetasol propionate (0.5mg). The reason it worked for me was that it is a steroid cream which I believe thins the skin, and therefore the hard bits on my fingers which were 'pickable/chewable' became less dense and this was coupled with the fact that it remains on your fingers. Now what I mean by that is, some creams soaked in and didn't feel greasy and you forgot you had used them, others were like dipping your hands in a tub of grease and it got everywhere. This cream reminds you that you've used it, but isn't overly greasy. It's enough for me to remind me when I go to bite subconsciously that I need to stop. Anyway, just thought I'd share that in the hope it helps others. It worked for me for a while, and I'd never managed to stop before! Oh and I guess I should add that using a nail file regularly to ensure that my nails, whilst very short and bitten at times, were smooth, as I've found any rough or uneven bits made it more likely that I would bite at them to try and make them 'more even'.
I bite my fingers and thumb's skin since my childhood I dont even remember when I was not doing it. I had no idea what it is, and I used to think that Iam the only one who does that. I have seen people with nail biting stuff but not with this. There were times when I actually stopped doing it and remained strong even few months. But then I started doing it again which I regret the most. It is may be because I think way too much.
I even cut my nails regularly in order to avoid skin biting. Sometimes when Iam sitiing with my mom she holds my hand so I dont do it. But she cant do this all the time obviously. I want to be strong and I want to quit this thing because I hate looking like a psycho I hate my sored wounded fingers. Please help me! how should I quit it?
I have been able to slowly quit biting my nails after 25 years of this disgusting habit. What prompted me to stop was going to a dentist and realizing that my nail biting has slightly chipped away at one of my front teeth. I don't want to spend a fortune fixing my front teeth, so this idea caused me to cold turkey the habit. The only thing that remains is skin picking. Ive been a picker for 15 years. I've done a few years of chemical peels and they helped me to pick less (also helped to smooth out my skin), but when I stopped doing those procedures for two years (when I got married and moved out of state) I completely rebounded. So now I'm trying to get back into doing chemical peels on a monthly schedule in order to minimize breakouts and to gradually erase the shallow scars. Hoping that this self care will keep me in check from picking. Just want to let all the users on here know how deeply I understand their frustration and how happy I feel for those who are able to curb the habit.
I've been picking my hands probably since high school. I mainly notice myself doing it when I'm stressed out, in an uncomfortable setting, nervous, bored and I'm sure many other things. I absolutely hate that I do it. Especially when I look at my hand and see the scaring that I have made. It's even worse when people stop and ask me what happened to my hand because its red and noticeable. I can go a little bit without picking it and it will look so good; redness goes down, its smooth, looks pretty good then something will strike and I'll pick it and be back at point A again. This is something that I want to break and stop doing for good. It affects me in a lot of different ways. Now it's even affecting my relationship with my boyfriend which is extremely embarrassing and hard. I hate most when people see it and ask what's wrong with my hand and I have to make up a story because I'm too embarrassed to tell them the truth because most people don't understand it or why I do it. I know this is a mind over matter thing and I just have to be strong minded enough to overcome it but it's so much harder than you would think it would be. Starting today, I'm going to quit biting/picking my hand.
Have any of you been successful?
i know this is an old post but im hoping everyone can see my comment and tell me some success stories. I so desperately need to hear some.
im 28, female, australian and recently engaged. everyone keeps grabbing my hand to see the ring and then gasping when they see my fingers. I stopped for a couple of weeks, i was so happy. and then something horrible happened in my family and i started again, its worse than ever. if i ignore it, it feels like i have a horrible itch beneath my skin and this feeling only intensifies the more i try to ignore it.
ive tried therapy, i was told it is an obsessive compulsive behaviour brought on by anxiety when im unable to control an unpleasant situation. talking through it doesnt help. I need to be more self aware.
no more bloody hands. bloody feet. bloody mouth. i know it can be done, but im hoping to hear some long term successes
x
I have picked and bitten my fingers since I was 5 years old. I am now in my early 40's. I have had no success stopping this habit in the past and had given up. It was worst when I was nervous or stressed, sometimes not even realizing I was doing it. However, something interesting happened to me a few months ago. I started taking vitamins and supplements for a few other health concerns (Vit C, MSM, Fish oil, B Complex, turmeric, L-lysine). After a couple of weeks, I noticed that my fingers were healing and I had not been biting them. I assumed it was b/c I had been busier that usual with some projects around the house. However, as time went on, the desire to bite didn't return. It has now been 10 weeks, my fingers are healed, and there is no desire to pick even when I have peeling. This has NEVER happened to me before. After a little research, I am really wondering if the B Complex, specifically B12 is what helped take away this urge, since I have read that it has been used to help with ADHD and other similar issues. BTW, I am very picky about my vitamin brands, I use PURE Encapsulations for most of my vitamins, including the B Complex, after reading about fillers and junk most are made with, esp ones made in China. Hope this helps someone.
Yes, supplements can help some people! Vitamin D supplements help lower my picking drastically. Very very helpful and I recommend it. As for biting my nails..I suffered two and a half decades with chewed off nails and skin...it finally went away last year by itself. It gradually faded away to the point where one day I had the will power to rationalize the habit away. I saw that my biting was chipping away at a tooth and that realization disgusted me to the point where I was able to drop the habit. So it is possible for it to stop, same with skin picking I believe. I have had various OCD disorders throughout my life that also came and went. So yes it is possible for these disorders to stop. Although sometimes they are replaced by new disorders. Once my initial severe OCD madness of 15 years of full hell faded away, the skin picking turned up full notch. So it was just a replacement of issues. Sometimes I wonder what new crap will come around if I beat the skin picking issue. And I've been doing exceptionally well for the last two months....so I might be entering the stage where it's lapsing in between...which means it's losing it's grip on me....quite possibly full healing is in the near future. I just don't want to turn up having to deal with hair pulling or an eating disorder of some sort...all related conditions.
My skin picking is getting worse instead of better. It is affecting my work, my personal like, not even counting the embarrassment and pain it causes. My dermatologist tried me on a cream that seemed to help at first, but starting itching really bad. Now it has created pure pockets of horror mainly on my forearms and top of legs and feet. Long story short, it has made picking worse! I am at the end of my rope with nothing to hang on to! I know I need help, but cannot stop! I tell myself if I can just get the wax part(probably not that at all), and break the fibrous strings(feels like tough cotton string) , which is almost impossible to break without a short burst of pain, the holes would heal. I cant seem to do either! It's a vicious cycle. I pray everyday for a miracle. I will try the vitamins, and see if that will help me. Thank you for the information!
I am embarrassed and want to stop