So embarassing…but skin picking, anyone?

[Anonymous]

http://www.facebook.com/pages/FOREVER-MARKED-A-Dermatillomania-Diary-by-Nova-Scotian-author-A-Hartlin/177738602694

A friend of mine wrote this book on Dermatillomania that may help someone here. It does list OCD as one of the correlating disorders but I can imagine that ADD/ADHD is also going to be added soon.

http://www.skinpick.com/dermatillomania-information

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dermatillomania

Oh and I pick at my skin, hair/scalp, scabs, and bite my nails and cuticles. I am one fidgety lil critter!

Oooh – nailbiters out there…anyone had to have that nasty polish that had a bitter taste when you went to chew your nails?

talk about behavior modification with negative reinforcement! eews!

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[Anonymous]

I’ve been biting my nails since I was 10. I’m 40 now. I hate that I do it. I’ve tried that bitter nail polish, but it gets all shiny and I guess I just don’t want to appear to be wearing nail polish (I’m a guy). Not that there’s anything wrong with that…

Hand sanitizer has that bitter ingredient too, so I keep a bottle near my computer on my desk at home (when I appear to bite my nails the most). I wish they could invent a substance that would make your nails too hard to bite. I’d pay money for that.

http://MungosADHD.com

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[Anonymous]

Mungo

Interesting you mention nail biting. We are off to see the Dr. this week to go over my oldest son’s testing, and he has been a nail biter for a long time now. Hmmmm!

As a side note, be careful about the hand santizer, many of them are toxic to people. Check the lable to see if it is “kid ” friendly.

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[Anonymous]

I notice a lot of the nail biting on here! interesting trick with the hand sanitizer Mungo (very cool name- my parents had that picked out for me!) and So_Calvin (btw my mom knew Bill Waterson- creator Calvin and Hobbes- from high school! I think calvin picks up alot of ADHD traits. there’s one where he is zoning out and Ms. Wormwood snaps the ruler down and he says ‘sorry my eyes were on screensaver’ perfect description!)

Has anyone had other inventive ways to help curb the nail biting? I’ve heard of tabasco sauce (ouch), to wearing mittens or gloves. I used to take up either playing with cards when fidgety, or taking up something like knitting that i could do mindlessly but still keep moving. I’ve also found in front of the tv i’ll have my laptop handy and i’ll type quietly (even if it is just typing some of the dialogue of the movie or show) or i can have it handy in case someone asks “where did i see that guy in a movie before?” I can quickly search IMDB

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[Anonymous]

Here are some tips I found to help break the nail biting habit:

http://www.brainphysics.com/stop-nail-biting.php

Hope these are helpful!

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[Anonymous]

WOW – this is fascinating. To get reeeeelly gross, my rule is “no one sees the feet.” It started when I was breastfeeding, which is anything but maternal bliss for ADHDers. And yes, there’s the “facial excavation” issue – and the hair-twirling started when I was 12…gaaaah.

At home, I crochet. At work, I doodle. But I still haven’t found a good solution. If we are Greeks, Muslims, or Catholics, we can have rosaries and prayer/worry beads to fidget with. But even that doesn’t quite do it.

Sometimes I think this sort of thing satisfies some need to quite literally “get in touch with” oneself. Interestingly, it is also very common among abused/battered women, who definitely “lose touch with” themselves. Another analogue is the “stim” sought by Asperger’s folks. My pdoc has written it off as “overactive grooming reflex” or “mild OCD.” The OCD explanation might fit for some, but it doesn’t for me. Seems like more of a “zone-out” mechanism along the lines of playing repetitive computer games…

Anyway, great thread and I look forward to more input from others because it wastes a lot of time and…eewww!

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[Anonymous]

A quick follow up from the Dr. appoinment last night. Our Doc described the nail biting as a nervous release. He mentioned knitiing as an non-destructive replacement ( Mom smiled but my 18 yr old son completely shot that one down). Basically the trick is to trade the nail biting for another action. Suggestions included a stress ball for squeezing, or some such item to keep the hands busy and away from the mouth. The ring I wear as my wedding band is a stress ring (not from being married, but has a ring around the ring which moves). I often fiddle with that even though I’m not a nail biter. Any negitive renforcement options have never worked for us. Ideas anybody?

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[Anonymous]

@ so_calvin

I found that both with the finger twitchiness and the need to do something with the mouth (oral fixation) that playing a musical instrument really helped (basically anything that you have to blow air into- unless you want to take up the drums or guitar while chewing gum). I’ve played clarinet in the school band for six years and rose to first clarinet very fast and got the Most Improved Player award. I’ve recently taken up the saxophone as well.

I find with instruments it helps control the breathing, keeps the mouth (tonguing to have different effects on the sound as well as where the lips are on the mouthpiece) and fingers busy. it gives an excellent creative outlet, and music can convey such emotion (my fave saying “when words fail, music speaks”). It’s also a very social activity as well with different bands and sounds that can be explored.

I recommend also these instruments over something like a piano (mainly cause after ten years i still suck) because it’s hard to focus on two lines of music at the same time and have both hands do different things at different times. With a wind instrument- you have just one line of music at a time- which is great for the hyper focus!

Most of all, you get a tremendous sense of accomplishment when you finally get a sound out, or able to lengthen how often you have to breathe, or getting to play your fave music,to finally mastering a passage of music that you get your fingers all in a knot (or have the sound that you swear has attracted a flock of geese to the backyard) to getting a star part in a music piece. I have never felt as strong a connection to any other hobby (and became a way of life) than with music.

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[MK]

I pick at my fingers: any dry skin, hang nail, anything. I’ve done it ever since I’ve been on stimulants, which has been most of 18+/- years. And, I know of many school children’s parents who report their children do the same thing. The drug I’ve heard it most connected with is Concerta, but by no means exclusively that. I also sometimes do this funny thing with my mouth when I’m concentrating. Looks really weird…

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[Anonymous]

This is me.

I’ve wondered in the past few weeks that I’ve been researching ADD if this was a symptom of the hyperfocus I get. Guess this is my answer! It’s nice to know I’m not alone.

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[Anonymous]

When I was about 8 or 9 I was so embarrassed about biting my nails that I decided to stop. It was not often that I was very aware of that kind of thing.

I just began making it something I could not stand. The feeling of biting down on a nail or the sound still very much bothers me. I was so excited that I could so easily and quickly defeat that bad habit.

Then the nose picking started. I guess I just exchanged one for the other. I tried to switch it back – nail biting is hugely preferable to nose picking. But it was too late. I am 30 years old and still have not figured out how to quit. I have tried to replace it with stress ball or anything g else. My problem is that I don’t realize I am doing it.

I also pick at my skin. I have done well with that, though. My skin is not as scarred as it should be. I actually feel sad when a “good one” heals up finally.

If I really put all of my focus on not picking my nose I can stop for a time. The rest of my life suffers and I get more easily stressed. And I can’t keep it stopped for too long. It is like tics. If I hold it back it seems to save up and get worse.

It is good to not be alone.

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[Anonymous]

i used to bite my nails but havent since i was a teen, i wore nail polish constantly for months because i wouldnt bite the nail polish, eventually the habit was gone.

i do rub my nails over my lips, i like to feel the smoothness of them, does anyone else do this? ive done it since i was a very little girl, i am now 30.

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[Carry]

I’ve stopped biting my nails years ago when I started biting my cuticles and hangnails as well. I always have small wounds on a couple of my fingers, and develop Paronychia every couple of months. It’s quite painful, but that doesn’t seem to stop me. Whenever there’s a loose end, I’ll pull it, tear it and bite it. My middle finger that had a nasty Paronychia, has nearly recovered and already I tear off everything that’s not supposed to be there. (Ofcourse everything about that little nasty wound is meant to be there, until it falls off. I’m always willing to give nature a little hand, usually before nature’s done repairing my skin)

Playing guitar and drums helps, but there’s always times that I’m not drumming or playing guitar….

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[Anonymous]

serious skin picker over here… i can totally hyperfocus on my pores and not realize the ridiculous amount of time passing. i create blemishes out of nothing with this behavior. it was the worst in high school, but i find i regress into this behavior when i’m anxious.

i also constantly play with my hair and i don’t realize that i’m doing it… i call it monkeying. i love when i find a rogue hair that has tied it self in a knot or a split end. i do it when i’m driving, reading, etc. etc… i guess it is soothing in a way? i’m glad that i only monkey with one hand. my mom has graduated to monkeying her hair with two hands at a time!

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[BMWrider42]

NOT HAVING MUCH HAIR TO PULL, I’VE ALWAYS BEEN A PICKER, POPPER, ALL OF THE ABOVE WITH REGARD TO SKIN ISSUES, HANGNAILS, ETC. SIGNING UP HERE HAS OPENED UP A WHOLE NEW REALM OF BEHAVIOR ISSUES THAT BECAUSE OF STIGMA I HAD OVERLOOKED; ACTUALLY LOOKING DOWN UPON MY GRANDKIDS, SOME OF WHOM EXHIBIT THE SAME SYMPTOMS AS MYSELF. NOW THAT I’M IN MY “GOLDEN YEARS” (REMEMBER DR. ZEUSS?) I FIND MYSELF GRINDING MY FRONT TEETH DOWN SO PLAN TO PURSUE THIS ADD THING FURTHER AS DENTISTS ARE LIKE HIWAY ROBBERS WITHOUT A GUN, TRANQUILIZERS DON’T WORK,…& I’VE HAD IT!

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