Picking scalp and nose for blood/scabs, new here

Posted November 1st, 2011 by panda911
I had never even heard of this website till today when I did a google search for what I do, and I feel like everyone here kinda knows what I am doing. Anyways, I do a couple things, and I think they are kinda like what I see most people talking about? I started doing this thing where I pick the inside of my nose with my pinkie nail super hard till it bleeds, and then once that happens I keep doing it till its flowing really strong, then I just let it flow for a bit then I go to bed, and in the morning I scrape off the blood and eat it. Also, I pick at my head every now and then, making it bleed then licking the blood, then when it scabs up, I repeat and eat the scab. It kinda started when I was 13 or 14, I don't remember why or what was going on around that time, but I started becoming anorexic around 15. Its not a regular thing...in fact I didn't do it for a couple months or so till today, and its been an awful day stress/emotion wise. This along with my anorexic tendencies (im 20 male, 6'9 170) and that the person I usually talk to about all this I cant talk to right now ( :( ) made me think about going to see a professional. I am in college and was thinking about going to the psychology/psychiatry division of the medical center tomorrow and seeing if there is anything they could do, or at least refer me somewhere. Is this a good idea? I don't want to walk in there and them think I am suicidal or something because of all this...I am kinda worried. I also don't know how they would react to me telling them everything, I have only told one person and it was awful. Little rambling, oh well. Is what I described pretty much what everyone else on here does? I have never heard of anyone else doing this
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On November 3rd, 2011 kgolden1234567890 said:
I have had a LOT of luck with the amino acid N-acetyl cysteine, which is sometimes sold as N-acetyl L-cysteine, for my 11-year-old daughter who severely picks her skin (arms and legs). I'm hoping that everyone on this group will check it out. We started out at 1200mg each day, 600mg in the morning and 600mg in the evening. Then we worked up to 2400mg, 1200 mg in the morning and 1200 mg in the evening, within about 3 or 4 weeks. The study that was done in 2009 showed the best results were after 9 weeks of continuous treatment with this amino acid, also just known as NAC. We saw great results after 6 weeks. Please consider trying it. I am not a doctor, so please weigh out the risks for yourself. It has truly been a godsend. My daughter used to pick to the point of staph infections. She has scars all over her body. It works by regulating the URGE to pick. You can download the summary text of the 2009 study on this website - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19581567. The study was for hair-pulling, but skin-picking and nail-biting result from similar sets of urges.
On November 1st, 2011 panda911 said:
Oh and I forgot to add, from doing the nose thing I have a noticeable hole in the barrier between the two nostrils and it whistles sometimes. Is this really bad, or kinda normal?
On November 2nd, 2011 Pochahontas said:
It sounds like you need to talk to an off-campus counselor or something of the sort. Try finding another outlet to get your stress out in. I pick my scalp, arms, and face, but not quite as bad as you. Don't be afraid to get help! It's great you pushed yourself to get on here and find ways to stop. It might take actually looking in the mirror at yourself to stop yourself, (Like it did for me for awhile.) If you don't know anything to keep yourself busy from picking, try a really hard video game to master, or some sort of art project to keep you busy, and KEEP TO IT.
On November 2nd, 2011 panda911 said:
I feel really bad, because I like to do it when I do it. I hadn't done it in a couple months id say until two days ago, and the last couple of days have just been ridiculous. I don't think looking in the mirror will work, if anything I get a rush seeing my nose bleeding like that. You say look for an off-campus counselor? Where could I find a good listing for something like this, because I went to my campus health center today and its basically just residents and a few good doctors, I think I need something more serious or long term
For information on the skin picking disorder (Dermatillomania), symptoms, causes and treatment methods, get the Complete Guide to Skin Picking Disorders.