Hello Everyone, new to this forum.

Posted October 23rd, 2012 by hthomas1219
Hi everyone, my name is Heather and as the title says, I'm new to this forum. I'm 27 years old and I live in Tulsa, Ok. I have been picking since I was 13 but only recently got the courage to get a formal diagnosis. I pick my fingers, targeting my thumbs and pointer fingers. In high school it was much worse than it is now, my fingers would be raw and bleeding down to the first knuckle and sometimes past that. I can actually remember the day that I first noticed the picking. It was in 8th grade in math class and I was spacing out and looked down and there was pile of skin on my desk and my fingers were bleeding. I have been prescribed Zoloft (to help with picking and for generalized anxiety disorder) and I will begin cognitive behavior therapy in a few weeks. I wanted to join this forum for support and to also potentially help others. My therapist told me that stopping picking will be the hardest thing I've ever done and it would be great to have the support of people who understand because no one around me truly understands.
‹ You would not believe it First time poster ›
On October 24th, 2012 jenbun said:
Hi heather. I'm new here too, just joined, just got diagnosed, just got prescribed Zoloft. I live in southeast Missouri. I target my face arms and legs & have been picking since I was ten. Scabs first, then what I think are pimples when.I hit puberty. I'm here cause I can't get my boyfriend to understand what this is really like & my family that does understand are in Chicago, so I don't have a great support system here. He tries to understand, but he always compares it to when he had poison ivy. Do you notice a difference w/ the meds yet? My doctor said it might take a while, so since were both new to this I thought I'd ask.
On October 24th, 2012 hthomas1219 said:
I have only been on the Zoloft for a month and I haven't got up to the dosage that my psychiatrist wants me to be at yet. I am currently taking 100mg every night, she wants me to be at 150 or 200. I have not noticed a change with the picking, but I have with my anxiety. I understand what you mean, my husband doesn't really understand. He's very good about it and doesn't try to blame me and he always tells me to stop when I am doing it, but he only sees that I am hurting myself and he doesn't want me to hurt. I've tried to explain to him that although it does hurt, it really doesn't, it mentally is rewarding, thus the disorder. I'm actually putting together information for him to read about the disorder so he can understand a little better, which my therapist suggested that I do and he is open to it. Thanks for replying and good luck, hopefully we can help each other out. Heather
For information on the skin picking disorder (Dermatillomania), symptoms, causes and treatment methods, get the Complete Guide to Skin Picking Disorders.