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ces0417 , 25 Oct 2015

Picking my fingers

I just found this website earlier this week thanks to my sister. I've been reading all of these posts and it has made me want to stop even more than I did before. I feel like posting about it will be a good first step to stopping for good. I've been picking the skin off of my fingers ever since i was little. I remember being about 5 years old and being confronted by my parents about picking my fingers. I remember feeling like I was getting in trouble so I always kept it a secret after that. Now that I'm almost 20 my parents know that I still do it and they try to tell me to stop if they see me doing it but when no one is there to stop me I can't keep myself from picking. I knew I really had a problem and not just a bad habit when the picking spread to my scalp. I got sunburnt on my scalp and then it peeled. One part made a scab when it peeled and I've kept it going and even made scabs on other parts of my head. I'm really afraid to admit how satisfying it really is when I get the scab to come off or the skin off my finger. When I get the urge to pick I feel like it won't be okay until all of the skin is off. I was sure that I was ADD or ADHD bc my dad is, and he just found out this year. I thought for sure that once I realized what my problem was and began taking medicine it would fix me. But I didn't test for ADD, and I just was so confused. Now I'm scared that something is really wrong with me.

1 Answer
shm521
October 29, 2015

I am the exact same way. I feel so much better once I pick something off. I can't focus on anything until it's gone. I don't know if it is as much of an ADD thing as it is OCD. I have generalized anxiety disorder and I believe that my skin picking is a type of OCD.

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