My forty-day plan....WHO'S WITH ME?!

it's wonderful that you have the support of your teachers and have the insight you have of how unhealthy this compulsion is. read up on it as much as you can and learn as much as you can about it, what can be done about it other than what you're doing and learn how it has affected so many others. hopefully your mindset will strengthen toward quitting it as you pull together more and more tactics and ploys into your plan. strength and determination is what you need above all else. all the best to you!!

Alex...I am almost 25, and I have been where you are. I have been doing this since the 8th grade, and it has only gottin worse since I got older. I made the decision to quit on Saturday and I am so impressed with how my skin looks already. This may be the longest I have ever gone. You can do it too. FIRST....Go get vasoline or neosporin. Wash your face and put a very thick coat of the neosporin/vasonline on your scabs. DON'T PICK THEM OFF! They will get very soft and you are going to want to pick them off but DON'T!!! It isn't worth it because it will leave nasty scars. I believe you are in highschool, right? I think I saw that on another post. Well...you are still at the age where your skin has good elasticity. Well....mine used to too. Now that I've gottin older, it has gottin much harder for my skin to heal. I have nasty scars, but I promised myself if I can go just 1 month without picking, I will treat myself to microdermabrasion. Leave your blackheads alone. I promise you that no one can even see them! On the products forum I posted some really good tips on how to get rid of scabs and how to cover up pick sessions.

and you sound like you have just the resolve to do it! power to you! you "can" do it !! we are with you and support you !!

Erika...have you gone to the prom yet? How did you look!?!?

erika28 and alex56 .... welcome!! i'm so glad you both found this place and sound so hopeful to beating this condition! that's exactly what it will take, a really strong will, along with good support. i hope you will cheer each other on here being the same age and will know that others are cheering you on as well. please read the many many good topics here posted by so many people trying to help each other with this disorder and apply anything and everything you think will help you with the 40 day challenge. do a lot of research into it. really get serious about it. the bad news is, if you don't change your behaviours now, they'll more than likely be with you when you reach my age and you don't want that. i don't want that for you either!! no one does. but the good news is, with information on your side, with a determined effort and commitment to do it, and a good support system, you can do it !! i managed for 49 days that that was huge considering the many many years it's been my bad habit. but the earlier it is tackled, the easier it will be to beat. all the best to you !! <3 and me too because i'm starting over along with you :):)

Leeler489, you sound like me. I also pick at my arms and legs, although wherever something shows up I'll be tempted. My legs are where most of my picking has occurred (and it's been 13 years for me), so they're VERY noticeably scarred....it looks like I had a bad case of chickenpox and every one left a scar. On top of that, I also have a large incision scar on my abdomen from a surgery when I ws 13, generally sensitive skin that always has some new blemish, and a large tattoo on one arm that I wish was gone. Sooo, I end up covering up a lot. This is the time of year that is so difficult for me because of it. I often find myself reminiscing about the early days in high school, before whatever triggered this awful compulsion to start, when I could wear shorts, t-shirts, bathing suits in public, and I actually thought my legs looked nice! It's as if I had NO say whatsoever in that changing. Like I just woke up one day and it was gone forever...of course, we know that in reality it's taken me many years of picking to get to this point. I never had great self-esteem, but now it's really a struggle to make it through sometimes. I was so inspired when I first found this site, by the idea of the 40 day challenge. At least if I have to have scars, I would like to heal my newer open wounds so people don't think I have a contagious disease should I dare to brave a pool. Sadly, like so many of us, even that proves to be a tremendous challenge. I'm sorry I don't have any great advice for you. I was just comforted to read of someone in a very similar situation, although you're a few years younger than I. At my age, one of the absolute hardest parts is being too ashamed to take my kids swimming...it breaks my heart to think about it. This is the main reason why I am staying up late at night to write on this forum when I could actually be resting. I, like all of us, do not want to live like this, and I will keep *trying*. If I make it through even one day without picking, I will be back on here to celebrate with you all, the only people I am able to speak freely with about picking at this point...although I know none of you personally, I thank you all for it.

my heart goes out to you !! boy, do i hear you. i am so very very proud of you, though, not at all disappointed. i was never able to go one day, let alone 12 and then 9 and then 16 days without picking. those are major achievements to me. in those days your skin was being treated lovingly. so you had setbacks. that is less important than the fact you had those many days of not picking. those were successful days! how about rather than admonishing yourself about the setbacks, acknowledge that it is understandable considering the insidiousness of compulsive behaviour. understand that it is difficult. accept that it is human nature. and then rise to the challenge of another 9, 12, 16, maybe even more days without picking. perhaps the next string of successful days will be longer than you expect. even if it isn't, a string of successful days is just that. successful days! more and more days of being loving to your skin. with hope, the days spent picking will only be few and fewer in your years ahead. to expect perfection is only a setup for disappointment. i can't say enough, that the fact that you made it those periods without picking speaks of huge successes. don't focus on the setbacks. build upon them. print this message out and share it with anyone that admonishes you for having a setback. or kindly explain to them that what you need is support and understanding that you are able to make significant headway and, being human, experience setbacks. i applaud you with your successes. i was not able to do what you have been able to and neither has many others. i'm sure many visitors here would also applaud you rather than admonish you. i believe you'll be able to do it again. keep your chin up and your shoulder to the wind. it's a tough world and this is a significant challenge to take into it. show your strength again and count the successes, not the setbacks. i hope your support system gets stronger and more positive and loving for you. keep posting! <3 <3 <3

wonderful that you've made it 20 days !! unfortunately, i don't think the urges will ever go away. :( having gone 30 days myself, the urges are still there and can be bad some days and no doubt those are the stressful days. testing days. very testing. i wish you strength through them. your hands will love you for your resistance, though. guaranteed. your hands are very important and deserve to be pampered for all they endure. keep up the good work you're doing and keep getting them to better and better health. instead of looking forward to this being over with, think of the future as being one day at a time that must be gotten through. your hands will only get better and better. <3 <3 <3

it's not so much about the individual specifics of our compulsion. it is more about that we have a compulsion in general. the solution is not specific to area damaged, but the choice of treatment(s) and determination applied. this is what i basically say in my post "the bottom line is ........... and a solution is possible" and the 40 day challenge might appear too daunting, so why not try a particular path one day at a time?

ARE YOU SERIOUS?!?!?! you did it! you posted this on the 23rd - its been three days! you really made it - i would like to know the details of this accomplishment!! have the urges really subsided? if so, by how much? is the habit really broken after not doing it for 40 days? how much have you healed?

How was going out without makeup? I bet it was a bit scary at first? I can imagine for me it would be. Usually I also have my hands folded or palms faced down so no one can see my scars. I still do that since my hands are not completely healed, but they don't look as red as they usually do so that gives me hope. I don't really have school again until next Monday, so I can't wait to see how they will look by then. Right now, the urges are still trying to get at me. In fact, while I am typing, I am still consciously doing so so that i will not have the chance to look at my hands. I can't wait for the day when I won't have urges to do this anymore. You are right when you say that we must love ourselves. Whatever happened in the past is unchangeable and we are only going to suffer more if we don't learn to love ourselves and treat ourselves better (half of that line is from another one of your posts i think..). I, for one, do not want to endure any lingering suffering from the past that may have caused this, so I must do what I can to heal myself once and for all. That is absolutely GREAT that your urges are diminishing!!!