New here :)

Posted February 4th, 2010 by shamefulbaby
Hi everybody, I've come across this site often but always felt so embarrassed to acknowledge my problems, even to people that I know would understand :) (sorry for that in advance!!) I'm in grad school right now, and just started living alone for the first time, which has been very bad for the picking :( Throughout undergrad, the fact that there were people in the same apartment really limited the amount of time I would spend in the bathroom. But now that I am alone, I spend 3-5 hours every day picking. My skin would always get infected, pitted and scared. As of right now, my skin isn't healing- even if they are wounds that I never picked at again! - it's been three weeks and they aren't healing, there is a lot of hard keratinous material plugged inside and I go crazy trying to get it out. Anyways, I'm really happy to have made an account and hope we can all support each other. I can't keep doing this, it's just so embarrassing and depressing. Any tips from anyone at all would be so great! <3 SB
‹ Amino Acid shown to help hair pulling & compulsions! psychiatrist? ›
On February 5th, 2010 jldoll01 said:
I went to my doctor a couple of years ago because I associated my picking with an acne problem. He put me on antibiotics and that seems to help the healing, but I still have the picking problem. Now that I have found out that I have a behavior problem I think I am going to go back to him and see what he suggests....That's what the guy who set up this webpage suggested anyway so I guess I will start there.....I'll let you know what the doc says......Also I was addicted to Meth and the difference is you never go to sleep and most likely you don't have a job so you just have that much more time to spend picking.......plus you're body is so tired that you really zone out on it......I'm mostly a face picker but I also pick my fingers and any sores/bumps on my body......It got so bad that I had to bandage my hands to stop from picking because they were raw skin and it hurt so bad.......I am 5 years clean from meth and other drugs but the skin picking is still with me......I could throw the drugs out but it's not like I can get away from myself....It's there everytime I go in the bathroom or bedroom and look in the mirror.....I can't keep my hands off myself.....sounds crazy and that's how I feel sometimes......
On February 4th, 2010 anniem said:
i'm in grad school, too-- i totally understand! stress always makes things worse for me, and when i've lived with roommates in the past the fear of them finding out my secret was enough to keep me from going too crazy. now there's nobody here and i'm stressed to the max, and it shows. i've never picked this badly before--arms, legs, face, back. ugh. i look awful, and i'm afraid people are going to start thinking i'm on drugs--i literally look like a "meth-face". i don't know what to do anymore.
On February 5th, 2010 shamefulbaby said:
omg i know what you mean. I'm in a clinical psyc grad program so i'm always scared ppl seriously think i'm like on meth or something. The only way i can cover up the picking on my face is with layers and layers of concealer and powder, it looks terrible and makes it impossible for my skin to heal! I've never picked this badly before either! I have all these marks on my chest and I can't wear any v-neck shirts or even short sleeved tops (my arms). I can never lift up my arms cuz I pluck and pick/dig in my armpits. I hate it. The past two days i've been leaving all the heavy make up on until like 3 am, or whenever I sleep cuz it sort of discourages picking- but the moment I wash my face i go crazy. :( I dont' know what to do anymore either. I dont want to go as far as finding a roommate just for this (and wouldn't want one because I want to pick!)
On February 20th, 2010 40daysfromnow said:
I find it helps me after I wash my face to look in the mirror at my clean face for about a minute. Sounds counterintuitive I know. I came up with this idea so it might not work for others.. but I'm trying to break the habit of directing my focus to my skin when I look in the mirror. So I wash my face, and then look back at myself in the eyes for a while. I don't look at my skin. Then I leave the mirror and turn off the light. You feel good after knowing that you just stood in front of the mirror for so long without touching your skin.
On February 6th, 2010 anniem said:
omg, even worse that you're in a clinical psych program- i'd be afraid everyone was analyzing me lol!! i try to put lotion on right after washing my face or taking a shower-- it smoothes out the little edges that i would pick at so it's just a little bit harder to find anything to pick, plus my hands are too slippery to do as much damage as i normally would. that's my only little trick so far! even if you did find a roommate, the problem isn't solved, you know? i just started an anti-picking hypnosis thing that i downloaded from a hypnosis site. we'll see if it helps. i've only done it once but i really did go into another world listening to it, so hopefully the message got deep into my brain!
On February 7th, 2010 jldoll01 said:
let me know if the hypnosis thing works....i've been considering it
On February 7th, 2010 jen said:
sam here, i'd like to see how it goes because I've been considering it as well
On February 10th, 2010 anniem said:
i think it is helping, actually. it's been less than a week but i noticed today that my arms are nearly scab-free and my legs are looking much better, too. there was an area on my legs that i thought about picking but i was able to resist! that's pretty rare! and even later in the day i was thinking about picking that area but was able to resist again. however, i did pick my cat's nose today! lol! never done that before but she had a big crusty hanging out! she didn't mind it, actually, and i just thought it was funny. :)
On February 17th, 2010 ocdFreak said:
what kind of hypnosis program did you use? I would like to try it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
On February 20th, 2010 anniem said:
i got one off of a hypnosis downloads site (just google skin picking hypnosis) and i am also going to a hypnotherapist in person once a week-- i feel like it's really helped me. i said in another post that it's important to go into it with an open mind. good luck and let us know if it helps you!
For information on the skin picking disorder (Dermatillomania), symptoms, causes and treatment methods, get the Complete Guide to Skin Picking Disorders.