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cchesley10 , 30 Aug 2011

I just found this and it brought me to tears

I was sitting on the couch...picking my scalp ofcourse and looking for scabs that i could pull out and eat. I had enough. So i googled it and this was the first page that i clicked on. I immediately gasped when i read the first post and I knew that I wasnt the only one. I read that all of these people feel the same as me. Completely anxious and fighting the urge to put my fingers in my hair and pick and eat. I first read that all of of basically had something traumatic happen to them in their life or have some sort of a diagnosed mental illness. i seem to suffer from both. I am 22 years old and I was diagnosed with depression when I was 19. I Have been taking prozac since then upping my dosage every time i go to get evaluated. I am now at 80mg a day. My father was also a severe alcoholic. There were nights when I would have to beg him not to leave the house, only for him to turn and go to the bar anyways. Needless to say that lasted all throughout my life and it has deeply hurt me. I need to know if someone feels like me because I am shaken right now. When I am anxious at all I begin to itch. Everywhere and anywhere. In highschool i got terrible soars on my legs from me scratching to the point my legs would have to scale over. THANK JESUS that i got past that but now I am a full-blown scalp picker and eater. I also seriously lack pleasure during sex never reaching orgasm.
4 Answers
Emzy
August 31, 2011
I used to pick my scalp every day for about a year when I was 11years old. My Mum stopped me from biting my nails, and I was taking exams to get into grammar school, so got very stressed and so turned to picking my head instead...my Mum didn't realise for quite a long time, she just saw that I wasn't biting my nails. When she found out she stopped me doing that but then I returned to biting my nails. Then I begun to bite the skin around my nails, especially when I was learning to play guitar. And now in the last year I have been picking the bottom of my feet. I'm 18 and your Dad sounds exactly like mine. May I ask how you were diagnosed with depression? I hope we can get through this soon.
Ibefresh
November 06, 2011
Hi. I'm Tori, I'm 13 years old I'm glad to know I'm not the only one that does this I am ashamed of my bad habit. It started.. Surprisingly at 2 years old.... My family history Wasn't the best. I think that is partially the reason why I do this. I attend to literally TEAR the skin of my fingers with my teeth, and consume it. It's nasty I know but it's so hard to quit I have attempted to quit 5 times I have quit for 3 weeks but it started again after a bad fight with my parents. It's compulsive and I don't know when I do it. I can't do it in front of people cause I feel un comfortable. It affects my teenage social life kinda. When I turned 8 years I started to eat the middle part of my hand Right under the middle finger. When I turned 10 years I started to chew the bottom corner but I stopped before it becam a habit. It makes me sad thinking that I will be labeled the girl who eats her hands at school :,( I haven't exactly told anybody what I actually do but I know people notice... :( You have to enjoy your teenage life while you can so that's why I need help:,( people can never understand the mental pain I feel when people stare at my hands in disgust and horror. I pray to God every day hoping maybe one day I can have he strength to stop. Thank you all to who that's reads this.
Ellen
November 13, 2011
I also pick scabs off my head and eat them. For most of my 20s, I had trichotillomania (hair-pulling compulsion), which caused irritation/inflammation, which led to scabs, which I then picked. I still have about 5 or 6 scabs on my head right now, but that is MUCH less than I used to have and they are not as deep either. I am on 60 mg prozac, by the way.

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