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darkfairy79 , 25 Sep 2011

new diagnosis

hey everyone hope everyone is coping well my name is Jill i am 32 years old i have a long psychiatric history i was sexually molested from ages 11-15 by friends older brother and at 17 raped by a cop didnt tell anyone until 18 i was then diagnosed with major depression which later changed to bipolar II, PTSD, borderline personality disorder, anxiety, i did used to self injure cut/burn from ages of 14 to 30 years i have always bitten my lip the inside of my lipuntil it bled and got swollen never told any professionals always seen it just as a bad habit though would have to bear my parents calling me retarded etc, when i did it in front of them as of 3 months ago started one night when my hang nails were bothering me so i picked them off then havent stopped picking skin around nails on fingers and hands i do it all the time now not even aware of the time i spend doing it i hate when the skin around nails fingers and hands are not smooth when it is uneven and when the textures are different and not the same it does cause me distress and tension when i observe this on my skin so i pick to try and try to get it how i want it. i do not like going to bed at night until i am satisfied with all my picking so i do tend to stay up til the wee morning hours of 3-5 am i do get pissed at myself after major picking episodes. it started off using my fingers as the tool for picking then it lead to tweezers and nail clippers, to pick. which further lead me to start picking my toes and bottom of feet i have picked to the point where it bleeds have gotten 2 infections my mother noticed me picking when i went up to visit my family she thinks its just another form of self injury but when i used to self injure it was different it would be pre-planned it was intentional to intentionally cause pain when i pick i just do it sometimes i am not totally aware that i am actually picking i will lose time picking but its not intentional i am over the point in my life where i want to self injure. when i pick i do feel a certain amount or level of pleasure it really relieves me i notice the worse time for me to pick or to me the best is after i take a shower because my hands and fingers prune up showing all uneveness in my skin i did tell my psychiatrist in late august 2011 he was the one who brought up dermatillomania he did mention a medication but didnt put me on it said he would think about it he did say it was more of a behavioral issue to seek help from my therapist so i did therapist brought up use of bandaids i did try that but would keep tearing bandaids off to pick then tried bandages same thing and supposively my therapist is supposed to bring in some kind of stress ball so will try that next so as i am reading more info on dermatillomania i am seeing that lip biting is a form? is that correct? i really just seen it as one of my bad habits? and is dermatillomania or anything i am describing about picking skin around nails, fingers, hands, on my toes, and bottom of feet, is that the same as self-injury? any advice, suggestions i really do not want this to get to be a bigger problem than it is thank you Jill
1 Answer
kgolden1234567890
October 04, 2011
I have had a LOT of luck with the amino acid N-acetyl cysteine, which is sometimes sold as N-acetyl L-cysteine, for my 11-year-old daughter who severely picks her skin (arms and legs). I'm hoping that everyone on this group will check it out. We started out at 1200mg each day, 600mg in the morning and 600mg in the evening. Then we worked up to 2400mg, 1200 mg in the morning and 1200 mg in the evening, within about 3 or 4 weeks. The study that was done in 2009 showed the best results were after 9 weeks of continuous treatment with this amino acid, also just known as NAC. We saw great results after 6 weeks. Please consider trying it. I am not a doctor, so please weigh out the risks for yourself. It has truly been a godsend. My daughter used to pick to the point of staph infections. She has scars all over her body. It works by regulating the URGE to pick. You can download the summary text of the 2009 study on this website - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19581567. The study was for hair-pulling, but skin-picking and nail-biting result from similar sets of urges.

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