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Jamie , 10 Nov 2012

slowly losing hope

Hi Everyone, So i once again had to call into work. Last week I missed four days because of multiple sores on my nose caused from over picking. I literally stayed in my room for 48 hours afraid to even face my roomate. I keep telling myself to stay home and not to put make up on because it is just clogging the pores, but it seems I can't even go into the bathroom without picking at least one spot on my face and once it starts it doesn't stop. I will be in front of the mirror for hours. Yesterday was one of those days where i could feel the bumps so I went to work trying to force stuff out of them and today I am left with hideous picked patches of skin all over my cheeks and nose. I just don't know what to do anymore. : ( I have proved to myself that I can go days without picking yet still seem to end up ruining my face soon after. At this point I am considering quitting my job and moving out of my apartment into a one bedroom, but I am not sure that this will help. I have tried everything on the face of the earth to try to clear my skin because I feel if there are no longer any clogged pores than i wont have to worry about picking. There have been times when I would squeeze every part of my face to try to "clear" out any black or white heads and all it did was cause chaos. I just can't seem to stop. This is the worse it has ever been and I am having a really hard time dealing with it. I just want to be able to live a normal life and to stop letting this control me. I would love any feedback or to hear from people who might be struggling with acne and skin picking too.
2 Answers
want2quit
November 10, 2012
Hi, I'm losing hope as well - which is why I joined this forum and want to create a support group using this forum for people who want to quit picking. If you want to quit, check out my post "Let's quit !" I hope it makes you feel better to know that I know how it feels to want to isolate yourself from others and from the outside world after picking. I've been thinking about moving out of my place (I live with 3 friends) and getting a place of my own. I'm also in front of the mirror for hours, wasting time hurting myself. I've had enough. It's been making me depressed. That said, even when we really don't want to go out, I think we should. Going to work, or to class (I'm in college), forces us to face our lives and the consequences of picking, which will hopefully make us do it less. I think we shouldn't live by ourselves either, because we're giving ourselves more opportunity to pick by isolating ourselves from the world. Try not to get close to the mirror and not touching your skin (I know it's subconscious, just try hard, I'm trying too). I feel like no one i know has to deal with this, I feel like I'm the only person on earth, so this forum really helps me feel less alone in this struggle. I hope knowing I'm going through what you're going through helps. :)
Jamie
November 10, 2012

In reply to by want2quit

Hi, Thanks so much for posting. It truly does help knowing there are people out there going through the same thing. I know what you mean when you say you feel like people you know don't have to deal with this. All of my friends are very attractive girls with little to no skin issues and don't have any problem leaving the house with no make up and I can't even seem to leave my room without having a full face of caked on make up. This makes me feel so left out and I am uncomfortable talking to them about this. I think you are right, isolating myself will only make things worse because it will enable my picking with no interruptions and that's just not what I need. I will be following your forum and posting with updates! Thanks for the support! If we lean on the people who understand what we are going through I think it's possible to quit this once and for all!

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