My wife is a beautiful, stylish, successful professional woman to whom I've been happily married for 32 years. She is the last person on earth I would ever think would have an anxiety problem as described by others on this blog - but over the past ten years she increasingly bites her cuticles, frequently to the point of them bleeding. It happens most of her waking hours to one degree or another, but it is especially incessant whenever we're watching tv after dinner (now often resulting in her chewing on two or three fingers in her mouth at the same time in between pickings.) I've bought special gloves for her to wear, but she gets extremely angry if I ask her to wear them. When she does agree to talk a little about it, she says I couldn't possibly understand because she says it feels like Pepsi Cola fizzing/bubbling underneath her skin. She's said that her grandmother suffered from this condition and feels its therefore hereditary and it'd be best to leave this matter alone.
I keep asking myself if the problem's with me, if I'm the one obsessing on something. (Admittedly, I'm far from perfect myself.) But, to be honest, this behavior of her's is not attractive and its not pleasant to observe, particularly with it steadily ramping up.
Now that I've read about these spinner rings, I'll probably buy her one of those. She also suffers from restless legs and hot flashes so her late 50's are not exactly a pleasant time for her. If any other spouses out there have come up with a solution to a similar situation, and have any suggestions, I'd like to read about it. Maybe I just need to shut up and be glad its nothing more than an annoyance.
Moonkitty October 12, 2009
k8ejohns October 14, 2009