Eating the scabs from picking linked to eating disorder?

it does feel really good to know that there r others like me, especially women! i didnt realize that it was a problem unil now to be honest. and i definitely dint think it could be a symptom of ocd. it's omehting ive done on and off unconsciously mostly my whole life. it used to be worse than it is. ie had psoriasis since i was little. i picked until it bled, and still do and then i eat it. i try ot hide it from ppl but i still pick in front of them, i just pick at the sdie they cnt see. i cant help it. i wa worse b4 bc i used to cut my hair around the area so i could get to it easier. i also used ot chew my finger and toenails. now i dont chew my toenails, but still sometimes my fingernails if i cant find clippers. im obsessed wih clippers and get really upset wheni cant find them. i clip my nails and the skin aound hem il it bleeds sometimes. im worried about not being able ot tk clippers on my honeymoon this r bc of airport regualtions. i also pick my nose and eat it and righ now theres a sore that wont go away and bleeds but its getting better. i also pick at my scabs sometiems, and eat them. even now im 5ryign ot control the urge to pick at somethng. i pick t my acne, so it never heals. i slammed my thumb in a door 15 yrs ago but it still hassnt grown bk bc i keep clipping it. i hv nothing but free time so its even harder.

Oh my Gosh!!! I can't believe that there are so many people that does this. I actually didnt realize this was "bizarre" or a type of OCD until today that i was watching the Tyra Banks show and they had a girl there that picks and eats her scabs!!! Story of my life....... i am 27 yrs old wife and a mommy and i do it all the time.... sometimes i dont even know, it is mainly in my head but i am constantly scratching everywhere like face, neck, head, arms, chest and i dont even realize it but once i have scabs i pick on them and eat them. What should i do know??? talk to a doctor??? I am super concern now, i mean i never thought nothing of it until today and now that i see all your comments i am really shocked and surprised. I mean it does bothers me nor makes me be ashamed but i wish i didnt pick and scratch much so my face and neck doesnt look weird...... can somebody help me and let me know how to go about it..... should i really be worried? =( thanks

Hey guys, Im a 16 year old girl with the same problem. I saw the lady on the Tyra show and I felt not alone. I started the pick and eat scab thing when I was 12. The scars on my face are present because of my habit also I my hair got thinner. I think I do this because it releases stress for a short time. Also do you guys picked your nose and eat it?Or bit your nails? If you do maybe thats why you are prone to try eating scabs.

i dont believe my doing it is from an eating disorder. I just feel the urge to eat the scabs. I pick mainly on my scalp. I run my fingertips thru my hair until I feel something that is not smooth. It drives me crazy so I dig down with my fingernails until I bleed and then it makes a scab. I establish new scabs over and over again and never let any of them heal. Im OBSESSED with doing this. I even do it in the middle of the night when I am supposed to be sleeping. Im addicted. Its gotten worse over the past couple of years. I wish I could stop but I cant. Its even left me bald in very small areas(not noticable) but I can tell.

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Hi. I am soo surprised at how many people pick. I always thought my cousin and I were alone with this. I dont understand why I do this but its habit. I brush my habds through my hair and feel for bumps or excess skin. It drives me crazy. on top of that, it seems like when I do this my hair gets greasy very quick. My hair is very thick. I also pick scabs on other parts of my body and am itchy a lot. Oh one that I havnt seen yet is. Does anyone but me pop or pick your zits and eat that too? I know that one is CRAZY but I cant help it. I just really want to know what is causing me to do this. Thanks.

I am fifteen and a female and I cant remember how long i've been doing this. but i've always picked my nose and ate it and never seemed to grow out of it and then i started searching for those bumps of skin or whatever and that would be on my scalp and i'd pick it off and eat it. My fingers are constantly in my hair searching for them. Then i have acne a little bit so when there's dry skin i can get to it and pick it off and i eat that too. Also ill try to find those little skin bumps on my back or my shoulders and eat that too. i also started recently biting my lips and eating the skin off them or whatever that layer is. I guess i just did it one day without even realizing it. I also bite my nails and ill even do my toenails on ocasion and ill swallo the nail. I am so bad that i have fakes nails on and ill bite the ingrowing nail underneath. I've never realized anyone else did this stuff. I've also never told anyone or talked about it. I just got interested one day when hearing about that tyra bank show about the women eating her scabs and it opened my eyes thats when i stared searching but if feels good to know i am not completely weird and other people do these things too. haha

OMG! I want to cry of joy for this website that I found tonight. I pick and eat: acne, scalp, boogers, nails, hair, eyelashes, basically any amount of cellular tissue that normally sluffs off. I always thought I was the only one who did this. My mom and I have been fighting for years because she can't understand why I pick my pretty face.... I pick everything though, my acne is just the only one she knows about. I think the most embarrassing thing is when you start bleeding in public, especially in class. I am 20 and have been picking for as long as I can remember. When i was a little kid i would get sores on my scalp, and my mom would have to put cream and huge headbands over them so i wouldn't get them infected. I recently stopped biting my nails, but still extract the under nail material with my teeth. I want to stop more than anything, because I have so much shame after I do it, but I definatley get the endorphins from it, and am constantly searching for things to pick. i am very anal about my face constantly feeling for the slightest bump. i constantly am touching my skin subconciously searching for a bump. My dad has had skin cancer and claims to have been a picker, but I don't really know the extent to his issue, but I am afraid I could develop issues from this habit. Besides exponentially worsening my acne, I also feel really embarresed a lot. i have ADHD and a history of minor depression/anxiety. I am currently on Vyvanse and Paroxitine, for that, but it doesn't seem to effect my picking complex. I just wanted to thank you all for sharing your story, because I honestly thought I was alone in this. I hope you all find a way to work through this, and I will keep you all in my prayers and heart. For the first time I don't feel so isolated.

I am 20. I have had excema since I was a little girl and that is when the scab picking began. I now have horrible scars on my legs which are a constant reminder to stop what I am doing but I can't seem to quit. I am compelled to search out and pick and eat these scabs. I also pick my nose and eat what I get. One of the girls below said she looks for the "chunkers" I also do this if I get a scab on my scalp. I don't understand why I do this and I really want to stop. I was diagnosed with depression about 2 years ago but haven't needed medication for one year now. I also have an anxiety problem sometimes and also feel very OCD at times. Is there anything we can do to stop ourselves? I hate my scars and hide in jeans in the summer and I just feel so awful. I am so glad I am not alone but that does not stop me from feeling so horrible about what I do to myself and that fact that I am not strong enough to stop..

OMG I am so glad to know that I am not the only one with this problem what can be done about it?

I am 27 yr old mommy to 3 beautiful baby boys; Michael (8) Gage (6) and Aiden (2). I have picked at my scabs and face since I was a little girl. I come from an extremely traumatic childhood and early adult life. My mother beat and tortured me until I was 16 yrs old, my aunt molested me when I was 3, I was always hit on my family members grown male friends, when I was 7 my uncle's drunk best friend asked if I wasnted to play around and touched me, my step-dad molested and raped me from 4ish to 14 (started as touching and progressively got worse throughout the years. I not only didn't remember most of it until a few months ago but I also ideolized the creep for "being a good father/teacher" His "Love" was the only love I had known until my children. My mother showed her love by dumping food over my head and making me sit in it for hours, not feeding me for days because she was too drunk or coked out, tying me with a rope to a chair all night long so she didn't have to pay a sitter to go out (yeah, thanks mom still scared of the dark!) My ex husband physically and mentally abused me for years until he hit me in front of my son, at that time, I lost it and kicked him out saying he was not going to mold my boys into men like himself. My face picking has recently hit an all time high and I have with therapy realized why but feel futile in the attempt to stop. I was recently attacked by my boyfriend of 18 months best friend, he was drunk and came up behind me slammed my head into the car and I blacked out, I awoke running to find my boyfriend crying and telling him to leave me alone...I realized a short while after that my arm was bleeding and I had several teeth wounds on my left shoulder...Yes, entire dental impressions and I have no recollection of such event! I am getting extremely frustrated with my memory. I don't know why I can't remember this crap. I started having nightmares and became an insomniac...I'd either clean the entire night the boys slept or sit in the sink picking my face neck chest legs back and nani. Mind you I have very good skin! I may have a small bump or 2 and when I am done (6-9 hrs later) I look like I have had chicken pox for weeks and left unattended. My entire face is a red pulsating scab! I spend most of my days lately in a bandana looking like a cancer patient with leprosy than actually being the young pretty Italian woman I am. I've even started sleeping in the bandana because I am so ashamed of my face. Then when it is healing, I pick the scabs (and eat them) (ugh!). My 8 yr old is constantly reassuring me that proactive will work, he saw it on tv! That I'm sure you know breaks my heart into a million pieces. I feel like a horrible mother though I am one of the best moms you'll find . I am a little over protective and I'm strict in so far as video games are only on Sat and only after a good week at home and school, tv is only nat geo...animal planet... ect... Candy is on special occassions as well as non-caffine, no sugar having sodas. Other than that Im the most attentive, funky, fun-loving, creative mom in the neighborhood ( ;P ) Through finding a therapist for my skin picking she realized I was severly ADHD and I have been on 20 mg xr riddalin in morning and afternoon.... Holy crap is life easier now! LOL! I didn't know I had an imbalance I just thought I was a retarted, procrastinating, flip flopping, hairbrained, sporadic, lunatic. She also said I had severe PTSD and put me on 40 mg of prozac in hopes to thwart depression, picking, and the ptsd syptoms. Yup.....still waiting on the prozac to work 2 months later! I also bite my nails/lips/cheeks/skin on fingers & twirl my hair incessantly, The few people that know I do this all say the same thing and are starting to give up on me, "just stop picking" or " just call me when you start doing it" now it's .. "well you do it to yourself" I am getting overwhelmed and frustrated with their lack of concern and/or understading that... I CAN"T STOP OR I F-IN WOULD! I don't realize when I do it and when I do it's ... "just 1 more" or "just 5 more minutes" next think I know the sun is coming up and I just want to hide my disgusting body under the covers from the world... But, I can't because I am all my boys have and I refuse to let them end up like me! I am extremely self concious...When I stop attacking myself and access me... I am honestly a very funny, intelligent pretty girl with a nice body for no kids much less 3 and yet...here I am hating myself... scarring myself...essentially torturing myself from the inside out. I just want to figure out why, stop the self mutilation and help others do the same thing. We need to put our heads together and figure out the madness behind our common suffering. Anyone with advice or want to join in the effort email me at mommyscleaningservices@yahoo.com