I have recently started chewing the skin around my fingers, and made myself bleed and it hurts really really bad. Does anyone have any advice on how to stop this disgusting habit, because it’s really starting to get on my nerves and it looks awful. Has anyone else been through this? Has anyone been able to overcome it successfully? Thanks in advance for any advice.
Apparently not. You’re doing it twice in one Forum
Here is what it looks like
Oops. My phone must have submitted the thread twice when I had to refresh the page. Can a mod merge the two duplicate threads?
Fingernail bitter might help. I am also a cuticle-nibbler but I’ve generally learned to be delicate about it.
If you’re causing serious injury (infected tears, etc. ) and really can’t stop, you might want to get some behavioral therapy to help stop it.
In my younger days, I had a whole bunch of behaviors I now recognize as stress-induced OCD-type behaviors:
- Prick away the skin around my fingernails, until the pain became unbearable. (Then I’d switch to other fingers.)
- Pull at my hair for hours.
- Obsessively work (stretch/relax) certain muscles in the hands/legs for no reason at all.
I could not stop these behaviors myself, and ultimately consulted with my doctor, who diagnosed chronic low-grade depression. The regime of medications he put me on helped break the back of these behaviors.
IANADr, but I think there is some organic basis for such compulsive behaviors.
First try relaxation techniques and get your stress under control. If the behavior persists, you should consult a doctor. The longer such behaviors persist, the harded they are to break away from. Even seemingly harmless compulsive behaviors can cause a great deal of distress to you.
YMMV, IANADr, take it FWIW. Good luck.
Go find the most expensive manicure place you can just barely afford. Get a manicure. Tip well.
You will suddenly be profoundly more careful with your fingers, and think twice and thrice every time they come near your chompers.
I am of no use to you, as I am a full on nail biter/cuticle chomper and I have been my whole life. I am a few months shy of turning 40. I have an aunt nearing 60 who continues to bite her nails. I have bandaids on my fingers at least once a week. I recognize it as a disgusting habit yet I do absolutely nothing to stop it and I have only once investigated stopping it. I was in my teens and I tried the bitter topical solutions you apply to your nails. I chewed through them. My nail biting definitely increases during times of stress. In some ways and although disturbing, it is a comforting habit for me.
I heard the below story on NPR last fall and found it interesting. It didn’t answer any questions for me, but maybe you’ll find something useful in it.
I don’t think they would go anywhere near my nails because of these open sores 
I am pretty sure this is my issue too. I just had a baby in June and have a history of PPD. I am on Zoloft but it doesn’t seem to help the nerves any. Plus my employer fired 4 of my coworkers a month ago and I am not doing well this month and am nervous as hell I am next. I am the sole breadwinner until my husband graduates from pharmacy school in May and we can’t afford for me to lose my job.
Gloves, preferably the one with kevlar, for shucking oysters.
Hah. Best idea ever 
The stress your situation creates for you, plus the changes associated with childbirth, probably explain your OCD-like behavior. When I went to my shrink, he prescribed for me a whole raft of antidepressants - mirtazapine, fluoxetine, olanzapine, and desvenlafaxine, to be taken together every day. He was one heck of an extremist. 
If you are on just one, it’ll take a while. Antideps work slowly. If things work out well for you, and I hope they do, it’s also possible you’ll recover on your own once the stress has passed.
Don’t fool yourself, manicurists have seen everything. I used to do that just as badly. I got a gift cert. for a manicure, and she didn’t blink. They will soak your hands, trim the skin and more importantly, cut away all the cuticle. Now I know people will say NEVER CUT THE CUTICLE, but in my case and yours, I think, it’s a necessity. Find a good tech, and explain the situation. And go regularly. It doesn’t have to be an expensive place, I pay $12 each time, add and $8 tip, and once they’ve trimmed you up, and yes, painted those bad boys, you will stop. Or at least, I did. And yes, I would pick and chew and gnaw until I bled. For many many many years.
I’ve seen worse. There’s the outside chance that they may ask you to buy a set of tools and use them only on you, but I doubt it. A good nail salon disinfects and autoclaves everything anyway. There might be some parts of the process that sting a bit in your condition, but it builds character.
Of course, you should also look at underlying depression/anxiety and make sure that’s being properly treated, but just as far as the stopping this particular behavior, manicures are the quickest “treatment” I’ve ever found.
No, it doesn’t have to be expensive to be a good manicure, but expensive for your first is both self-lovingly indulgent and something you’re really not going to want to wreck by nibbling on it.
My cat used to have a penchant for chewing my delicious bike tires. I tried one of those bitter orange (or whatever anti-chew flavor) spray from the pet store, which did not deter her at all, but whenever I touched one of the tires (like, after a quick squeeze to see if I needed to pump in some more air), the taste would linger on my fingers all day, despite regular activity and washing. I don’t know if I’d want to spritz it on an open wound, but maybe spritzing something else and then handling it so the taste gets on the pads of your fingers?
love
yams!!