My Experience With Dermatillomania

hobojungle
Posts: 197
Joined: June 13th, 2016, 3:01 pm
Gender: Lady
Issues: Depression. Anxiety. Agoraphobia. Possible ASD.
preferred pronoun: Lady

Re: My Experience With Dermatillomania

Post by hobojungle »

Day one.

A benefit of not picking for two days is that the sores on my face got a chance to properly scab over & heal.

Been playing with the kitten this morning.

2 other things I might do today that could help:

1) draw ice cream & rainbows
2) cuticle oil massage

I had a dream of riding a bicycle on a nice wide street in a dedicated bike lane free of obstacles. This suggests to me a positive forward momentum.
I am acceptable; you are acceptable.
hobojungle
Posts: 197
Joined: June 13th, 2016, 3:01 pm
Gender: Lady
Issues: Depression. Anxiety. Agoraphobia. Possible ASD.
preferred pronoun: Lady

Re: My Experience With Dermatillomania

Post by hobojungle »

This suggests to me a positive forward momentum.
Not.
I am acceptable; you are acceptable.
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Welp
Posts: 17
Joined: June 1st, 2016, 3:55 pm
Gender: M
Issues: Anxiety, ???
preferred pronoun: He

Re: My Experience With Dermatillomania

Post by Welp »

Wow. I can't believe I made this post over a year ago.

I wanted to update. I still pick but I was able to tell my PCP that I suffer from dermatillomania. She gave me a prescription of Fluvoxamine which I have now been taking for about two weeks. And guys... I have finger nails. I wasn't sure it was doing anything at first, but then I realized today that I actually have honest to god fingernails. I can not remember a time I have had fingernails. I oscillate between feeling hopeful though unsure. But maybe this will work? Maybe. I will update later.
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oak
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Joined: January 18th, 2013, 8:44 am
Gender: Male

Re: My Experience With Dermatillomania

Post by oak »

Well done!

Fingernails are really good to have, and I'm glad yours are doing better.

Keep us posted, definitely.
Work is love made visible. -Kahlil Gibran
A person with a "why" can endure any "how". -Viktor Frankl
Which is better: to be born good or to overcome your evil nature through great effort? -Skyrim
MissPi314
Posts: 6
Joined: December 4th, 2016, 4:24 pm
Gender: Woman
Issues: Alcoholism, depression, CPTSD
preferred pronoun: She

Re: My Experience With Dermatillomania

Post by MissPi314 »

Krautpleaser: I also bite the inside of my mouth, my tongue, and my lips (along with scab picking and nail biting). I used to think I was the only one who did it until one day when I was young, I watched my dad do the exact same thing.

I could get lost for hours searching for imperfections on my face and body to pick at. I've stood in the mirror so long sometimes that the hot water runs cold before I've decided to stop picking. The weird thing is that I can't bear the thought of picking scabs off of someone else or popping a zit on someone else. I can't even watch someone else do it. I find it extremely disturbing. But I HAVE to do it.

My step mom seems to have a kind of dermatillomania as well, except she feels the need to pop zits on other people. She works as a respiratory therapist and will pop zits on her patients when they are unconscious. She will also pop zits on my dad as well as my brother and sister. Once I witnessed her freak out and threaten to take my sister's phone away if she didn't let her pop a zit on her face. All I could think was how damaging that must have been for my sister to receive the message from her own mother that she had no bodily autonomy. That my step mom's acting out was more important that my sister having dominion over her own skin.
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