To be so fucking fed up about this *trigger warning- photo*

[woopsididitagain]

I’ve been a nail biter all my life. I’ve tried EVERYTHING. Gloves. Plasters on my fingers. Horrible tasting nail polish. Stress balls. Therapy. Nothing really makes a difference. I’ve bitten my nails since I grew my first tooth (no joke, every baby photo of me shows my fingers in my mouth biting my nails). I know it’s a filthy habit and more germs than a toilet seat etc but I physically cannot help it. I even do it in my sleep. If I go to sleep with gloves tied round my wrists I’ll wake up in the morning with them removed and my nails all bitten down. I hate my nails so so much and feel disgusting- I don’t know why I can’t stop it. I don’t bite the skin around my nails it’s just the nail itself

it’s definitely worse when I get stressed, even slightly or normal life stresses. I’ve tried therapy etc but made no difference.

ive realised tonight that I’ve probably damaged the pain receptors in my finger. Over the last week I’ve bitten one of my nails to the point there’s almost no nail left at all. It hurts but not as much as it would to someone else. I don’t want to bite my nail more but I genuinely think when I wake up in the morning I’ll have bitten it off in my sleep

not really sure why I’m posting but I’m in pain and feel so upset with myself :( I hate this habit so much. Has anyone ever been able to kick it for good? Or does anyone have advice for how I can stop my finger throbbing now as I’m scared it gets infected (my own fault I know but I didn’t even realise I was biting my nails until it was all off)

When my son had an infection around a toe nail (from picking), the GP recommended soaking in epsom salts. He also had antibiotics for the infection so do keep a close eye on your finger.
Hope you can find a solution to your nail biting ❤

I started putting on emollient ointment and using a glass file to smooth the edges. Once there weren't any rough bits of skin or nail to catch and irritate me, they started growing. I then added in using cuticle remover recently (but need to do it tonight as they're looking a bit scraggy now).

I'm 50. I started this in January.

That's how I stopped too. I also have a small clipper on my keyring so when I'm out I can deal with a broken nail immediately.

Ouch! I think This is ocd behaviour and is a trauma response. I know you’ve tried therapy but should definitely try again, maybe a different type. You can also heal yourself through self therapy.

Look up healing your inner child and The Body Keeps The Score by Bessel van der Kolk. It’s all about how our body holds trauma and we get physical symptoms. There’s an exercise where you can go back in time, find the child who started (nail biting) with worry, likely due to stress around her. and you take her away from the situation and take care of her, gently pull her hand out of her mouth and say it’s ok, you don’t need to bite. Talk to her etc. You can save her and in doing so, save yourself.

I know about this as I have Tourette’s and skin picking ocd developed as a trauma response in childhood. Has improved since I’ve been practicing this.

I was a nail biter exactly the same as you. When I started taking Citalopram for anxiety I stopped biting my nails overnight. It’s linked to anxiety, maybe antidepressants could help?

I used to be a nailbiter years ago and I knlw that throbbing pain really well. Im not to any help as I cant even remember what made me stop. i think I grow to be so selfconcious of people seeing my hand so I stopped. Prepping for husband to put that ring on the finger also helped me 😆 now i dont even think of biting them. Especially after covid.

Ouch. That looks so sore. And like pps have said, likely infected. You poor thing.

I'm not surprised you feel low.

I think this is beyond the usual 'tricks' to help prevent nail biting. You need some proper help. Start with the gp, given that this one may well be infected.

I'm sure this can be solved, but I think it will take more than just will power (and you'll need plenty of that). Best of luck.

only thing that’s stopped me has been sertraline (taken for anxiety and obviously knock on effect of no nail biting - didn’t even notice I was doing it less until a few months in).

This is the only thing that worked for me to defeat my nail biting habit. Good luck!

I've bitten my nails AND the skin around them for years. My nails aren't as short as yours, I do still have a fair amount of nail on my fingers. The skin is the worst, my thumbs go right down to the knuckle and I make them bleed regularly.
I can't stop either, I've tried so hard in the past and my nails have grown beautifully and the skin has healed but I just get to a point where the urge to bite them gets too much and I just have to do it and then I'm back to square one.

This might help. The physical nature of the therapy might help as an alternative, less invasive way of bringing down the level of anxiety that causes you to bite your nails. In addition, you are introducing a script to change how your brain responds to anxiety. You have trained your brain to use nail-biting as a way to self-soothe; you need to break that link between anxiety and the impulse to bite your nails.

I agree with @avemariiiaa - I bit my nails until I was about 40, often to the point of pain. It was a rare day when I was not in some form of pain from nail biting.

I then made an effort to grow them.

By that I mean I filed off any snagged edges and bought about half a dozen crystal nail files and nail clippers and cuticle butter (Burts Bees!) spread them round the house and car and handbag. I then spent a couple of weeks making myself moisturise 6+ times a day and if I ever felt any snag or slight rough edge or skin peel, I would use the files and clippers to smooth it back out again.

I also painted them with 3+ layers of clear varnish. I no longer moistirse so excessively but it helped in the early days to keep my cuticles softer and less likely to tear.

I've kept them nice enough for 3 years now. What I have learned is that my nails are quite thin. This means

• they feel very sharp when I touch them against my skin. I hated that feeling, it's quite uncomfortable, almost like a paper cut. Putting several layers of varnish on means the edges of my nails are thicker and blunter and they feel more comfortable whenever they touch my skin.
• The above is especially true as they grow out, slightly longer than my finger: the edges/corners of the nails are really sharp and varnish helps blunt this.
• They bend back easily, putting so a lot of the pressure of the very edge where the nail first meets the skin. Again, this is really unpleasant and again, layers of varnish help: it reinforces the nail so any bend back pressure is spread across the whole nail bed and much less of an issue.

I have to redo the varnish every 3 days, but clear varnish dries quite quickly and for me it is worth it - if I don't do this I find myself biting them again very quickly!

Looking back it was much more common to be a nail biter in the 70s,no one batted an eyelid. Too busy smoking probably 🙄😉

Oh that does look so sore! 🥹

i'm not sure how it relates to the title of your post though? and consequently I'm amazed you've got so many replies given that.

I hope something works for you! Keep us updated!!

Oh god OP that looks so sore. I'm not sure what to suggest, I was a terrible nailbiter for years (probably not quite as extreme as yours) and all that stopped me was getting acrylics but I see it's not possible in your situation. I hope some of the other suggestions on here help.

Just wanted to add some encouragement in that my male friend has managed to stop biting his nails after almost 40 years! It's now been 3 years no biting so it can be done.

I had my front teeth capped, not for nail biting, but the caps dont have sharp edges so you cant nail bite with them. I used to bite my nails a bit, not really short, but it stopped the nail biting, very effective!

I also stopped without trying after taking citalapram. Still occasionally bite them off, but then just grow them back. Only takes about 2 weeks. If you can just not bite for 2 days, the growing nail will then encourage you.

Don't make it hot, it will cause more pain that way: try a teaspoon of regular table salt in a litre of tepid water

That looks so sore. If the area feels hot, the red starts to spread down your finger or you start feeling unwell, you'll need antibiotics for an infection.

Very true!!!

Oh bless you, that's so sore. I thought I had some tips as an "under control" biter, but that's above and beyond anything I've ever done to myself (fingernails at least - my pinky toes look very much like that 🤦‍♀️)

I use bonjeala (the proper adult one with the lidocaine) under a light pressure plaster when mine are really sore.

I don't bite my nails but just want to add to the good advice here make sure you contact your GP as this looks infected. If an infection like this goes untreated it can lead to life threatening sepsis so please don't ignore it. Have you tried the bitter tasting stop nail biting varnishes, you can find them on Amazon.

Paint super glue on your nails ,it works trust me,

I have bitten all my life. It's clearly anxiety driven as I'm a compulsive hair puller too.
The pics of the recovered nails are lovely but I just wanted to send some solidarity. This is the current state of my nails. Pinky hurts so much but can't stop myself.
Like you, have tried everything. The only thing that worked for a short time was getting acrylic nails but as soon as they were off, I'd start nibbling. Then that nibble would become a bite...
I'm on a boat load of anxiety drugs and not had the slightest impact on my biting.
I'm going to ask the dentist about the mouth guards too.