Severe nail biting, OCD, Sertraline

[N0tthe0nlyfruit]

Anyone else? I've always bitten my nails but due to a situation in work, the biting has got a lot worse in last 2 years. In the last year it's got dire. I'm using stick on fake nails, pushing Savlon under them to try to heal the ripped nails, and keep telling myself I won't bite. I have NO control. Each nail is bitten below the quick, its painful and embarrassing. I've lost 4 front fillings just from the biting. I don't know how to stop. 3 weeks ago I started Sertraline for anxiety but no change to the biting yet. Help!

Wearing gloves all the time helped me but I needed some alternative. I tried changing the behaviour to something less harmful. I did hair plucking from my legs. I tried pinging a wrist band. I tried to focus on beneficial, repetitive activities that reduced my anxiety. Getting a treadmill was good.

I did serious damage to my nails. I found using hair and nail food supplements made the nails much stronger and helped them look much better eventually.

@PandemicAtTheDisco thank you. That's amazing you overcame it. I will try knitting, and your idea of the elastic band....

I've permanently damaged four of my nails and it's unlikely they will ever look normal again. I have thickened nails that need to be smoothed down as they grow unevenly and one curls excessively. I have to do quite a lot of work to encourage them to grow in the right direction and not into the nail bed or outwards. Two of them become detached from the nail bed too easily. It is self harm. At one time I started excessively picking at my face and over plucking my eyebrows. My nails started looking better but I'd displaced the harmful behaviour with another harmful behaviour.

I find that keeping them in as good a condition as possible helps. If I keep them short and file down any rough bits then I'm less likely to chew or pick. I used the protective foul tasting varnish to help me recognise when I'm starting to bite. I often start picking or biting and I'm not aware enough to stop myself.

I use a triple coat of nail strengthener with diamonds. I use a cuticle trimmer and file down any rough skin or anything pickable. I keep a record of how bad each nail gets to monitor how I'm doing.

I've had to work on resolving the causes of my anxiety. To at least work on identifying and recognising if and why I'm anxious. Some causes aren't easily changed. I put things off like dealing with bills. If I sort the bills out as soon as they come then I can stop worrying about them. I have a full planner/organiser so I don't forget what needs doing. I don't overload myself. I stop trying to avoid difficult situations but sort them.

At the moment I have a lot of work to do before a meeting. I keep putting off starting. My nails are bad at the moment to reflect this.

I went on Prozac and that made a huge difference to the nail biting. But I felt unconnected to my real life and didn't want to live that way for ever. Massages help and for a while I went twice a month.