Does anyone else pick the bits of skin off the side of their fingernails and pull and fiddle at them until they rip down in a satisfying and bloody mess?

[FrannyandZooey]

and could you kindly suggest to me that I STOP DOING IT as I fear I may lose a finger or two at this rate

I have no idea why I am indulging this bad habit so much this week. I have 3 on the go and it ruddy hurts tbh

it's not so bad as soon as you have done it, but the next day when you wake up and it is all swollen

apologies to the squeamish btw
thank god for 'hide this thread'

Unfortunately I do.

In times of crisis I paint 'stop biting you nails' liquid on my fingers.

Yep, I've been doing it for years and years.... used to get shouted at for it in primary school, on account of the blood on the tables/paper etc

sometimes you end up with a horrid little hitchy bit that has turned hard, it all swells up around it and you can either a) put up with it catching on everything and sending mortal pain up your arm every time you touch it, or b) rip it out at the roots and lose half your thumb and enough blood to make you dizzy]

no solutions, just solidarity

i do and have done forever i think. wish i could stop!

ooh yes it does go all hard when you have only pulled it half down doesn't it?

why am I doing this? I should be being serene and cow like

But obviously the liquid doesn't stop the picking, just the gnawing.

Urgh Franny NNNNNOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!! Stop it! It's horrible!!!!!!!!

DH does awful things to the skin on his fingers and it's NOT ATTRACTIVE.

STOP. NOW.

I have a friend who quit when her therapist pointed out that this habit was taking self-destructive behaviour a bit literally. She told me she never picked again. It didn't make a speck of difference to my psyche, though

I do . Keep a tube of lipbalm or Vaseline or something around AT ALL TIMES and when you're tempted to pick, rub the gloop into your cuticles instead and push them down. Almost as satisfying and no blood.

Be strong - you can beat this...

me

my hands look awful, especially my thumbs

and i cannot wear dark nail varnish that i love as it makes my hands look worse

not sure what to do !!

never got a swollen manky bit though

yes sorry pink
not v 10 / 10 is it
I'll be off the list at this rate

argh!
no no no I do not
jesus that is disgusting
have you ever read Atwood the Edible Woman? the young girl in that talks about peeling the skin off her feet in times of stress
an image that has haunted me for twenty years
AS WILL THIS ONE

Yep me too Done it for years. I am out meeting MNers on Saturday and i have been promising myself for weeks to stop picking and have nice hands. But i haven't so i look like a minger!!

i pick at my thumbs alot

Me, all the time

I don't do my thumbs, they don't seem to have the stringy picking bit like my fingers do

I just bite the loose skin round the tops of my thumbs, that is fun and v attractive

oh god no it would hurt far too much

STOP!

HC errrr
I used to do that too
feel free to hide this thread now

Do you actually dream about eating yourself?

Norwegian author Gert Nygaardshaug has written a book about a man who eats himself. The thumb is as good a place as any to start!

I don't pick it off, I bite it off

then I chew the bit of skin and swallow it

I do all the time, not self destruction, more absent minded destruction! I've inherited my mums terrible cuticles and i always have raggedy bits hanging off just begging to be chewed and ripped! Needless to say I never have manicures cos i get lectured about how horrible my hands look!

well er when I say USED to....

I haven't done it for a few weeks I am sure
I haven't made my feet bleed for ooh YEARS

(bet Greeny hobbles around with ravaged feet too)

although i do nibble at a bit of skin on the side of my thumb
but no ripping
that is not for me

I do fingers and thumbs

and sometimes strip the side bits off my fingers and thumbs with nail clippers

I also bite the insides of my mouth/cheekes until they are shredded and ulcerated (they always are, since I was about 6)

I used to scratch bit strips of skin off my forearms too, when I was younger

I am a fucking weirdo

that must be agony
I get incredibly anxious if I accidentally break a nail and it gets a bit short and exposes a little bit of the quick
honestly, it makes me hyperventilate

I don't think self harm is for me, tbh

Hmm i do bite too tho