Does anyone else find that some months, if your UC symptoms have been a bit elevated, that in the day before your period is due you get really intense pelvic pain and pressure? The pain is in the same area (lower left quadrant) as where my most chronic inflammation is.
I know not everyone can access the right level of therapy for skin picking disorder, so I thought I would share the basics here in case it's useful for any of you.
According to recent research (which I learned about via TrichStop and SkinPick) the gold standard of therapy for skin picking is habit reversal therapy (followed by acceptance and commitment therapy, and possibly NAC supplements for adults).
The general first step of habit reversal therapy seems to be to improve your awareness of your triggers and the emotions and movements associated with picking. To do this, I've been recording the following: time and date, situation/location, thoughts and emotions before picking, thoughts, actions and emotions during picking, and thoughts and emotions after picking. It's important to try to write these records down as soon as possible after the picking episode so that you get a more accurate picture of what's happening. I did this for about a week, and found the following patterns (which might be the same for some of you)! Emotional triggers: being annoyed/frustrated, being ashamed/feeling guilty, or feeling tired/zoned out. Situational triggers: in front of mirror, in the shower, in bed, on couch watching TV/scrolling on phone, or waiting for something or procrastinating. Sensory triggers: feeling greasy, having an itch/tingling sensation, feeling a scab on skin, seeing marks/scabs that look different from surrounding skin.
The next part of habit reversal therapy seems to be 'stimulus control' and 'competing responses'. Stimulus control is about removing or reducing triggers. Competing responses are thing you can do to replace picking.
So far, the stimulus control options I've come up with are: wearing long sleeves and trousers so you can't see marks or access them easily, limit time in the bathroom (e.g. wait for water to warm up before undressing and having a quick shower), getting dressed as quickly as possible, using moisturiser and sudocrem daily (to reduce the itching / tingling sensation of healing scabs), limiting mirror time (reducing the number of them in the house/covering them until needed/putting post it reminders on them not to pick), and spending less time scrolling on phone.
In terms of competing responses, these seem more difficult to think of. So far I think using a fidget toy is probably good. Sometimes it also helps to pause with my hand on the area I want to pick and count to 10 (at which point the urge normally lessens if I manage to get that far) or to clasp my hands together to avoid automatic searching for scabs.
Anyway - I hope this helps someone, and also let me know if you guys have any stimulus control/competing response ideas of your own x
Does anyone else find that they can't use bio detergent without being really really itchy? I'm not sure if my recent flare up is due to bio detergent or the hot weather