My Skin Picking Journey/Looking for Tips & Tricks
Hey everyone,
This is my first official post here in this group and on Reddit. I’m so Sorry if this is long. I’m making this post to share my story, hear everyone else's, and figure out all the best tips and tricks everyone does for managing skin-picking. I usually make these posts in a Facebook group I’m in, but it's kinda dead. I have been dealing with Excoriation Disorder since middle school, so roughly a decade now. For context, I’m a 21-year-old female who is diagnosed with ADHD, Anxiety, and Acute PTSD. No part of my body is safe from me; I pick all over, including my nails and cuticles. Recently, I’ve been focusing on my mental health and finding ways to manage my picking; I recently started therapy and am seeing a psychiatrist who is researching skin-picking. She and I have been trying to figure out the best treatment plan for the past 2-3 months. She has me taking 100mg Sertraline for anxiety, 10mg Adderall for ADHD (just started taking), and 1200mg NAC. I would like to state that I have accepted the fact that I have this disorder. I try not to use the word “suffer” when I talk about it. Plus, I have been trying to wear more tank tops now that it’s getting warm outside. But that still doesn’t help the shame that comes with it. All my life, my family and friends have never understood this, and I don’t have anyone around me whom I can relate to. My husband has been trying his best to support me with this, but it’s just so hard even to explain when I barely understand it myself.
There are a few management tips I have been trying to use, like using color-change LED lights in the bathroom, but there are days when it is so hard to find the willpower to change the colors and prevent the “trance”. I’m thinking about ordering a red-light therapy lamp for my bathroom so I can just turn it on instead of opening a phone app to change the color. I try to wear long sleeves/hoodies on the days when my urges are really bad, but my brain will still find a way around that. I also try to have my husband sit in the bathroom with me while I do my night routine. I try to wear Band-Aids as “armor” for my nails and cuticles. When I could afford it, I would get my nails done, which thankfully killed two birds with one stone because I couldn’t pick at my nails or cuticles, and I feel as though the damage done to my skin wasn’t as bad compared to when I picked with my natural nails. Thank you for reading if you made it this far, and please let me know your journey and any tricks that have helped you!!