Hey guys— I’m new to this. I’m not exactly diagnosed with OCD , but i do have severe anxiety. I first started counting my steps obsessively when I was young, very young actually. Then I began picking at scabs on my head and obsessing over dandruff flakes. My heart is racing just thinking about these...I did that as my anxiety worsened as I grew into my teen years. I picked at scabs on my body and then began to hate the scarring so was somehow able to stop. The picking was so bad my mom always told me , “Hands on your knees!” but then we laughed as we realized there’s stuff for me to pick at on my knees and legs as well. I just recently began to pick at my head again. My solution to that? acrylic nails!!! but then I began using tweezers and finding other ways to pick at them. I can no longer afford nor bring myself to get a refill every two weeks and i hate the glue on ones you get at a drug store. About three years ago I began plucking. OBSESSIVELY. When i feel a slight hair on my leg, my immediate urge is to pluck. I cant fight the urge. I have nasty scars and several ingrown hairs and it sucks because i’m very insecure about them...but i can not bring myself to stop. There’s been times where i’ve had to flip my room inside out just to find my tweezers and if i couldn’t, id freak out. I’d knock on my dads door and ask for his tweezers. Oh that’s right , i borrowed yours and don’t know where they went. Go to my grandmothers room, ugh these don’t get the grip i want. Oh well, i’ll go to cvs or walmart and get a new pair. but. it. HAS. to. be. now. NOW. otherwise I freak out. I recently downloaded this app and i’ve been doing good when i’m in public, i set the timer, do my thing, keep up with my anxiety level, but i often find that when i’m plucking , picking, or popping, i realize in my head ugh let me do the app but i can’t bring myself to do it! I just can’t guys. I feel disgusted with myself, I honestly didn’t even start bringing this up to anyone unless it was close friends until the last week. It’s been hard. It’s obsessive, it’s taken up my life for the past 3 years. I have calluses on my fingers from the tweezers and i’ve done it for hours and hours at a time, arched over, my phone plugged in and the flash light shining. I cant stop guys. i need some serious help that doesn’t require cold turkey. just thinking and typing about all of this is killing me. my heart is racing , my feet are rubbing together , and ughhh!!!! any advice???Does anyone else have a similar issue?!!?

lonevaiss

Date posted: 6y

I've been going through similar issues for at least 5 years. As soon as I started getting pimples I began popping them and since then it had just gotten worse and worse. At first it was few bigger ones on my face and then I realised I also have them on my thighs. It became a habit that whenever I go on toilet I pop them. When I popped them all I started picking scabs that were left. Same goes for my face. Every little blemish needs to go. In last year or two I switched on my arms too. Now I pick my whole body: face, arms, legs, back, chest. I also started pulling hair on my legs using tweezers. It's a bit less severe because I keep them in toilet instead of my room so I can't be alone for hours with them because there is usually someone else in house who has to use the bathroom and what helped me a lot is that I shave every 2-3 days so there is nothing to plug. But I find picking my skin a lot harder to control because I can automatically reach a scab and pick it and make it even worse in minutes. What is even worse is that I don't even have that bad skin and if I didn't pick it maybe with a little bit of a cream for pimples on nose and forehead I would look great. But no. I have to do it. I've been giving myself daily promises that I'll stop for years and I never do. I think it's great that you've been able to bring it up to your friends and to laugh with your mom about it (I know laughing about it won't really stop it but humour can help). I've never brought it up to anyone and this is actually my first time I openly talked about it. I've only talked about it with my mom and dad. Actually not really talked but been told to stop and that it's very ugly. My mom told me that she'll bring me to psychologist but in a way that it sounds like punishment. She once told me when my picking problem wasn't that severe that she doesn't trust them and that you should be able to help yourself. I mean it doesn't affect our relationship and we are quite close. I would like to get treatment and that's why I got this application. So yeah I would recommend you to try getting profesional help, especially talking therapy although I guess medication can help too. Sorry if that wasn't that helpful but your post helped me open up a bit because I'm quite ashamed of all of this.

amyiahkarr

Date posted: 6y

@lonevaiss would you be comfortable to message me privately either via text / email or instagram? i’d be happy to talk more with you

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