Not alone?

[clearwinged]

What a relief to have found this website...I had no idea that my picking was a serious issue, even though it consumes me at times. My husband can't understand why I pick at my face to the point of bleeding or pluck my eyebrows for an hour at a time.. I guess I'm a good candidate for this - recovering anorexic and alcoholic. I also just quit smoking which has me rationalizing my picking as a nervous habit...I am so happy to know there is hope for me and that I'm not alone.

[pickles]

Clearwinged,
Welcome! This website is so awesome. I know exactly how you feel, and so does everyone else here. Just keep coming here for support, and maybe you could show your husband this website and maybe he'll get a better understanding of why you pick. There's a lot of people on here that have some good websites where you can find a ton of information about picking. I would tell you some, but i really don't know any! If you just ask, I know other people will help you out. Anyways, welcome again! Take Care!

pickles

[sanctuary]

Clearwinged,

I am also a new member and my husband can't understand why I do what I do. He really sees that I hate it so he tries not to make me feel any worse than I already do. I pick my arms and my legs. I am wearing support stockings on my arms right now so that I cannot get to it. I am trying so hard but it has the control right now. I am going to therapy and taking medication, so its up to me now.I hope one day soon I can give out some helpful information. Take Care and God Bless!

*Sanctuary*

[clearwinged]

I was so happy to see replies this morning when I checked. I appreciate your welcomes. I didn't pick before bed last night (usually bedtime is worst) but I did dream about it? I washed my face and immediately slathered lotion on so I would be less tempted, and then went straight to bed - it seemed to help.
My husband is glad I found this website, as I think he was much more aware that it had become a problem.
At any rate - good Thursday to all with hopes of no picking!

[angelkiss]

good luck clearwinged and to everyone else who is zt-ing :-)

i'm glad you found this site, it's the best place to find support and help and tips and just nice assurance from people who understand :-)

[Amy]

I too am so thankfull to have found this web site. It has really opened up my communication to my Husband whom I recently told about my picking. I feel that I now have others to relate to, and I'm not just a freak in my own world. There is a great amount of support, just in my reading other posts like yours. I have been trying to quit (we'll call it taming down) for about a week, and it's been tough. Just when I was about to give up again, I went on a frantic search online for help, which led me to here. So I'm not giving up for now, and I will continue my fight to quit second by second.
I'm asuming zt stands for zero tollerance. Could someone fill me in on what this is?

[Heather]

Hey Amy,

Yup, you're right. ZT stands for Zero Tolerance. It's is a tool we use to recover from picking. It means making your goal not to pick EVEN ONE spot!

It's analogous to a recovering alcoholic not being able to have a single drink . Us pickers can't even have just one pick without getting sucked into a vicious cycle!

Haha...by the way, this reminds me of something. Once I was sitting at the dinner table with my family, feeling kind of bummed. My dad saw I looked distressed and raised his eyebrows at me and said, "ZT?" in an attempt, I guess, to discretely ask me how picking was going. I shot him a glare because I didn't want to talk about my picking at the dinner table. My little brother, watching all this, says, "Heather, what the hell?! Isn't ziti a type of pasta? God, you're so freaking weird, you even freak out over pasta. Get a life, Heather."
Hehe, I thought that was cute.

[jennyindigo]

i'm not even sure what to say here- i just figured out tonight after a teeny bit of internet searching that the stuff i was doing to myself is actually not just me...it's both really relieving and alittle bit scary..i had only just recently started thinking about the damage i was doing and trying to admit to myself that it was not just normal and its not just a phase and the 'just one more time' thing is NOT going to work unless i really admit it's a problem first...i was trying to figure out the psychological causes, like being made-fun-of excessively when i was younger and i figured making my body ugly was a way for me to avoid intimate relationships without ever having to tell the other person exactly WHY i wouldn't take off my shirt..its just so reassuring to find a discussion board like this where i realize that I AM NOT ALONE and i totally broke down an hour ago, and took my mom outside and told her about it and i was shaking so hard and crying and she was so comforting, it felt so much better..i didn't realize what a huge thing i was hiding and denying for the past sevenish years...but i'm so happy to have found this, you guys rock
love, jen

[angelkiss]

hehehe, heather, that's so funny. and so sweet of your dad...it sounds like he's trying to straddle the line between showing concern and being intrusive. it's good to have people who care.

good luck again :-) and jen, don't feel freaked out or scared because your behavior now has a name and is a disorder. i am familiar with that feeling, though, but it honestly doesn't make you any different than you were before.