Morning all,
I wanted some advice for hands that constantly search for spots on my face and neck and dry bits on lips. I end up picking my lips til they bleed and sometimes, get infected. I know it is some sort of nervous energy and despite making a conscious effort to stop, I resume immediately without even realising. It's constant when driving, watching tele, doing homework, listening to people talk, shopping, in the bath ... at work etc etc. It's unattractive and makes me look quite awful sometimes, especially as I make my face look a mess when it needn't.
Can't afford EFT treatment on a regular basis and I realise it is a behaviour pattern that needs to be broken (have been like this since a child). My hands seem to need to be constantly picking - any ideas?!!
I know this feeling far too well I'm afraid!
Working for me at the moment is a technique called Autogenic Training. I got a book on it by Dr Kai Kermani, and I'm sure you could order it from a library (you might be able to get a copy from Amazon). I think it's actualy called "Autogenic Training". It takes a bit of time to learn the technique, so it's not the quick fix EFT claims to be, but it's very useful.
Another technique I came across which helped with another annoying habit of mine, is to attach a rubber band to my wrist, and when I catch myself doing it, to twang the rubber band and say (important to speak rather than mentally verbalise) the word STOP.
Thanks Chris.. shall look into it. As I am sitting here I have just stopped myself no less than 10 times since I posted!
By the way, just looked at your website, looks lovely!
Don't you think it is rather ironic that we are both therapists helping others with similar issues and yet we can't kick our own!! Self healing with Reiki doesn't seem to help either. I might dig out my additions cd and try that.. (oh but then I might inadvertently stop drinking in the process!! :eek:)
It's always helpful to find out what may be triggering a problem and it might also be physical as well as habit - the habit may have grown out of the problem being there in the first place.
If you have dry lips and skin prone to spots then you may be short of omega oils - certainly wouldn't do you any harm - you'll need a maximum dose to work therapeutically (ie make a difference). EyeQ for example (omegas 3 and 6) is available in supermarkets - liquid form is cheaper. The other thing you may be short of is B vitamins, especially for sore lips, so something that has between 25 and 75mgs of all the B vits (1, 2, 3, 5, 6 and others) should make a difference if there is an imbalance or lack of them.
I've always chewed my nails, and in spite of trying to keep them nice, just couldn't. Now my health has improved them my nails have grown stronger and I no longer need to bite them and they look super!
Thanks Caroline, I have already started taking some pure EPA oils but have run out of my vit b complex..
Good luck, Delighted.
My problem is picking at the skin around my nails...
xxx
Thanks Chris.. shall look into it. As I am sitting here I have just stopped myself no less than 10 times since I posted!
By the way, just looked at your website, looks lovely!
Don't you think it is rather ironic that we are both therapists helping others with similar issues and yet we can't kick our own!! Self healing with Reiki doesn't seem to help either. I might dig out my additions cd and try that.. (oh but then I might inadvertently stop drinking in the process!! :eek:)
I have to disagree that "we can't kick our own", and that Reiki doesn't seem to help either. Reiki deals with much more than just breaking a habit, and I'm sure in my case that there's a lot going on behind the scenes, as it were. I do send Reiki to my habits regularly: it's just that I'm a believer in using whatever tools are in my toolkit at the time to help and sort things out. I'm lucky in that AT is one of my tools, and I find that Reiki enhances it. I'm sorry I didn't take the time to look at your profile: I just assumed that you didn't have Reiki and posted accordingly. Thanks for the compliment about my website - thank Healthy Pages for that one!
I stopped biting my nails when the cause of the problem left my life. The rubber band episode happened well before I found Reiki. My present problem stems from a cold I had in January, which infected the skin round my eyes, and I can't stop rubbing them now.
I also use an affirmation, which is "my skin is cool and clear". This works when I am deep in AT, and also there are Reiki techniques for helping with affirmations.
Hmm... maybe I was a bit rash in saying we can't kick our own habits. And re Reiki, I know it works for the highest good and maybe the fact that I am even trying to stop is due to the healing that has been done elsewhere. My picking is probably a sort of coping mechanism. I am undergoing pretty intensive therapy currently.
My problem is constantly touching my teeth with my nails...crazy....
I bite my lips all the time. I think I'm doing so since a baby, just can't stop it. It's in my blood. Could be from stress or it's in my nature. But totally hate it!
Morning all,
I wanted some advice for hands that constantly search for spots on my face and neck and dry bits on lips. I end up picking my lips til they bleed and sometimes, get infected. I know it is some sort of nervous energy and despite making a conscious effort to stop, I resume immediately without even realising. It's constant when driving, watching tele, doing homework, listening to people talk, shopping, in the bath ... at work etc etc. It's unattractive and makes me look quite awful sometimes, especially as I make my face look a mess when it needn't.
Can't afford EFT treatment on a regular basis and I realise it is a behaviour pattern that needs to be broken (have been like this since a child). My hands seem to need to be constantly picking - any ideas?!!
hi delighted
Couple of ideas-
if you feel nervous energy expresses itself through hands....dance with your hands. Move them, make dancing gestures pretty much allowing whatever hands want to do. Let them dance. Don't control, just go along with however they will move. It may seem odd to start with and a bit contrived but you will see very quickly the hands will begin to their own thing....At times the hand-dance may become frenzied, repeating same motion or similar pattern. Just be there and enjoy.
Now don't do it as a release, healing or therapy. Just do it for the joy of it. Get in the groove. Do it 1/2 hour every night for 3 days. No more. See how it works.
second don't feel this is something you have to sort. It will not hold you so tightly if you drop judgement about it. That will take your focus off it, which will help it loosen any way
I really thought i was the only one with this problem!
makes me feel a bit better that i am not the only one.
i don't do it all the time but the day i start it can last for months!
especially the center of my upper lip, it has a bit open wound already and i can't stop picking it!
my boyfriend hates it and i hate it too, it is ugly and it turns my lip skin stiff.
i don't know how to stop
I share the same habit of picking the skin around my nails. I don't stop until the skin cuts and starts to bleed. I do this both to my hands and feet. I wasn't always like this and it started just almost a year ago. I'm now trying to break the habit completely. I think I found the cause for it - mainly stress and the recent problems I just had. I don't do it often anymore but still happens.
OMG.. i do the same thing..
they look so bad in the winter because i can't seem to stop picking at them
last year my bf wouldn't kiss me because they were scabbed up and nasty.. '
Then someone told me that:
if you do it when you are stressed then you need to find other ways to take care of your stress. counting backwards while taking deep breaths always helps me.
if you take care of your stress and your lips...eventually you may stop picking at your lips.
(Here's the one I trust - [url]Consumerhealthdigest.com-Lip Picking[/url])
hope i helped!!!
Have the same problem unfortunately.
Maybe you can share what happened since you posted? Did you manage to stop this habbit? If so, how did you do that?
Thanks.
I've got an annoying thumb. Not because I keep accidentally hitching lifts but because it's got a dry patch that is very satisfying to pick... until it stings and starts bleeding. I thought it was stress (dad died after suffering an illness) but I think it's actually down to eating too many crisps! I've cut back as it was getting silly and my thumb is still bad but noticeably better - at one point there were three cracks like tiny ravines into a lava pit (blood).
How is it now? Did you cut back? Did it help?
Did it help you?
3 words - exfoliate and moisturise! Then there would be nothing to pick.
My lips were recently dry, with a bit of flaking skin. I used a hard, dry toothbrush to exfoliate them then moisturised them. Problem solved.
Picking at skin is a nervous symptom so getting to grips with the cause of nervousness would be more directly beneficial.
Isn't a toothbrush a bit harsh for the lips?
Isn't a toothbrush a bit harsh for the lips?
Toothbrushes come with varying strengths and are not scourers. Admittedly it has to be a little hard in order to successfully exfoliate the dead skin. I have never found it a problem, i.e. does not lead to bleeding lips - obviously I would not recommend going at it overly vigorously.
I'm sure many people know this feeling all to well. Whether it's our lips, fingertips, heads, or any other part of this body, I believe almost everyone I've met picks at a part of their body in some way.
There is only one solutions I believe; resistance! Fight the urge and eventually you'll overcome it. Be strong! Also, get some chapstick, it could help improve the condition of your lips.
I'm sure many people know this feeling all to well. Whether it's our lips, fingertips, heads, or any other part of this body, I believe almost everyone I've met picks at a part of their body in some way.
There is only one solutions I believe; resistance! Fight the urge and eventually you'll overcome it. Be strong! Also, get some chapstick, it could help improve the condition of your lips.
I am sure resistance has been tried to no avail hence this thread. Perhaps distraction could be used as a successful tactic...i.e. deliberately changing gear to focus on something else. Better yet, since it seems to be a nervous harbit, calming the mind e.g. via soothing music.
OMG.. i do the same thing..