#wolf biting

[15hopes]

marauders people we are sleeping on remus being a wolf biter (dermotophagia)!! great muggle au applications and also just to add to the existing wolf ness

like first of all body focused repetitive behavior representation (for which i am starved)

but also just the angst potential of a remus who compulsively chews his fingers. remus who feels the wolf pushing at his brain at all moon phases. who tries to resist but fails. remus with bandaged hands who winces every time he has to write or hold utensils because his fingertips are so bloodied. remus who cannot hide that animal part of him, who wears the evidence on his fingers. remus with nerve damage and thickened skin. remus who comes up with increasingly complex excuses for why he’s wearing gloves. remus who won’t swim because the bite marks will show if his hands get wet. remus who gets worse right before a moon. and when he transforms the wolf has bitten paws.

WOLF BITER REMUS!!!!!!!!!!!

[the-woke-mind-virus]

I bet there's a small community of people like me here, who struggle not to bite or pick at their hang nails.

I've been doing this since I was 12. If I get a hang nail, I can't resist the urge to bite or pick at it, which just makes it worse. Over the last couple of decades, the habit has become fully ingrained and integrated, to the point where I find it difficult to reconcile how normal it feels with the actual gross consequences.

I'm a musician, so I handle other people's instruments sometimes, and occasionally I get blood on them. I have embarrassing memories from throughout my life of bleeding on things and people. I've been asked awkward questions about the cuts and tears on my fingers, and I've lied about how I came by them.

Today is day one of a new attempt to heal myself. Not just the physical habit, but the compulsion and psychological shit that underpins it.

I put plasters on six of my fingers last night, and the first hurdle is to understand that when I've washed my hands a couple of times and the plasters feel wet and ragged and uncomfortable, I get to take them off and use new ones. I have two boxes of plasters beside me, I have a chemist down the street, and I have money to buy plasters. It's okay to replace them; it's not cheating if I take them off.

[tractorsupplythot]

when trent reznor said take the skin and peel it back, now doesnt it make you feel better? MY DERMATOPAGIA ASS FELT THAT

[rustboro]

and not a single fingertip has escaped unscathed on these hands on this night

[commodorecliche]

I wonder if getting a fidget device might help me stop wolf biting? I bite my nails and cuticles pretty badly and have for as long as I can remember... Half the time I don't even notice I'm doing it, and it always happen most when I have nothing to do with my hands... Wonder if getting a fidget toy might give my hands some stim, give them something to do when they're idle to keep me from biting? Has anyone used a fidget device and found yourself biting your nails/cuticles/fingers less??

[poweredbylithium]

Six out of ten fingers wrapped in medical tape because I am picking and chewing and biting and scratching.

The tape acts as a barrier but also gives different sensory input that distracts from the mindless excoriaction by drawing my attention to what my hands are actually doing.

[pukingupsparkles]

I physically have the urge to bite and eat my nails and the skin nonstop. I've been doing it since infancy. I finally got a handle on it by getting acrylic nails put on for 5 months now. It worked, my nails are the longest they ever been but I constantly have the urge to bite them all the time. I do things to keep my hands busy and chew on the nails but that's all I think about. That's all on my mind how much I want to bite my real nails off. It is physically painful to watch them grow and not being able to do anything about it. The urge is really strong right now. Acrylic nails are really pretty but I'm so tempted to rip them off and bite my nails underneath. They were expensive but I don't care, I want to take them off so I can get to my real nails. I need to bite them off and eat them.

[commodorecliche]

I'd get a fidget cube anyways since they're pretty inexpensive. Even if it ends up not working on stopping the nail biting, it'd still be fun to have :) I've had a problem with biting my nails on and off since I was little, although usually I don't really do it because my hands are unoccupied. If the skin around my nails is flaking I'll pick at it since it bothers me or I'll bite my nails if its uneven. I've found that keeping a nail file and cuticle nippers nearby helps.

Somehow, I lose every nail file I ever buy... Eventually I just stopped getting them. I don’t know what happens to them, they’re just...gone. disappeared forever into the ether. I did try to use clippers, cause I thought maybe it was just the dry skin that was bothering me, but then I started picking at old calluses on my fingers (from rowing), etc... and noticed myself biting the inside of my cheeks more... so i don’t think it’s just a “don’t like it being uneven” thing for me... 

i’m really glad you’ve found a couple things that help you curb it though! and glad to hear you like your cube! i wound up getting one for me (and for my mom since she’s ADD and a huge nail biter too) - maybe it’ll help out! and i’m really hoping it might help her, since she bites her fingernails down to the quick (like I said in my reply to that other anon, she mostly just bites her nails, while I bite some of my nail and the skin around my nails and cuticles - she’s a nail biter, and i’m a wolf biter). 

i’ve got high hopes that’ll at least make it a little easier to manage! thank you for your message! y’all’s messages and advice are always SO helpful!