Conflicting Actions?

[BreaRose]

So, as maybe 1 or 2 of you might know, hahaha, I'm an emet. BUT. I have other OCD habits that would seem to contradict my emetophobia?

Examples: I bite my fingernails. I wash my hands A LOT and use hand sanitizer A LOT during the day, but I still have my fingers in my mouth quite a bit. I've tried stopping, but I feel like it's a huge anxiety relief and if I don't bite my nails then I feel like I'm going to have a mental break down (sometimes).

Question: Does anyone else bite their nails? Or HAS anyone bitten their nails in the past and quit? If you quit, how did you quit?

Also, I'm an obsessive skin picker. I pick at blemishes/scabs/bumps/flaky skin/any kind of skin inconsistency. I feel that picking and removing any kind of "gunk" from my skin to be a relief and I feel SO discusting if I have a blemish (even if it's not visible to anyone else). I have scars all over my body (mostly my chest, arms and legs) from picking at my skin with the incorrect notion that picking will make my skin better. I consistently pick until I make the spot in which I'm picking bleed. I know that by having a few open wounds on my body makes me more prone to catching something, but I just can't stop.

I know that both of these things can make me sick by doing them but I do them anyway. Does anyone know how I would begin relieving my stress/anxiety in a different, less self destructive, way? I've tried stress balls, tea, herbal supplements. None of them work. I've tried putting that nasty tasting stuff on my finger nails and it didn't work either.

Does this make me LESS of an emet because I do these things that could make me sick? Or do you think they are unrelated?

[Mecca]

Although the behaviors are contradictory, it doesn't make you fear vomiting any less. I'm a skin picker too, especially around my thumbs for some reason, so I get where you're coming from lol.

As far as stress and anxiety relief, maybe you could try some alternatives that aren't "conventional." Like maybe you could develop a different nervous tick that doesn't make you more susceptible to getting sick, since the traditional forms of stress relief aren't working. I.E. instead of biting your nails you could twirl your hair or something.

Hope this helps and try not to stress over it! If all else fails, you're still very hygienic from the sound of it.

[lizpuff]

I was always a huge nail biter. I would bite until I bled. I recently stopped. The only thing I can relate it to is getting married and being happy. When I get stressed I still take it out on my pinkies, but it is all a mind over matter thing. You have to want to quit. And have the mind for it. Nothing else worked for me except not trying if that makes sense. I do still pick at my skin but I am trying to stop that too because my skin is so bad..

[asianeko]

I'm a nail biter as well, though it's more of a habit I never knocked rather than a nervous one. I'd love to get rid of the habit, but it's still here!

[amarkham01]

I used to chew my nails like crazy, I have no idea how I stopped. I didn't even really realize I stopped until reading this just now. I used to try so hard to stop and I never could. My mom was always yelling at me saying I looked crazy in public always biting them.

I still pick my face really bad. It is really really really embarrassing. I have very bad skin and acne, and I'll just pick at a zit right out in public if I don't catch myself, then I'll get my face bleeding in front of people, and it's embarrassing, but I don't even realize I'm doing it sometimes. It's so disgusting. SO. You are not alone! But I'm not a big hand washer either, never have been. I was always under the impression that exposing yourself to germs makes your immune system tougher so you get sick less.

[BreaRose]

I think the thing that makes me so mad about the skin picking is that I really DON'T have bad acne or anything. I would say I get a "normal" amount of blemishes but because I pick them (and then pick the scab) they take SO long to heal that my face and skin looks HORRIBLE. And after I'm done picking, I feel so ugly and bad. The scars on my shoulders/chest/arms prevent me from wearing tank tops or strapless tops and I NEVER leave the house without a compact because I KNOW I'm going to pick during the day (Yes, even at work) and I need make up to help hide the newly picked spot. Pretty much everytime I'm infront of a mirror, I scan my face and my skin for blemishes and find myself running my fingers along my face during the day feeling for any flaky/rough/bumpy skin.

My problem really is that I worry and stress about everything. My boyfriend is KIND of irresponsible and has let me down a lot in the past and now I feel like I have to be ontop of EVERYTHING or it will all fall apart. So, I'm sure that's why I can't stop right now, no matter how much I want to. My boyfriend has even told me that I'm going to worry myself to death.

[sage]

Brea,
What you're describing is pretty typical for anxiety. All the behaviors are just expressions of not being able to manage your overall anxiety level. A phobia is just another one of them. For you, it's probably the most extreme. But just like the phobia, none of the other behaviors are rational. If you could reason your way out of it you would. The same goes for nail biting and picking at your skin - it's not rational to do it but anxiety goes against reason in the first place.

[NaiveAndTrue]

I'm a HUGE Emet and I don't bite my nails, but I'm always touching my face. I also twirl my hair CONSTANTLY and rub it across my my lips. So despite my far of V*ing, I'm not really a HUGE germaphobe, if that even makes sense. LOL.

I wash my hands after the potty, and a bit more often at work because it's a healthcare field, but that's it. But how your phobias manifest doesn't make them less of a phobia. Irrationality has a way of twisting things.