Doing something very ugly, need suggestions on how to stop

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I am a biter/chewer too. I do not know what to do about it (I suspect I do not bite as hard as you although it can get a bit iffy if I am concentrating on something as I do not always realize how hard I am biting). Maybe try shaking your hand instead. If you let it go limp you can get a vibration going that is quite satisfying.

I know what you mean about the chewing gum. I like it but it does make you hungry, it does not have the same satisfying feel as biting knuckles, chewing on arms etc, and I keep accidently biting my tongue or the side of my mouth if I concentrate too much on something else while chewing it. Mind you, sometimes I do that even when I am not chewing anything.

sunflower seeds in the shell.
I pick one up, crack it with my teeth (very easy not harmful to dentition) extract the kernel and either eat it or not, flick away the shell and pick up another. This is how I soothe my oral fixation and my need to stim.

when I was a child, though, bloody fingers and bloody feet, I would peel the skin right off and to my parent's horror. . chew it up and swallow

Merle

Oh yes, I used to peel skin off my feet and eat it as a kid. No wonder my immune system is so strong - I probably got all sorts of bacteria into my body by peeling skin off the ends of my joints.

I'm actually eating sunflower seeds as I type this. They can be a distraction, but it's a nice stim to have while you're not doing any major work.

If you feel the need to nibble on something, you could always try drinking tea, which is pretty bland if you get the right flavour, or you can try Matzo bread. Flavourless crackers. Seriously, I've munched on cardboard with more flavour. It shouldn't make you want more food.

You can always go for sunflower seeds as well. You can cover your knuckles with band-aids while you un-learn the habit, you might look like a dork, but you won't be tearing up your knuckles. Remember, it takes NT's 21 days-ish to make or break a habit. From experience, it takes us longer.

I no longer eat skin from just anywhere, only from my hands, my lips and the inside of my mouth.

Speaking of munching on cardboard, do other "skin eaters" also find that they eat a fair bit of paper/cardboard? I find that unless I concentrate, just about everything ends up in my mouth and for some reason I like to eat paper a lot.

I pick at the dry and cracked cuticle skin on my fingers. I do it when I'm nervous and when I'm bored. It gets so bad sometimes that my fingers start to bleed. I have mostly grown out of it I think but I used to chew on just about everything. I loved chewing on pens, clothes, and paper often went in my mouth too. I think I grew out of this at about age 16 or so but I do still have the occasional urge to stuff paper in my mouth or chew on the collar of my shirt. I have noticed the past few days of quitting smoking that I pick at my fingers and chew on random things a lot more often.

Never had any interest in eating paper/cardboard but I used to chew my pens when I was in school. Had the horrible thing of chewing the pen too much that it broke the ink tube inside leading to my mouth being full of ink quite a few times.

I don't eat skin but I ate tissues for years as a child.

i used to cover my hands with polyurethane based wood glue (like aquadhere) and let it dry. then it felt like skin which i peeled off slowly.

i have a similar problem too, i have to have my laptop on my lap most of the time typing away, even when i am watching tv and eating. when i read (which i do a lot), i like having one of my cats sitting right next to me for me to stroke.

oooh. .. that reminds me of the 'gateway drug' that started me into thinking there was better living through chemistry - rubber cement-.

I would slather on the rubber cement from my brother's model airplane craft bench and wait until it dried and then peel it off like skin . . and yes, eat it. I got to smelling it as it dried and noticed a light headed feeling. (I always liked the smell of gasoline. . .) and started sniffing around other adhesives on the bench. All I can say is thank the powers that be for not liking the smell of airplane glue or I would have just killed all my brain cells right then and there.

But when I found the either propellant in the aerosol deodorant cans made my body feel like it was drowning (because you are breathing but getting no oxygen) and gave you amnesia for the time you kept doing it, I was a goner. It took me until I smoked marijuana to lose that habit.

wow, way off the subject, sorry!

Merle

Usually I stuck to the pen caps but sometimes I would switch to the end of a pen or would have one that didn't have a cap. I think I got lucky cause I only remember two or three times my pen exploding in my mouth.

I tap my feet and perhaps fiddle with a pen.

I chew on straws all day long; I used to chew on anything plastic, but have settled on straws. I have to steal the ones I like from fast food places; the ones in stores are too narrow. I wonder what people think about when they see me do it; taking a handful of straws and sticking them in my pocket.

Now aquarium tubing may be a good alternative; I'll have to get some the next time I go to Petsmart.

Thanks for your replies. It's interesting how everyone has their own different stim.
Replying to some comments from my memory of reading them. I do rock back and forth quite a bit on my own, usually when I zone out into my thoughts while doing schoolwork. So, I've tried putting pressure on my lap, and it really is helpful. I don't know about putting some sort of a spray on my hands... if it doesn't smell, it might work. But if it does smell, it would be very distracting. I am very sensitive to smells, especially synthetic ones. The aquarium tubing thing sounds like a good idea, too.

I wish I could do one of these weird stims in public, though, without appearing too much like a freak. The most effective stim for me in public is biting dry skin off my lips.

Less harmful/distracting things you can do:

- rock back and forth a little
- roll your head this way and that in a little s-curve motion - I do this one a lot
- flick your tongue this way and that
- chew gum or put straw in your mouth and chew on it