When I’m trying not to pick my feet and they start to heal…they also start to itch like a mother! This is what causes one who has my disease, Dermatillomania, to pick their feet. It soothes the crazy itchiness from healing skin. Kinda the same way that scabs start to itch and peeling it… although peeling hurts, it also soothes the itch.
My feet are just now starting to heal from a really bad peeling last week. They were bleeding and I could hardly walk without looking totally gimpy. In particular my right foot started to swell, was red, and hurt the worst it’s ever hurt. I was really fearful that I may have gangrene. Ok, so maybe I’m being a bit of a drama queen. They weren’t green but they were red and swollen so I thought they may be infected. Luckily, my foot healed and I don’t have gangrene. But my foot is itching for me to start picking it again. I’m not sure how long I can last this time but again, this is only getting worse.
Dick is totally unsympathetic thinking this is just a crazy habit. He doesn’t realize that I have the 3-letter disorder, OCD!
-Jane, Itching to Peel
15/07/2010 at 10:40 AM Permalink
Hello Jane,
make a photo of your feet after a heavy picking session. Then keep the photo as the worst case status. When ever you pick later, you can stop and be proud no to have reached that status again. So you ever have a success even if you picked again. That helped me stopping sooner.
That trick helped me against the extreme heavy picking.
Perhaps it is useful for you too.
if you like we can share our worst case photos
Greets, Marc
20/07/2010 at 8:43 PM Permalink
I do have a few pictures but am not ready to share with the public. Still too embarrassing. Maybe after I am healed.