Stop biting my nails!

ENAers, help me out. I am an adhd ENTP nail biter. ADHD + ENTP makes it unnatural for me to take direction, but I have figured out some ways to help me follow better.

1. I need to internalize the lesson. I can adopt a new behavior especially well if I find a way that new behavior is rooted with in myself.

2. I can't stop. Anything. But I CAN replace old with new. If I replace nail biting with something, maybe that will work.

3. It's never gone away, but for the first time, it's bad. I've no nails left. My dad is in critical condition, my minor child is out of the country and beyond my reach, I've no extra cash on hand. Maybe this is it but I don't think so.

4. Here is what I think it is, maybe? I am entering a new reality of happiness + sustained single-Dom + financial normalcy. It is a new sort of drama free life, which is wonderful and new. I wonder if my nail biting is creating a little jolt of stimulation that I lack in other respects? Like, if I had a regular sex life and some boy drama, I would stop biting my nails. It sounds as nutty as it feels true.

5. I've achieved some major goals. Not perfectly, but achieved nonetheless. I have an athletic lifestyle that I always hoped I would develop, I make more money and have the flexibility that I hoped I would find in my work, and I have the friends I hoped I would find. All of this was vision without knowledge of an exact plan.

6. Is the solution that I envision long nails? How do I stimulate myself? Oh hush, you snickerers!

Ideas, anyone?

I wouldn't snicker. I've been there! What worked for me:

• Hypnosis (2 sessions) which gave me a new "go to" behavior (an eye motion and mental affirmation)

• Kept coffee stirrers on hand, the thin plastic kind, and bit on those at first. (Replacement behavior, like you mention.)

• Obsessively manicured my nails (even though they were very short) at first. Filing my nails was also a substitute behavior. Plus I used nail oil and and something like a nail hardener, often. This may have been the key, because they were too hard to bite.

It's been years, and has stuck. No longer obsessively manicure, do not need to chew stirrers (but have them on hand still), don't need the "go to" mantra. It is such a relief.

There are some anti-biting nail polishes you can get which will make your nails taste bitter so you don't do that.

I get regular manicures every 2 weeks, so my nails look nice and I don't want to mess with them. Then again, I've never been a nail picker or biter.

Get some of that nail polish stuff that tastes horrible, that should do it.

The bitter stuff never worked for me, although it may work for some. The taste was a minor annoyance easily ignored. I needed a stronger deterrent (nails too smooth and tough to bite), a substitute (coffee stirrer with similar feel), a replacement (the nail filing), and a switch (the eye movement and calming affirmation). I was an extreme case, I think. It was a 50 year habit.

I was going to say hypnosis as well darling ...and my god I have had to sit on my hands not to quip a response to your last comment hahaha

If anyone finds a way to cure this please let me know. My husband virtually has bloody stumps on his hands because he chews them mercilessly. On some fingers he has no nails because he rips them right off. No one has ever been able to stop him since he's been three years old.

If anyone finds a way to cure this please let me know. My husband virtually has bloody stumps on his hands because he chews them mercilessly. On some fingers he has no nails because he rips them right off. No one has ever been able to stop him since he's been three years old.

That's emily's dad lady vic , and she has followed suit ..it makes me cringe

If anyone finds a way to cure this please let me know. My husband virtually has bloody stumps on his hands because he chews them mercilessly. On some fingers he has no nails because he rips them right off. No one has ever been able to stop him since he's been three years old.

Yeah, I was that bad. It doesn't help to have someone tell you to stop. And it didn't matter that it hurt. The things I mentioned above really did the trick for me.

That's emily's dad lady vic , and she has followed suit ..it makes me cringe

OMG it really drives me crazy. I have to hold a pillow so I can't see him while we watch TV.

Yeah, I was that bad. It doesn't help to have someone tell you to stop. And it didn't matter that it hurt. The things I mentioned above really did the trick for me.

I will have to buy a huge amount of stir sticks.

I will have to buy a huge amount of stir sticks.

And nail files maybe nail clippers . I kept my nail very short for awhile. That helped, too, since it was a process of changing the urge.

They are non existent now there is nothing to cut or file.

I used to chronically bite my nails from childhood until I was about 25 or so. It was bad though, I would bite until I bled. My aunt did the same for most of her adult life too. It was entirely due to anxiety and stress. When I was a kid, my parents would douse my hands with Bitter Apple spray (it's made for animals, actually lol). I would work until I washed my hands. Then one time my Grandpa got creative. He was a fisherman on the east coats, and when I was visiting one year, he took me out with him to feed the salmon cages, and dunked my hands in a barrel of fish guts. My hands stunk for days after that! But it wasn't a long term solution.

What helped me, was yoga and mindfulness meditation. Just helped me manage stress overall. Also, in my idle moments (when I would be most prone to biting) I would knit, to occupy my hands. I think that also helped break the habit. I never bite now.

My aunt stopped in her late forties. Her career had taken a turn and she became a high level manager at an international hotel chain, she managed the spa's. So she had to have regular manicures. I think that she mostly funneled the energy into other things, like obsessively cleaning etc. She has issues when she has idle hands.

They are non existent now there is nothing to cut or file.

 

That's ok. I'm talking about substituting behaviors. Starting with a substitute can help. Clipping them away or filing them away is not the same as biting them.

The bitter stuff never worked for me, although it may work for some. The taste was a minor annoyance easily ignored. I needed a stronger deterrent (nails too smooth and tough to bite), a substitute (coffee stirrer with similar feel), a replacement (the nail filing), and a switch (the eye movement and calming affirmation). I was an extreme case, I think. It was a 50 year habit.

I'm in this camp. About 45 years...

I was going to say hypnosis as well darling ...and my god I have had to sit on my hands not to quip a response to your last comment hahaha

You got it!

And I'll now not quip in reply to yours. 😏

If anyone finds a way to cure this please let me know. My husband virtually has bloody stumps on his hands because he chews them mercilessly. On some fingers he has no nails because he rips them right off. No one has ever been able to stop him since he's been three years old.

Ouch! Oh my goodness.

And nail files maybe nail clippers . I kept my nail very short for awhile. That helped, too, since it was a process of changing the urge.

Nail files help. I need to dispense more of them around.

I like the idea of hypnosis for some reason. I feel like it's a primal urge.

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Thanks for the link!

I found for me too, that I had triggers. Like if I started thinking about something stressfull, thinking about tasks that had to be done, deadlines, or worries about my appearance or just insecurities in general would set me off. I had to get myself to stop the thoughts that might trigger the biting. That's were meditation was most helpfull.

I found for me too, that I had triggers. Like if I starte

d thinking about something stressfull, thinking about tasks that had to be done, deadlines, or worries about my appearance or just insecurities in general would set me off. I had to get myself to stop the thoughts that might trigger the biting. That's were meditation was most helpfull.

I have looked for triggers, and the ones I consistently notice are idle-ness. Reading and writing, where my brain is working but my hands are sometimes idle, brings it on. I live and swim in stress; it likely is a trigger of which I am unaware. But the opposite of stress for me is not IDLE. It is freedom to run. Hypnosis may not be exactly right -- a yoga or pilates habit might help a lot.

Also, setting a goal might help. DJ said, pick one thing to be early for, every day, and that worked. It ios silly, but I might draw a little picture of a person who says I like nails. I am better as using other people to set my goals than myself, but I am learning to own myself. Maybe the person I draw on my mirror is me. Maybe then I grow them to please someone else - using my coaching voice as an alter ego.

It is dang complicated being me sometimes. I'm glad I accept that now instead of trying to change it. What works for many almost never works for me. Ironically, this thread gathered for me what works for others, and indeed these methods in sum include several that might work for me. Will draw on my mirror. Not ready to add a pilates class to my calendar, because I am still learning to manage a calendar, but that will be my next step.

Thank you ladies!

I used to be a chronic nail biter. To the point where people in class would turn around and look at me because I was doing it so often (and it was audible, apparently!). I was only able to stop after I did Invisalign and straighten my teeth a few years ago.

Former nail biter here, too. Know what I use? Silly Putty. I work it with my hands at work when I'm stressed. It comes in a little egg container that can easily fit in your purse. Although I actually have 3 containers, lol. It also keeps me from wanting to snack when I'm bored or stressed.