Compulsions...how to stop?

[EmilyR6]

I don't perform rituals or have any common thoughts/anxieties associated with OCD. However, I regularly engage in picking and compulsive behaviors - seemingly always when I'm bored/unoccupied. There are two behaviors that I switch off between: Picking at my scalp and trying to bite the papillae off of my tongue. I know it's weird... I've looked around online, but I can't seem to find hardly anyone who shares this second behavior! I'm very confused as to why I do these things and can't remember when or why I started.
The second behavior is painful - and I recognize that it's painful - but it feels satisfying somehow. I usually engage in these behaviors when I'm not fully occupied (not quite "bored", but not quite fully engaged). For example, when I'm watching a movie/TV show, reading a book, doing homework, surfing the internet, etc. It gives me the feeling of having "something to do". I just can't sit still and concentrate on a single activity, so I unconsciously start doing these things. I'm even biting my tongue as I type this, for god's sake! Then...if a swollen taste bud/papillae forms from the initial biting (which it usually does), it irritates me so much that I have to remove it with further biting/picking/whatever it takes!
I've been doing these things for years...maybe over a decade (and I'm only 20). I can continue to do them, because they're not easily noticeable by others and have little consequence. But I really just want to stop. I can't say how many times I've tried - so many. But I just can't seem to. I might go for a week without doing anything, and then, when I'm spacing out, I'll pick up the behaviors unconsciously. It's so frustrating... =(

[Alixswann]

I pick on my tongue with my nails by pinchingoing. I do it at night. I usually wake up in the middle of the night doing it. At the time it feels so good I can't stop. The more of my tongue I rip of the better it feels. No one can tell me why I do it. I've literally taken off the end of my tongue. Then the pain of the recovery is horrible!! My tongue will be covered in puss. The only thing that helps is if I get up right after and pore hydrogen peroxide on my tongue for several minutes. Somehow that helps the pain of recovery and keeps the puss from forming on my tongue. I have terrible anxiety and I find myself doing it during times of stress.

[XxThatOneGurlxX]

I have been biting the tip and sides of my tongue for at least fifteen years. I'm almost 28 now. I only do it when I feel that one of my tastebuds is inflamed or raised up above the others. Maybe every other month. Once I pick off that first one, it's a blood bath in my mouth for hours. I hate it, but at the same time, I love the pain, the blood, and the satisfaction I get from it.

My heart goes out to those of you who do this more often than I do. I understand your want to stop, but I also know that "just one more and I stop" feeling.

The only advice I have to give is, use ice! After I catch myself biting, I grab a paper towel, make it damp, and wrap it around an ice cube. Press that bad boy against your tongue until it's numb and the urge to pick settles down. We all searched and found this page for a reason. We know it's not a good habit and it's time to try to stop. After ten years of smoking, I gave it up three years ago, and stopping the biting is way harder, but I have faith in you and me.

Just know that you're not alone,

Jessica

[SpoonFull]

I feel the same way to the T! And I am 30yrs old! Usually after the first bite on the inflamed bud I have to make it even and flat. I run the side Im biting along my lips to make sure its smooth like the other side. . . This round its been a month Ive been at it and I CANT STOP. maybe for a day or so to heal then bam Im trying to talk myself down from biting but I have failed this WHOLE MONTH. Then I go nuts putting chap stick on so my lips dont break. Omg i just admitted this out loud!

[sragland8]

I'm 18 years old and I have been biting my tastebuds off for as long as I can remember. Only my girlfriend knows about it, and she wants me to stop. And I will try to stop, but it only usually lasts about a week. It may be longer sometimes. Once my tongue heals it's like my memory of actually doing it has been erased/blurred, so it feels like it's been a lot longer since I've last done it than it actually has. I've only recently noticed this. I do it subconsciously, but once I notice I'm doing it, I have to finish that area. When it starts healing I continue biting because the unevenness of my tongue bothers me and I have to make it even and smooth again (I know this delays the healing process, but hey the tongue is the fastest healing part on our whole body (; ). Anyways, I know it's not an anxiety thing, or a boredom thing (for the most part), I just really have an oral fixation. I need to have something in my mouth, or my mouth on something, or just keep my mouth busy (which explains my being overweight, but that's another story). I also used to bite the sides of my fingers really badly, like the thick parts on the sides of the actual nail all the way down to my knuckle, mostly on my thumbs. However, I read somewhere once, that by chewing gum, you're distracting your mouth, and I found that it helps me. It keeps my mouth busy, doesn't hurt me, doesn't make me gain weight, and it tastes good! So try gum if your story sounds similar to mine! Just remember to keep your pockets stocked, cuz I know if I don't have gum I'm right back to biting (like now).

[Dia_loves_you]

I have been biting my tongue since I was around 9 or 10 (I'm 18 now). I pick off my taste buds with my teeth, fingers, nail clippers, or tweezers. It's a satisfying pain that I like and hate at the same time. I take off the taste buds anywhere on my tongue. These sessions usually last so long that my jaw starts to sieze up from being in the same position. I don't notice it when I start, but by the time I do notice, its too late. I CANNOT stop. I can't speak to anyone fluently. I make short conversation just so I can go back to biting. I'm sooo scared I'm going to get an infection or cancer one day. And it scares my family members around me :(  No one understands it. Hell, I don't even understand it. My boyfriend bought me a pacifier and it worked until I didn't have the pacifier with me one day and I went crazy with the biting. I don't have anything else wrong with me besides the fact that I get really anxious sometimes.

[Hannah_Somerhalder103101]

I started doing this in December 2014 so it hasn't been that long, i was just looking up what it meant. So thanks everyone for helping me understand what this obsession may mean.  

[lam1968]

Im 46 and have biting taste buds and the sides of my mouth and lips all my life. I would love to stop.  I do no other obsessive behavior or self harm.