I’m 57 and it would take me years to get a diagnosis. But my dad had a lot of the signs and my daughter believes she has it and is trying to get diagnosed. Me too on the zits and scabs is what I have to say.
Phew, I thought I was the only hardcore miner of funk stunk goo string. Except my cyst started as a bump right between my boobs. I thought the odor meant I had cancer or something. But yeah, those crescent shaped, red grooves that got deeper despite the pain, likely scarring and the occasional sprained back from leaning way over the bathroom sink to get closer to the mirror.. Yes, gross. My comment included. But somebody had to say it. It is a symptom and not easy to talk about. I am 51 and was just last year diagnosed with ADHD spectrum after seeing psychiatrists since I was 17 for Major Depressive Disorder and Anxiety NOS. My symptoms didn't all mesh. Nobody listened because I didn't fit in the diagnostic "box". I never understood why I could not keep anything organized no matter how hard I tried. Stores overwhelmed me and I had such trouble making decisions...until now. I am glad there is more awareness and if it takes outing one's odiferous body cheese and self-serve scab debridement to get even more people towards healing and acceptance, I'm all for it. Kudos.
I'm a picker too but mostly of stuff on my pets. One of my dogs has sebaceous cysts. Sometimes I stick hypodermic needles into them and squeeze out the nastiness. One of the cysts opened on its own. I had to clip the hair around it to try and clean the area. Getting the nastiness out of the ruptured cyst was making me gag. After 20+ years working in veterinary medicine it takes a lot of turn my stomach that badly. The stuff stunk and shot out when squeezed and in general was nasty.
I got diagnosed with ADHD at 49. I'm 50 (still haven't found meds that work). Day before yesterday I was watching a video called "Behaviors that you didn't know were related to ADHD."
Nose picking was one of them.
I live in the desert. In the desert, the inside of your nose gets crusty, not squishy - crusty - much like a scab. You blow and blow and BLOW, but you can't get rid of it. And that crustiness CANNOT BE BORNE!
So you get rid of the crusties, but you go overboard, and your nose bleeds - so you have to get rid of THOSE crusties.
At 35, during my yearly wellness check, my Dr. asked, "Do you know you have a hole in your septum? It's about the size of a pencil eraser."
"Well... That explains some things," I said.
He then asked me if I had been doing coke.
"MmmmmNooooo."
"Do you use Afrin?"
"Nope."
"Stop picking your nose."
You see, cartilage has no blood vessels. If you destroy it, it doesn't heal back. An ENT said it was unlikely she could fix it, but she'd try. Nope.
At 50 I have a hole you could drive a Fiat through because... crusties.
And that, boys and girls is how I outgrossed James Fell. ;)
This will sound bizarre, but I have found that if a scab doesn't have an edge that you can get you fingernail on, I'll leave it alone until it does. I have found that if you take a nail file (or sandpaper I guess), you can file off the tempting edge and make it smooth and easy to ignore. Good luck! Maybe you can go see Dr. Lee - she'll take good care of you!
OK, this did it. I'm asking my psychiatrist for an ADHD screening. The skin picking could be put down to self-injuring tendencies, and has largely gone away w/proper PTSD treatment. But I can *not* stop attacking the bloody (literally) little sebaceous nobs on my face. Thank you for sharing, absolutely no sarcasm meant or implied.
Dude that's not even remotely gross. Yes, I like Dr. Pimple Popper. Also, I never considered I had ADHD until recently but I'm 99.9% sure it's fucking perimenopause. But definitely OCD traits. Because I too am a picker. And my ingrown hairs are on the underside of my chin, only on the right. No doubt because one time I was overzealous with something and now it's just a given. And there is great satisfaction when I get one out. But yeah I have a permanent discoloration there. I. Can't. Help. Myself.
The only reason I can no longer pick at the scabs is because I have acrylic nails. I currently have have scabs on my feet from scratching at the itchy areas with my toenails. If it’s itchy I will scratch that area until it stops being itchy. It’s also a big yes to the spots that can be squeezed again the nails do make it hard but not totally impossible.
Diagnosed at 38 here, also a skin picker. A few years back, one of our wedding photos popped up on my FB timeline, and I happened to notice a little scab/scar on my arm in the photo.
I was immediately horrified, because I was still picking at that scab - Ten. Years. Later.
I’m 57 and it would take me years to get a diagnosis. But my dad had a lot of the signs and my daughter believes she has it and is trying to get diagnosed. Me too on the zits and scabs is what I have to say.
Phew, I thought I was the only hardcore miner of funk stunk goo string. Except my cyst started as a bump right between my boobs. I thought the odor meant I had cancer or something. But yeah, those crescent shaped, red grooves that got deeper despite the pain, likely scarring and the occasional sprained back from leaning way over the bathroom sink to get closer to the mirror.. Yes, gross. My comment included. But somebody had to say it. It is a symptom and not easy to talk about. I am 51 and was just last year diagnosed with ADHD spectrum after seeing psychiatrists since I was 17 for Major Depressive Disorder and Anxiety NOS. My symptoms didn't all mesh. Nobody listened because I didn't fit in the diagnostic "box". I never understood why I could not keep anything organized no matter how hard I tried. Stores overwhelmed me and I had such trouble making decisions...until now. I am glad there is more awareness and if it takes outing one's odiferous body cheese and self-serve scab debridement to get even more people towards healing and acceptance, I'm all for it. Kudos.
I'm a picker too but mostly of stuff on my pets. One of my dogs has sebaceous cysts. Sometimes I stick hypodermic needles into them and squeeze out the nastiness. One of the cysts opened on its own. I had to clip the hair around it to try and clean the area. Getting the nastiness out of the ruptured cyst was making me gag. After 20+ years working in veterinary medicine it takes a lot of turn my stomach that badly. The stuff stunk and shot out when squeezed and in general was nasty.
This is some timing.
I got diagnosed with ADHD at 49. I'm 50 (still haven't found meds that work). Day before yesterday I was watching a video called "Behaviors that you didn't know were related to ADHD."
Nose picking was one of them.
I live in the desert. In the desert, the inside of your nose gets crusty, not squishy - crusty - much like a scab. You blow and blow and BLOW, but you can't get rid of it. And that crustiness CANNOT BE BORNE!
So you get rid of the crusties, but you go overboard, and your nose bleeds - so you have to get rid of THOSE crusties.
At 35, during my yearly wellness check, my Dr. asked, "Do you know you have a hole in your septum? It's about the size of a pencil eraser."
"Well... That explains some things," I said.
He then asked me if I had been doing coke.
"MmmmmNooooo."
"Do you use Afrin?"
"Nope."
"Stop picking your nose."
You see, cartilage has no blood vessels. If you destroy it, it doesn't heal back. An ENT said it was unlikely she could fix it, but she'd try. Nope.
At 50 I have a hole you could drive a Fiat through because... crusties.
And that, boys and girls is how I outgrossed James Fell. ;)
This will sound bizarre, but I have found that if a scab doesn't have an edge that you can get you fingernail on, I'll leave it alone until it does. I have found that if you take a nail file (or sandpaper I guess), you can file off the tempting edge and make it smooth and easy to ignore. Good luck! Maybe you can go see Dr. Lee - she'll take good care of you!
OK, this did it. I'm asking my psychiatrist for an ADHD screening. The skin picking could be put down to self-injuring tendencies, and has largely gone away w/proper PTSD treatment. But I can *not* stop attacking the bloody (literally) little sebaceous nobs on my face. Thank you for sharing, absolutely no sarcasm meant or implied.
Dude that's not even remotely gross. Yes, I like Dr. Pimple Popper. Also, I never considered I had ADHD until recently but I'm 99.9% sure it's fucking perimenopause. But definitely OCD traits. Because I too am a picker. And my ingrown hairs are on the underside of my chin, only on the right. No doubt because one time I was overzealous with something and now it's just a given. And there is great satisfaction when I get one out. But yeah I have a permanent discoloration there. I. Can't. Help. Myself.
The only reason I can no longer pick at the scabs is because I have acrylic nails. I currently have have scabs on my feet from scratching at the itchy areas with my toenails. If it’s itchy I will scratch that area until it stops being itchy. It’s also a big yes to the spots that can be squeezed again the nails do make it hard but not totally impossible.
Diagnosed at 38 here, also a skin picker. A few years back, one of our wedding photos popped up on my FB timeline, and I happened to notice a little scab/scar on my arm in the photo.
I was immediately horrified, because I was still picking at that scab - Ten. Years. Later.
Yep, got the scars all over my arms. I just can’t stop even now that I know picking is an ADHD thing!
My husband is prone to sebaceous cysts. Guess who had to squeeze them when they're on his back... "for better or worse" amirite? ;)