okay for the past week i have been feeling really good about my progress. i was doing some reading and found this:
http://www.homestead.com/westsuffolkpsych/trich_cbt.html
i decided to try some of the techniques here, mostly stuff i have done before. i started on a day i knew would be relatively stress-free. i was very careful that as soon as i found myself biting, i would touch my tongue to the top of my teeth and take a bunch of really deep breaths. i also kept gum and sucking candies around at all times just in case.
my main obstacle usually is that by day 2 when my mouth is starting to heal, it gets all messy with pieces sticking out etc and this is when it’s hardest to not bite. at one point i had a piece of gum and stretched it out across the side of my mouth so i couldn’t feel my actual cheek with my tongue, and this actually worked pretty well. keeping the gum there kept me conscious of not biting and also tricked my mind into thinking the area was smooth and not in need of biting. by day 3 the insides of my cheeks were actually smooth again, which i don’t remember happening in about 10 yrs. a few times there were minor bumps and i let myself very lightly bite but then i went back to really sticking with the heavy breathing and gum etc. now it’s been about a week and i have caught myself with little mini-nibbles here and there but overall i’ve been doing pretty great and don’t have the all-out bitefests i usually do where i don’t stop until i taste blood! luckily the mouth heals pretty quick so if you can just force yourself to get through 2 days or so it gets easier. the deep breathing and also touching my tongue to my top teeth has really kept me focused. i find that if i keep my tongue away from the sides of my mouth then i don’t feel the “imperfections” and don’t have the urge to bite. i’m pretty psyched right now.