mommyma

I read a lot of your comments and was so surprized to see the similarities. I found a good lip moisturizer- Blistex Medex (or something like that)- it has this ‘cooling effect’ and makes my lips feel really good. When the sores get to hurting too bad, I broke down and bought baby Ora-gel…you know, for teething…and just apply it to the sores. My lip feels like it’s stick’n out a mile when it’s numb, but hey, no pain! The gum and candy seem to work pretty good, too. Even excercising has helped me…it keeps my mind occupied and i don’t feel as ‘stressed’. we’ll see how it goes…

I’ve never had any nervous habits before (or none that I realized!). But we’re going through a stressful time in our marriage and while we were driving home one night, I chewed my lip the whole way. It was bad—big ol’ sore, my lip puffed out and burn like crazy! I just kept telling myself, ‘boy, that was stupid. I’ll never do that again.’

It took what seemed like forever for the swelling to go down and the soreness to stop—it was almost unbearable at times (we have 4 little kids and ofcourse I get bopped in the mouth and stuff with them jumpin’ around-ouch!). Well, I talked to a councelor and ,ofcourse, he says it’s stress! duh! But I took his advice and try to talk things out and not just ‘stuff’ them inside, etc.

It was good for a few days, but now, a month later, it’s obvious that I’m ‘hooked’ or whatever you want to call it. It’s like an addiction. I ‘like’ the pain and the little ‘rush’ you get when you get a good pull. But the soreness and swelling afterwards just wear me out. I get really irritable and just want it to stop…and the next thing you know, I’m washing dishes and biting my cheek, or messing with an older sore…how do you stop? I’ve even caught myself doing it while I’m having fun, hanging out with my friend-not stressed or bored-it’s just a big habit now.

How does it happen? No bad habits…then, Boom, hard core lip chew-er. I almost feel powerless. Is that a cop-out?