stop biting my lips

It was disgusting. I would chew all day, and by 6 at night, I was in pain. sometimes so much pain, that I wouldn’t talk. A lot of the time they would be bleeding. So one day, while home sick and pissed off at this one spot on my lip that hurt, i decided to do something about it.

I’ve made the decision to do this TONIGHT! I have been biting my lips for as long as I can remember. And it’s not just “biting”, I actually peel skin off my lips with my teeth and constantly nibble on the inside of my mouth. I realize it’s a nervous habit and I do it unvoluntarily. I constantly feel the scabs on my bottom lip with my tongue and I try to make it smoother by biting them off (I know, gross), useless to say that it simply worsens the case. Plus I can’t go a single day without chapstick because of this problem, which I don’t think is normal.
Now when I look at my bottom lip, it is SO scarred from all the years of abuse; It has lost it’s soft texture, and it has this dry & tight surface. My boyfriend has more beautiful lips than I do! I am NOT proud.
So here I go on my way to beautiful soft lips and making the first step to stop this hard, deeply instilled habit.

I will keep you all posted! ;)

Blergh, bad habit. I’m putting a stick in my pocket for a while, to see if it helps. I hope I don’t get addicted to the stuff…

I find it interesting that the people trying to do this also want to “mediate” and “have normal sleep hours”.

I think that says a lot about what is contributing to the biting problem. Stress has got to be the #1 cause (I know it was for me). A lack of consistent sleep hours to me indicates an unhealthy lifestyle. I started biting my lips this year (my senior year in college) because I’ve been so stressed about finding work after graduation, trying to get into grad school, trying to finish my senior thesis, etc. And, now that I have 3 job interviews scheduled this week, I can see a light at the end of the tunnel for school, and I’m just ready to let the biting go completely.

$#. I’ve been biting like a motherx%x$#&^!. I’ve been so damn stressed. Finally I’ve managed to cut down to a six day work week, but I’m still tired with only one day to catch up on my sleep, and work has gone into overdrive with tax season. So I’ve been letting myself do it. I don’t care, it’s a way to torture myself to cope with being angry about how much I hate my $&@($% job. The more unhappy I am, the more I bite.
$*x%x. I can’t chew gum again. I’m not even going bother with lipstick because I hate it and think it’s stupid. I feel like if I don’t bite, I’m going to just EXPLODE in anger at work. It’s already all I can do to not walk out. And what am I going to do? I’m not able to express that anger at work. So I hate myself for being there and I direct that anger inward.

I hate that damn job.

I’ve read of the difficulty in giving up heroin, cigarettes, and various other addictive things. How does giving up biting compare? It beats me, but it’s MFing hard.
After making the goal to go one week without biting, the frequency of the biting seemed unreal. Two minutes would pass and once more I’d catch myself mindlessly flicking my tongue along my lower lip in preparation for peeling. I’d remind myself that I wasn’t doing that anymore, and remind myself again when I started up next. I WANT to bite. I want the satisfaction of rolling my lip between my teeth and feeling the pressure of my bite. I want to snip away the winter dryness and feel my lips all smooth after a grooming session. I want that time – those few minutes where I just have at it and then let it go for the rest of the day. So really, the unconscious biting hasn’t been a problem really at all, I catch myself and know I’m not supposed to be doing it; but rather, it’s the conscious biting that I’m struggling with and when I stop myself I want to keep going. Is it boredom or nerves acting when I am consciously craving a bite? Or is it habit, knowing what works to make me feel good and not having a healthier alternative?
I don’t know. I just want to “right” to “left” my lip like a cob of corn.
I’m dropping the idea of going for a week. I’ve decided that I am against any sub-goals related to time for this main goal of quitting. I can make it a day. I can make it two days. It’s not about taking a break, it’s about never doing it again.

P.S. Lipstick is disgusting and also happens to taste gross too. I think I have to switch to gloss. The Carmex doesn’t deter me one bit.

Stop the Self Injury. It’s the equivalent of a lovely bird pulling out feathers.
First, recognize that it is happening.
Second, identify what feeling (boredom, unhappiness, anxiety) is triggering the behavior and the reason behind the feeling.
Third, establish healthy alternatives. Don’t allow boredom to happen (circumventing the behavior). Maybe start wearing lipstick as a reminder to not bite.

Starting the goal for one full week without biting.

This is my first ever entry so I’m not sure what I should be writing…I’ll just give it my best shot :)
Ok. I never use to bite my lips. It’s a new habit that I’ve started doing so I don’t think it will be hard to break.
I don’t like biting my lips. It makes me feel a mess and unhealthy. I have full lips and like to show them off with lip gloss but lately I’ve felt ashamed of my lips because they look sore and chewed :( It gets me down when I look in mirror. To know I have done that to myself! Why am I destroying myself?! I think I do it when I’m bored or stressed. I’m aware of when I am doing it so I should be able to stop it quickly. I feel much happy when I stopped biting them. I will feel more confident and it will be one less thing to worry about. I WILL achieve this goal by 1st Jan 09.

thought i was the only one!

First my lips got dry… so I licked them…. then they got dryer so i licked them more and more until they started to crack and peel then I started biting at the flaps of peeling lips until they were hard square and scabby with a big split down the middle.

That was a year ago… i realised that I need a chapstick with me everyday to keep my lips moisturized and off my mind. and now i have nice lips.. the middle of my top lip is still healing though.. it almost seems like it’ll never some back :(