Biting my lip/inside of my mouth
Okay, so I've been clean for about 6 months. I have scars on my thighs and some on my arms, and I hate them and that keeps me motivated not to cut again. However, I've picked up the habit of biting my gums until they bleed and leave a pretty decent hold where my gum once was. This causes the inside of my lip to swell up a lot, restricts what I can eat due to the stinging of eating foods, and makes me really self-concious if the swelling is noticable. I've tried to stop but it's such an easy and convienent way for me to relieve stress in the moment or even afterwards. I think about the consequences but then talk myself into doing it again. It's really annoying and the gashes get infected easily, what should I do? Rubber bands and other simple coping mechanisms don't really work for me and I need something that is fairly unoticable. Help..?
@UnwashedUmbrella
I used to do the exact same thing (and still do occasionally). One way that I have been able to stop my self from doing this is what I call realising. What happens is I bite my lip and I will be doing most probably for a while and then I will realise that I am doing it and I will stop. When I start up the next time I do the same thing, immediately stopping as soon as I realise what I am doing. After a long time of doing this I am now able to stop myself as soon as I begin. I hope this helps.
@elizamc2004
Something that I now do instead when I am in class is stab my eraser with my pen. It makes my anger or stress get out without me hurting anyone and easy by new erasers once one is completely destroyed.
@elizamc2004
I meant it is easy to buy new erasers when they are destroyed. Sorry for the spelling.
@elizamc2004
Okay, I've tried this a little bit in the past but wasn't very consistent with it. I'll try to be more proactive about realizing when I'm doing it and hopefully will be more willing to stop. Thank you!
