chronic onychophagia

Hello. I'm having big problems and I was hopping that someone could help me please. I am desperate for help. I have bitten my nails since I was a very young child and this continued to my youth. I'm now 29 year old male and this really looks terrible.
Some people connect this nail biting with anxiety and nervousness but this is not my case. My parents made such a big issue out of my nail biting, humiliating me, making me wear stuff on them but nothing could help me.
I bite them all the time wither I'm nervous or perfectly calm. I have two fingers where I have no nail at all, from biting them off. Please tell me, is this disorder described in medicine and what my options for quitting with this awful habit are!?My friend mentioned something called chronic onychophagia.

Hello. I've decided to help you because I know how serious this disorder can be. Yes, it is called chronic onychophagia.
Nail biting is the habit of biting one's fingernails or toenails during periods of nervousness, stress or boredom. It can also be a sign of mental or emotional disorder.
I don’t know did you know but people who bite theirs fingernails are more often male than female and individuals with a higher rate of intelligence tend to bite their nails more than those of less intelligence.
I have also read that various forms of aversion therapy exist to help people stop biting their nails. These include methods such as coating the nails with a bad-tasting substance or wearing a rubber band on their wrist. Talk with your nail technician!

I too have the same problem. I think I started when I was about 4 or 5 years old, and now I'm 22. So I've been doing it for quite a long time. With me though, I started using nail clippers instead of biting them. Which of course is causing major problems. I also am missing 2 of my nails......and it is just digusting. My mom bite her nails until she got enganged and only stopped due to the embarassement of showing her wedding ring to everyone.......
I dont even know where to begin, wish this was dealt with when I was 5.....

I also bite all my nails to destruction, even my toenails, which hurts like hell sometimes ! my parents also made a huge issue of my nail biting, If anyone wants to try & stop, maybe together as a small group, we could encourage each other ?

stowers wrote:

Hello. I'm having big problems and I was hopping that someone could help me please. I am desperate for help. I have bitten my nails since I was a very young child and this continued to my youth. I'm now 29 year old male and this really looks terrible. Some people connect this nail biting with anxiety and nervousness but this is not my case. My parents made such a big issue out of my nail biting, humiliating me, making me wear stuff on them but nothing could help me. I bite them all the time wither I'm nervous or perfectly calm. I have two fingers where I have no nail at all, from biting them off. Please tell me, is this disorder described in medicine and what my options for quitting with this awful habit are!?My friend mentioned something called chronic onychophagia.

My parents also humiliated me over my nailbiting, words that I still to this day find distressful, and I still bite my nails dreadfully, in fact they are apaulling, I have never seen nails bitten so far down as mine are
Lucy

I am also a nail biter. I have bitten my nails since I was 4 years old. My older brother is also a nail biter and has never been able to quit. Sometimes I go a couple months where they grow and look decent, but a stressful event will cause me to tear at them and in a minute they could all be gone. It's caused me a lot of embarassment over the years and I wish I could stop for good. I have not lost any nails due to my biting, but they have bled and hurt too many times to count. I will be getting married next year and the last thing I want is for people to look at my mangled fingernail instead of the beautiful ring.

I have tried everything to stop biting my nails. And on occassion I have been successful - but it never seems to last. I think the longest I have ever gone with out biting is 6 months.

I am 40ish and female - most nail biters are male and well under 40. I have read that only 5% of the over 30 population bites their nails. I have also read that nail biter are likely to be "intelligent." I am smart, but not a rocket scientist.

My grandmother bit her nails, my father bit his nails...and I have their hands. If the too were alive today and you placed our hands side by side you would be shocked at the resemblence.

I have been researching this issue nail biting for the past few years hoping something new will pop up - a cure.

I have tried the nail polish that tastes bad - this does not deter me. I have tried painting nails - I simply substitute biting of the nail polish until it is gone and then bite again. I have tried acrylic nails...which sort of worked - but honestly I would gnaw on the acrylics too.

Recently I have resorted to glue on nails - they are sort of funny - possibly tacky - but they look better than my biten nails. I bite these off all the time and I have noticed that if I don't bite them I am constantly picking at them. I continuously run one of the fake fingernails on my left hand under the fake fingernails on my right hand and then switch.

I have gnawed on these nails so much at that at time I develop a small calus on the tip of my tongue - it is gross and sort of hurt - but if I can keep my hands out of my mouth for a few days it goes away.

I recently downloaded a "cheap" hypnosis file from the internet...and I have been listening to it over and over again.

I have been trying to process for myself where the desire to bite my nails comes from and althought I know that I want something to do with my hands, I actually notice a desire to "gnaw." It is not a desire to chew (I usually spit out my nails - I don't chew them up). Yes the sensation that I find pleasurable is gnawing, the was a dog (yes I am likening my self to a dog - somewhat embarassing) likes to gnaw on stuff.

I have even noticed that when I am biting my nails even when it is painful I am still getting a pleasure from the gnawing or going at it. It is only when I am completely done (I guess there is nothing much left to bite) and I have taken my hands away from my mouth and the throb that I even remotely regret my actions. Then of course I see my freshly biten nails and regret it even more.

I really like to talk with my hands - but when my nails are biten I am very reluctant to do this. I hate it when I have to point to something on a page bringing the little stub of a fignernail that I have left into the spot light. When I where the fake nails I use my hands much more freely when communicating.

I really want to quit. I am trying analyze why I do it so I can possibly resolve the issue once and for all. I just thought I would share this hoping that it would help someone or in case someone had a suggestion or a "new idea."

Nail biting is a habit from which we recieve some amount of pleasure. It can be likened to smoking, nose-picking, hair pulling or dieting! There is no cure. There is no magic wand. All there is, is sheer determination and an acknowledgement that at some time we will slip back. However, as long as we persevere, these setbacks are temporary.
I used to bite my nails, they are now long, but weak. I can't quite remember when I stopped, but I am aware that sometimes my fingers are in my mouth and I'm chewing/gnawing a nail. Usually, its when my nails are chipped or no longer smooth. If I find myself nail biting, all I do is take my fingers out of my mouth, grap a file or clippers to trim the nail, and cross my arms or sit on my hands.
Thats it. That is all I do. At times I might have to do it 100 times or more, but I've got results. I've got long nails at last and I'm 36.

Good luck and keep trying.

I am a 21 year old female and have been biting my nails and picking at my cuticles for as long as I can remember. My family also makes fun of me for it and don't seem to realize it's a disorder. I bite usually when I'm unstimulated, usually when watching tv and almost always bite my cuticles off until they bleed. I get a weird sensation to pick at my nails because I think they're imperfect, and by picking at them it will somehow make them perfect, although I know in my head that it's only making the problem worse. I have been trying to quit too but am unsuccessful.

I have been biting my nails for as long as I can remember too. My family members were always telling me to stop every time they saw me gnawing away. I've probably done this for over a decade (I'm 26 now) but I'm not sure it may be longer. I've always been a nervous person. I have to wear band-aids on both pointer fingers because it makes me stop temporarily and because I'm embarrassed to show those two fingers. The right finger is worse. I bit half the nail completely off now it seems the nail that grew back is stuck to the nail bed so now I just strip layers off the surface. This nail has dark brown vertical lines and when I put nail polish on it has to be a dark hue to cover how unsightly it is. The other finger is starting to look brown on the side of the nail where I've been biting. I hate doing this but I can't stop. I also do that to my toe nails with a nail clipper and they bleed and hurt for days. When my fingernails and toenails grow a bit I start all over again. I am doing better I think, thanks to the band-aids or the fact that I'm busy most of the time working, running after a three year old, house chores, etc. It's when I have nothing to do when I start gnawing. After years of smoking I quit cold turkey when I found out I was pregnant and I hope I can quit doing this too.