Worried my dermatillomania will give me cancer

[PrincessPanic89]

I have an obsessive compulsive disorder where I pick at my skin. Spots, scabs, dry skin, dead skin, whatever I'll pick at it. I'll pick it even when it hurts because I can't stop myself and knowing there is something to pick at and not doing it drives me crazy. Part of my disorder involves me biting off the dead skin on the inside of my cheeks. I have done this for as long as I can remember but on many occasions my dentist has told me I need to stop as it can cause oral cancer.

Basically continuously removing the skin can cause the cells to mutate and mutating cells is what causes cancer. My biggest fear is cancer, my HA is cancer specific and always has been. But I physically cannot stop myself. It's like a battle of two mental health issues; dermatillomania vs HA. I very much doubt CBT would help, especially as often I don't realise I'm biting until it's too late. I do try and stop myself when I realise I'm doing it but my brain just won't allow me to.

Is there anything I can try or has anyone got a similar issue?

[MyNameIsTerry]

Hi,

You probably want the OCD board for this thread hence the lack of replies.

I think CBT could still help you. It can teach you to look for your triggers and like all obsessive compulsive disorders, there will be some but they may be subtle.

I have OCD and have had many subforms over the last few years, many of which I have managed to recover from. It's still a work-in-progress though. I also have issues with skin picking, as do some others on here and at least one of them posts about her HA issues too. So, you are not alone.

What I know, and many others with OCD agree here, is that overall levels of anxiety cause OCD to spike. So, I found by working no my GAD I was able to significantly reduce the intensity & frequency of my OCD without working on it in a direct way. My CBT failed because of this issue, well it was one of the issues.

Have you noticed that when your anxiety levels are just higher, you pick more? And it feels much stronger?

The same applies to HA worries from my observation of this forum, just like with OCD (and people with HA may actually have OCD anyway since HA isn't a diagnosable condition but a term that spans GAD, OCD and the Somatoform Disorder group), HA people seem to start spiralling & catastrophizing when their anxiety levels are higher.

So, perhaps that is something you can try?

EDIT: One thread on the OCD board with some of us talking about these issues and Snowflake was the HA person I mentioned above:

http://www.nomorepanic.co.uk/showthread.php?t=172595