Asklemmy

I did it my whole life (~mid forties now).

I met and was talking to a guy about 10-15 years ago, and it came up - he said "oh yeah, I used to do that, I just stopped."

Now, consider that, we're both addicts and met at a 12-step meeting.

I'm like "You can't just stop guy, lawl, wtf?"

But he insisted - "No, really, I just stopped."

So I tried ... and was absolutely, completely fucking stunned - it worked - I just stopped.

Everytime I manage to not bite my nails down and have actual nails, something stressful happens. Every. Single. Time.

This was a tough one for me. One thing that helped was always having nail clippers and a file at my desk at home and work. Any time I felt the urge to bite a nail I would use the clippers and file instead. Over time I have been able to taper down the biting quite a lot and now I'm to the point where I can grow my nails out. The ring fingers are by far the toughest to quit as they're the most satisfying ones to bite. ADHD medication also helped.

For me: a big component of it is a sensory thing. My brain does NOT like it when I can feel roughness on my fingers or hands. The best I’ve been able to do is just keep a bunch of good glass nail files around the house and in the bags I use and travel with, as well as some cuticle trimmers. That way I just trim and buff things out until my brain is like “mmmm yes this is fine, carry on”, and it’s way less of a compulsion.

But stress also often triggers it for me, and that’s harder to buff out :(

Umm, I may accidentally changed that by staying for like 12hours outside with a mask on and when I'd go home I'd be tired and would sleep soon after. Did it for like a month?

Or was it another change at this time, not sure

I didn't chew them, but I used to pick them with my fingernails. Painting them helped because then I would ruin it if I picked at them. Also fiddling with something else helps to occupy my hands.

I'm a snack as well