Confessions of a MTHFR

Infographic I made (jpg)

Alright here we go. It took a little bit of courage and reassurance from friends to post these pictures but they serve a purpose. That purpose is to teach you about DERMATILLOMANIA (derma) Derma is what’s called a body focused repetitive disorder (bfrd), people that have it feel the need to pick at, scratch, squeeze, gouge at, and even bite their skin. Now I know what you’re thinking “it’s just a bad habit. use self control” “It’s just bad acne” “Golly gosh theirs a disorder for everything isn’t there stop making it up to be cool” But allow me to try to persuade you otherwise by telling you about my experience with derma. I’ve had derma since i was about 9 or 10. Sometimes when i didn’t notice it i would pick at bumps on my head and my scalp would be bloody about every day. I don’t ever go a day without picking at my skin because it’s something my brain tells me to repeat over and over again. Another bfrd trichotillomania, involves the repetitive tugging and pulling out hair from one’s body. Both people with derma and trichsters are repeatedly “grooming” their perceived imperfections. This leads me to tell you that my derma would not just go away if my acne did. Derma is with you as long as you have skin. I know this because for I while I was having a good time with my acne, so not knowing what to pick at I gouged out several freckles chewed the inside of my mouth and peeled skin of my mouth till I was quite hurt. Dermatillomania is a real problem for me that many people invalidate as a bad habit i could easily stop. Derma hurts me, it often lowers my self esteem and leaves me physically in danger of infection among other things. I want to let people know this is a REAL proven disorder and many people are hurt by it. You can learn more by googling derma or trich, or searching derma blogs on tumblr. Thank you so much for your time and attention. Love and kisses- Maggie