#brfb

Hi! I can’t tell you anything for certain (I’m the opposite of an expert and don’t have any qualifications to be talking about autism beyond my own experiences), but the short answer is yes, it’s stimming. 

The longer answer is that as far as I understand it, things like nail biting and skin picking (which I struggled with in a way that sounds similar to your experiences with nail biting) are often called Body Focused Repetitive Behaviours (BRFBs), and are linked to forms of neurodivergence, including autism. BFRBs are a form of stimming, but they’re not talked about as much in the stim community here. I think that this is because while most stimming is a positive thing that people want to do freely, BFRBs can be harmful and sometimes need to be controlled to avoid hurting yourself. I found a stim that replaced my skin picking almost exactly, which shows that there isn’t much difference between BFRBs and other forms of stimming. 

Also, I don’t know if this is the case for you, but when I was diagnosed I got a report about my autism. It was an interesting read because it explained which of my experiences are autistic traits and which aren’t, and if you got something similar it might be interesting to see if it says anything about the nail biting, to look at what people who diagnosed you said about it.

I haven’t seen any posts of Dermatillomania of the lips at all so I though I would make one.

I feel that my Derm is invalid because I don’t pick my face or shoulders or legs. Instead I rip the skin off my lips; usually until it bleeds and my fingers are coated with a small amount of blood and I think I’m pretty sure I’m pretty sure I’ve smudged blood under my lip. I’m pretty sure it’s Derm because I find myself picking when I’m on the computer, my phone, in public without even realizing it. I’ve had sore lips for up to three days with indented skin that must be pulled, but I can’t rip it off because that area is sooo sore! I’ve had people ask me if my lips were burnt because of the redness and small amounts of dried blood.

sometimes I chew and swallow the skin pieces because I’ve ripped them off with my teeth.

I just want to let anyone know that if you pick from one or two lesser-known areas you are as valid as someone who picks from more well known areas!