Self-Injury Support Group
Whether you or someone you know or love struggles with self-injury, this is the community to discuss your experience, find support, meet others going through the same, and get advice on how to stop. Working together, we can help find alternative coping skills to reduce the urge to self-harm.
One of the ways I self injure is I dissociate and scratch myself with my fingernails. I keep them trimmed but I still leave blody scratches and I don't have any awareness of doing it. I've been hospitalized twice with those scratches becoming infected with MRSA and three other antibiotic resistant bacteria. I'm not a member of the MRSA group, but I was looking at it makes me realize how dangerous it is. A lot of people die from it. I've been lucky so far and the IV antibiotics have worked, but they say that once you have it you are a carrier for life. I work very hard at staying present but I haven't had much success at it. And I catch myself scratching often. Also my two amputations were caused by scratches becoming infected.
ArtistMWS
Oh yea that MRSA isn't anything to play around with. Does your dr have any suggestions for staying in the "present" better so you can possibly control the phantom scratching?
loum50
My doctor just sends me to specialists. I an seeing a therapist and she wants me to practice staying present. I have a couple of mindfulness tapes. I do practice with them, but it's not going to be very quick. I'm taking on a lot right now. I'm trying to eat healthy and that is going good my blood sugars and blood pressure have been good. My kidney function has gotten slightly better. I'm working very hard not to purposely hurt myself and that is very hard. I'm definately not very good at siting with feelings. But after what I've read about MRSA I'm very worried about making myself bleed without knowing I'm doing it. I noticed a bleeding scratch today and I have no memory of doing it. I keep a close watch for infections, but it's carry.
ArtistMWS
I hear ya; that'd scare me too if I couldn't control myself all the time. Hopefully the tapes you listen to will start working better and longer for you; best thing you can do is try to take deep breaths
loum50
I do and that is part of the practice. My wife was an incest survivor also and she also self injured. Some years she was in the hospital every month. Her body finally couldn't take anymore and she passed away in July. I'm lost without her. The illnesses she had were very common with incest survivors. I don't know what she did but her legs were always covered in terrible bruises. When she got a cut or a scratch she would dig at it with her fingernails unmercifully.
deleted_user
I know this isn't the same as scratching but: I used to get bruises all over my body and I would have NO IDEA how they got there! Once I had one on my leg that looked like a bite. They've stopped, but I think I was doing it during the night...
loum50
my wife had that problem. I never did find out what caused it. She used to tell me she bumped into things. That wouldn't explain it, but who am I to question her. I hurt myself in so many ways. and I understood why.
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