I pick my scabs and eat them.

You may have an iron deficiency (main mineral in blood). People who eat "weird" or "odd" things are sometimes lacking a vitamin or mineral in their body and eat those "odd" things to compensate for the lack. And if its not that, then its anxiety.

Thats fucked

I've been in severe denial that I have an issue with this. I'm currently seeking treatment for opiate addiction through the medication Suboxone. I have always had skin allergies and thought that the little pimple like sores that started developing on my scalp, upper chest, upper back/shoulder/and upper arm areas was just acne from my heavy sweating from my job. I'm now realizing I probably have foliculitis as well as some eczema. I started picking at my scabs and eating them probably around 1 to 1.5 years ago, the best of my memory. I will sit while watching TV or driving and pick and eat as f'd up as it sounds. I find when I'm stressed(WHICH IS ALL THE TIME) or my anxiety levels are in the "red", I tend to pick my scabs and eat them. I have even dropped a scab before and spent freakin' 15 minutes sorting through the carpet trying to find it. I remember thinking to myself, "Damn, that's a GOOD ONE....I can't loose it". How screwed up is that?!!? I really need to seek psychological guidance and help for this as well as my depression and anxiety. It's so crazy how our brains make us do crazy things like this to cope with mental illness and/or life stressors.

I have the same problem as you. I started doing this when I was five. I'm 20 now. I had sever eczema most of my life. The first time I did it I just wanted to see if I could. After that I couldn't stop. I didn't own or wear any short sleeves or paths until 7th grade when it calmed down but it didn't stop. If I have any bug bite, scratch or whatever on my skin I will pick it until it bleeds. If I am stressed out I will go into the bathroom and pick myself until I'm bleeding from every limb. I have about 30 large lesions on my skin the size of a pea right now. I tried to stop many times but if I'm too stressed it doesn't matter. When I was younger the doctor told my mom to use crisco or peanut oil on my skin for my eczema. What they didn't realize until many years later is that I was allergic to it. Between me being allergic to the peanut oil and my scratching and picking, my skin was so bad that laterally it you put you hand on my arms or legs and squeezed lightly you would get a hand full of scabs. This is not an exaggeration at all. Every second I get alone I am picking my skin. It has gotten to the point where I'm getting boils on a regular. I've Struggled with depression and anxiety most of my life. I situation I've been in for the last year has made it the worst it's ever been. Doing this to myself is a living night mare. The only way I've found to make myself stop is by having a boyfriend. But if we break up I do it again ten fold. One time I decided to count the scars on my body by marking them of with a sharpie. I got tired after one leg. The count was around 300. I'm a chocolate color so most of them arnt noticeable. Plus I use a lot of coco butter and bio oil. Bio oil is the best thing ever invented for scars by the way. You see major results in like 3 days. I can actually say that stuff saved me from looking how feel you know. But that's my story.

this reminds me of a carlin thing... george carlin

it's OCD-ish. please don't!

its actualy pretty common for all ages to pretend to be something were not its humain curiosity i guess.

Everyone is different. I see nothing wrong with this.

You are who you are, I have a pretty big imagination and I pretend stuff all the time, even when people are around.

I say it means you have a very good imagination and personality, or so it seems anyway.

~Midna

My body is covered in scars. I dont Know now to stop. 😔

Hey I'm back. Sorry I actually don't try to hurt myself for scabs. It's just a sign of OCD. I have it.

Well, I too eat my scabs but I don't have any so when I don't it bothers me and I try to get some. I feel like that's bad. It probably is. But I'm 10 so I don't care. 😋

A lot more people do that than are willing to admit.

I am a 69 year old married man and I have been eating scabs and dry skin all of my life. Currently I am trying to heal some on my legs because I have a doctors appointment and he checks my legs for edema. Everyone is right about not living a normal life with this disorder. Right now I have a paper towel under my tee shirt to keep the blood and fluids from leaking through.l can't chew fingernails any more because of my false teeth. Several years ago I had about of cellulitis in my legs that almost killed me but all the skin on my legs pealed off and I was in heaven. I've done this since I was a kid and to this day i wish there was a way i could stop but after so many years is it possible,and how?

Glad I'm not alone. I found that having long acrylic nails keeps me from being able to pick at my scabs. Also keeps me from touching my face when I have pimples and my acne goes away. It's a temporary fix, but it really keeps me from picking at then cause my nails are so thick. Hope this helps some girls out there. I've been struggling with this since I can remember. It's a bored habit for me. But the fake nails seems to work

I'll just leave this here...
http://www.trich.org/about/skin-faqs.html

I spent 30 years of my life thinking that I am the only one who does this. I've seen people with lots of sores on their body, but only allergies. I've never heard of anyone else having this problem. Even to these extremes. I have never told anyone! My mom, husband and friends think that I just pick and don't realize it because I have never told anyone the truth. I can't even begin to explain the relief I feel of knowing now that I am not a solitary monster. I am not alone with this affliction. There is someone else on this planet who has felt my pain, my anxiety, my stress, my sadness. Close friends tell you to ignore large groups and to wear those shorts anyway when you know people will stare, point, laugh, look at you with discust or walk up and ask what's wrong with you. Either get kicked out of a pool or people tell their children to get out or get out themselves so they don't catch whatever horrible disease you have. Bedsheets- Either tell your friends who accidently see them the truth, or tell them that you slaughtered a pig in your bed? Blood spots on everything you own! Every day is agony because almost every inch of your body has sores irritated or infected and even a glance of clothing can be painful but the satisfaction is too great. Shaving is out of the question because you'll damn near bleed to death. I can't believe I'm coming clean after all of these years but this is a secret I have held inside for my entire life, thinking I was a defect of some kind. Something so wrong with me and only me. I couldn't even tell my best friend who would support me no matter what. I thought I was a monster. I guess we are monsters in the eyes of the "normal" but I can't explain how it feels to say "we"... not "I". I'm not saying it's a good thing in the aspect of what we do... but to know we're not alone anymore....

I have done this from a young age . It is something you don't want to be seen doing. I know it is slightly gross. I am now middle aged and I still do it and can't stop. In my case I don't attached this behaviour to any anxiety or anything so complex as disorder.
I wouldn't be surprised if there is some nutrient that the body is wanting or needing. This idea has been mentioned by others . I began looking into this subject to learn if that is the case.
I wish I could stop it. It is gross enough to be unacceptable. And I don't want to disfigure my skin. I once thought of covering the scabs with band aids . But I am hairy and they don't stick well. And there is the matter of showering and the band aids falling off . And there is the cost of continually going through band aids. One piece of advice that I am going to try is to just pick one scab and leave the rest alone. That might make it less a subconscious behaviour.
And I like the advice of using moisturiser. I have that sitting around so I'll give that a try.
Good luck to everyone trying to find an answer to this. Hopefully we find a way to stop.

Nobodys touched upon this, but when you do pick...please make sure your handsand anything else is clean!! My husband (who NEVER picks) picked at a sore, with dirty hands. And, of course, it got infected. So, yeah, keep yourself clean. I'd rather continually pick at a "healthy" scab keeping it going, rather than deal with something infected.

I have really bad excema and when I mean bad I mean on my arms neck scalp ears legs and the back of my legs under my knees and so I have to deal with having dead skin all over my body a lot so when I was little I didn't have it that bad but when middle school came it hit me and I was picking and so on it was a natural reaction though so your not alone I hope I can stop my habit soon but I also have deppresion so that might also be the problem

I am a mental health professional. I suggest that you NOT listen to these phony fools who feel qualified to diagnose you with such nonexistent stuff as "OCD-ish." Any disorder is relevant to how much of a problem it causes in your life. There is nothing wrong with eating your own scabs or sucking your own blood, and I suspect it may actually help reinforce your immune system a bit. If you are actually creating new scabs, I am a little concerned about that. Do you ever get a sense of emotional release from doing that? If so, you might benefit from seeing a nice therapist that you trust and feel comfortable with -- your choice, of course. If you are getting a release, then it's a little like cutting, and it might be a sign of deeper problems that could show up later. If that stuff is there, I would want to see you in good hands and under loving care. There are a whole lot of loving, caring therapists out there, and you can fire as many as you like until you find the one you like. Hope you don't mind my busybody advice. I wish you well.

Same with me.. im 22 and ive had this problem since I was 4 or 5. Bio-oil?? I need to to try that! The thing is... its gotten so bad that I like when I get scab just so i can pick at it and then eat it... its crazy when i think about it. But no thought goes through my mind while im doing this... its like a sub-conscience thing for me. I do it while watching tv or reading... mind you, I only do this when I'm alone... I know if my bf knew he'd freak. But yea.. My skin is sensitive and i have numerous scars at the moment along with half picked scabs... I think ill give that bio-oil a try. Also what i find that helps is to moisturize frequently. I noticed that I only pick at my scars and eat them if they are dry. But once I moisturize I find it hard to pick at them because my skins all slippery and in the end I just leave them alone.

I've never heard of anyone doing this...I suppose its a bit strange. Should probably consult your doctor, if you keep going you might get infections easier since you keep pulling the scabs off.

I've done this, albeit to a much smaller extent. I'll pick my scabs and eat them sometime, or if I get a really bad sunburn I'll peel the skin and eat it. It is really gross I guess, but I don't really think about it when I'm doing it.

But it's definitely not good if you're scarring yourself and whatnot. You need to work on curbing this habit. So while you're not completely alone, I'd say it's not normal and not healthy.

I think it isnt healthy. Everyone likes to do diferent things. But thats too weird. Look for a profesional to help you. Good luck.
Even if I have nothing against it, I will take a NO.