Anxiety, Stress, and Lip/Cheek Biting

hi i am doing the same thing wit my cheeks lips and tounge and it is coming to the point were there is no gum left i really need to find a way to stop

I am so glad that other people do this too! I thought i was the only one. i can't stop! I rarely ever bite my cheeks; sometimes I bite my tongue, but usually my lips are the victim.:( Im not really sure why i start. Maybe it's stress related...but i can't tell. I've been doing it ever since the first grade! After I start, I only notice what im doing once my lips start to bleed. I try and tell myself to stop and i mite stop for a minute or so, but then im right back to it! Im going to try chewing gum. It's going to be hard though cuz i usually start biting during skool. We're not allowed to chew gum during school-_-. The idea of cancer really scares me and now im even more determined to stop. Untill i stop though, i was wondering if anyone knew any remedies to help the wounds heal? Last night, i started biting my lip (yet again) but I dont think i've ever bitten it this badly... there was a giant hole in my lip which you could see even when my mouth was closed it started swelling an insane amount and it made my mouth look crooked. This morning, I woke up with a huge lip and white skin growing over the hole which i had produced... I want to make it heal faster! i want to cut down the swelling! Any suggestions?

lol shame guys... i too am a victim to myself :(((( wow sometyms i even suck the blood and all euw:((( i byt myself i rip the epithelial tissue out and the larger the tear the more im knda excited. iv goten so used to this habit i bite my self tear it off take a look at the piece and chew it agen . its true at the bck of my mind i think im smoothng things out but noooo im makind it worse... gum too helps me but iv becum sooo bad tht wen im really stressed i put the gum under my tongue andd start biting agen :( help!!! I EVN USE MY HAND TO PUSH MY CHEEK TO GET A BETTER BITE *SHAKING HEAD*

I do this too. It's a comfort to know I'm not alone. I read every post. I've tried everything to quit. Finally, I think I'm on to something. I had tried hypnotism a few years ago and I did feel like it COULD work, but I didn't like the therapist, so I quit after a few sessions. It lingered in the back of my head though, and about five months ago I tried again. This new hypnotist is also a marraige and family therapist. So she has been working on figuring out the "why" as well as helping me with some solutions. A few things that have really resonated....

Replacing this habit with something else that focuses on your mouth, like chewing gum (I would WORk that gum, and could do both things at once!), mouth guards (bit right through it), sunflower seeds (only dried the skin and made it ripe for picking at) is still focusing on the mouth. She asked me to come up with a replacement, but nothing having to do with chewing on anything. As I discovered in hypnosis, the feeling of relaxation I had in my mouth during those sessions was wonderful, so I "replaced" chewing with relaxing the jaw (I have given my self a serious case of TMJ). Every time I find myself chewing, I am supposed to relax. It's a lot of work to do this every time, but it works.

As we discussed the "why", I discovered that it's from some childhood traumas. I "comforted" myself with this habit (much like cutting) and that's why the pain has the unusual distinction of feeling GOOD. So I have to remind myself that I am not a child, that I can comfort myself in ways that don't hurt, and that it DOES HURT! There is a LOT of meditation in this process, which is just the same as self-hypnosis. 

Besides classical relaxation techniques for anxiety, there is a technique called Neurolinguistic Programming.  Look it up.  You must also look up "Healing the Inner Child - Let Go of the Past and Move Forward Using Nlp and Hypnosis" on Amazon.  It's a 99 cent MP3 that may help.  Also lots of good, cheap meditation and self hypnosis scripts on Amazon.  Don't use the one by Eric Somebody specifically about Not Lip Biting.  It focuses too much on the mouth!

As I sit here, I am constantly checking myself and reminding myself to relax my jaw.  I've been doing this for over 40 years and I understand that it will take some time to extinguish it.  I do feel progress.  My jaw is more relaxed than I have ever felt it.  Get a face massage too, get those muscles relaxed.  That can be your reward for working hard to quit. 

Good luck.  I know the pain.  :)

Nice!!! I myself have been doing this for over 15 yrs, my husband sais it gives me bad breath sometimes... I think it's when I make myself bleed... I tryd stopping and I can't seem to stop it... Any other recommendations??

Hey, It's nice to know you're not the only one suffering from cheek and lip biting. I would dite, scrape and tear the skin on my cheeks and lips. I have had this habit since I was so young and I am constanly doind it. During classes, while watching tv, reading, playing games on the computer and even when I am unable to fall asleep in bed, I will bite my cheeks and lips. I don't even know what smooth cheeks feel like anymore... TT_TT I try stopping sometimes but then, like, 5 minutes later, I am at it again. Any way how to keep yourself from chewing on your cheeks?

Go to You tube and look up self hypnosis-relaxation. Find some vids that you like and take 15-20 minutes each day, or more than once a day if that's what it takes. focus on relaxing the jaw and "replace" the biting with the relaced feeling. Then when you find yourself doing it, tell yourself you like the relaxed feeling better and concentrate on relaxing. Do it in bed, too. You can buy lots of MP3's really cheap on Amazon for self hypnosis and relaxation. It's a habit and habits take time to break. Keep working on it and don't give up! You can do it!

I do the same thing and dont notice until its too late. Sometimes when I am bored ill even do it on purpose. When I am very stressed though I get a a bad tummy from anxiety and the second I touch my tongue to my lip I feel like gagging. I get severe migraines TMJ pain HUGE knots in my neck from it!!

Same thing with me "must make smooth!!"
its awful and my parents tell me I look handicapped when I do it :( not good!!!

I have the same problem.

when i'm studying or working i bite my lips.  And now I have white marks on either side.  It's like almost scar tissue.... but not relaly because I've never broken the skin or anything for a scar to form.  It's almost like a pressure point or something.

Anyone else have that?  or other marks?

what i do when i'm working is to apply vaseline to my lips.  this only works at home because basically you have to smear gobs of it on --- you can feel it and it's oddto bite and it stops you from doing it subconscioisnly.  can't really do it at work (unless you have an office) because it looks weird.

hope this little bit of advice helps.

Hi All,

I have the same problem as mentioned by around 500 other people. I dont understand why everyone has been explaining in detail without suggesting any solution ? Is it some sort of therapy which helps ?

If it is.. let me do it too. I am a 28 year old guy. I have been biting my lips and inner cheeks for 20 years, in every stupid way that you guys have mentioned.

I stopped 2 years back. I have tried different things, but the one that worked miraculously for me :

There is an antiseptic dryness removal cream called boroline ( similar to lipbalm but its not). Its much more thick. If I apply a thick layer on my lips, and leave it like that, I STOP BITING MY LIPS and CHEEKS. The cream gets absorbed or I accidently wipe it off in a few hours, but then I remember to apply it again. I do this for 15 days with a lot of subconscious effort reminding myself that its better than getting cancer. After 15 days, my lips and inner cheeks are almost fully healed and the bad habit stops, and I dont need to apply boroline anymore.

The bad habit comes back when lips get dry. So you have to avoid getting your lips dry. For that, I drink lot of water throughout the day. Another thing is to maintain a healthy routine. ( Sleep on time, wake up on time, eat on time etc).

I havent been biting my lips for 2 years now. THESE THINGS HAVE HELPED. IF THEY WORKED FOR ME, THEY WILL WORK FOR YOU TOO. JUST KEEP REMINDING YOURSELF THAT YOU CAN GET CANCER BECAUSE YOU DID NOT PAY ATTENTION TO THIS.

I do the exact same thing my family always tells me to stop or ill give myself cancer, but I can't help it. I've tried very hard to stop everything gum everthing and I still do it. I'm glad to know there's other people with the same problem everyone has always called me weird even my dentist. If you have found any suggestion on how to stop please let me know. Thank you and I hope you've had better luck quiting than me.

i do this too and have since i was about 3. i never knew it was from anxiety till i was in a group home and they sent me to a shrink because i would chew my lips and cheeks til they blead. i still do this today at almost 24 years of age. sometimes its out of stress/ anxiety....but most of the time its mearly just out of bordom. or if im consintrating really hard on something.  Ha! i thought i was the only one! but i have to learn to stop because it is now seriously messing up my teeth because i do it even in my sleep.

Look at my post a week or so ago. It's pretty specific about how I am treating this 40 year habit. I know what you mean about people just describing what they do but not saying how they're treating it. I hoped that I would help someone but it's like they aren't reading all the posts. I have been in therapy for 2 months now. My worst time for biting would be while driving, and long trips would end in bloody mouth and lips, and cramped jaw muscles so bad that I would have migraines. This weekend I went for a 12 hour car ride (round trip) and came home relaxed...I bit a small amount, but I could stop myself using the techniques given to me by my therapist.



1. Get a hypnotherapist, preferrably one who specialises in behavioral therapy.



2. Do your homework with meditation and self hypnosis. Get MP3's for both on Amazon - they're a cheap way to do this.



3. Find a replacement that doesn't have anything to do with your mouth (mine was focusing on how much better my relaxed jaw feels than the chewing - as soon as I find myself scanning for rough spots I focus on my relaxed jaws).



4. This bad habit nearly always has its roots in early age stress. If you were abused in any way, deal with it. My therapist had me try a technique called Neurolinguistic Programming that has worked so well for me that I am feeling, for the first time in over 40 years, like I have a handle on this damaging habit.

I do the samething was wondering why I had lots of wrickles on my lips thats why I guess cause I don't smoke .How can I stop chewing gum makes me hungry ,.,m.????

thank goodness I found you guys. I am 33 and have done this since age 5. it is like smoking, a very hard addiction to quit. i have quit on 3 separate occassions. the longest was like 8 months and i thought i was cured. but then when a super stressful event was coming up, there i was, pushing my cheek with my finger closer so i could reach any uneven part i could feel with my tongue and then biting it off. i mean ripping the skin off, to the point where i can feel shreds of skin coming off, and the worst part is, i enjoy when that happens! sickening, right? i don't mind the blood, i'm obviously used to it by now. it feels like a disgusting victory when i can peel all the uneven bits and pieces off and only have smooth skin left, even though it's bleeding and gross. Ugh! I really need to quit. mouth cancer, deep wrinkles, etc. I kept a loose rubber band on my wrist and any time i felt like biting I would snap myself with it so hard that it left marks. after about a week i was doing much better. avoiding the pain of the rubberband punishment made me stop for awhile. but alas, not permanently. best thing for me is avoiding stress or boredom, but that is not an easy task. good luck everyone, thanks for sharing. make me feel a little better. and i sware, other than this one sick problem I am a very normal person.