I have been a nail biter from birth. I can't help it for the most part. A fidget spinner works for me when it is in my grasp. As a nail biter I experience some unique difficulties which non-biters dont. a lot of times people around dont understand the challenge I face at times. I have stub fingers, the tips are pretty blunt and round. The nail barely crosses over the skin and does poke out. Following are some of the common issues of this habit.
Difficulty in picking up certain flat objects
These include daily objects like credit cards, coins, etc. only when they are lying flat on smooth flat surface. I dont have enough nail to push the object against it and try to lift it up with my other fingers. Imagine operating one of those arcade crane machines to grab your toy, but this toy is a flat card lying flat on a flat surface. I have had times where I have been in public where I dropped a card or coin and spend the next 40sec literally, trying to pick it up. At times I had to ask some kind people in my presence to help me with it. I also try to push the thing across the surface to a point where it is more uneven so I can work my crane (finger)
Batteries & battery cover
Whether its the tv remote or my smartphone, I can't pry open the back cover without running for a screw driver or some other object to poke into the small slot etc to open the damn thing. Luckily some manufacturers make covers that just slide off. The next challenge is the battery, again, can't get them out without a pointy tool.
Spicy foods and sauces
Sometimes I have spicy food, could be Indian, Mexican. Imagine the spicy curry/ sauce flowing into the gaps on the nail you just bit off. The skin underneath is very sensitive, get something on there that is just a few scovilles and spend the next many minutes in burning agony.
Unable to scratch
This is the worst in my opinion. A mosquito bites you and you can't scratch the sting properly or at all. I try to use your fingers but they just rub against the skin as a rounded eraser. At least an eraser mostly causes friction and that can ease the itch a bit, but having stubby fingers dont satisfy. Even if its not a mosquito bite you get the idea, you can't scratch any itch on your body to your full satisfaction and pleasure just by using your hand.
Difficulty peeling of labels/ stickers
This is maximum level difficulty when it comes to dealing with a flat object on a flat surface with your hands.
If you think there is more stuff I should add to this list let me know.
What Girls & Guys Said
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I sometimes have difficulties actually finding the nail pieces I just bit, if they end up lodged in my gums. It's virtually impossible to get them out there - even by brushing or flossing - without hurting the gums at least a little.
also, it's quite uncomfortable in some social settings - usually those that get me the most anxious and thus more incline to nail bite - to have your hand in your mouth making all sorts of movements to actually get a grip on some tip that might be bitten off. (as you can imagine, I'm quite used to biting up to the point where the lower layer of nails, the "new, forming, nail" starts to show off.)
on a side note, I do have a "contest" of sorts with mylsef trying to get always the longes chip of nail possible, hopefully all the nail's width long, whenever I get both anxious and bored at the same time.
I'm not a nail biter but another one would be "cannot dig noses" 😂
"The unable to scratch" part cracked me up LOL