Is it possible to have s/h withdrawal?

Former Member

So my new year's resolution once again this year is to stop self harming, last year that failed and after over 3 years of doing it now I really do want to stop, so far it's been almost 2 days of being self harm free and already I'm struggling...

I feel on edge almost constantly, today I've been very very close to crying, I'm getting a few pains where I did use to cut, where my scars are and I just don't feel right... like I'm missing part of me... Is it possible this is withdrawal from the self harm? Or am I just being weird?

Former Member

It could be possible, but if you feel like you're struggling, reminding yourself of why you want to stop, and then finding another way to cope would hopefully make it easier for you. Maybe there's something you enjoy doing that makes you feel happy that you could do to replace the self-harm? It won't be easy, but it is possible, and yes you may relapse at times.

Best wishes.

Former Member

Hi LuckyStarr

Welcome to the boards! Hope you find them useful and stick around...

Stopping self-harming can be extremely hard - especially if you've been doing it for a long time - so what you've already achieved is really impressive. Try to take each day as it comes and acknowledge your success rather than looking ahead to 'forever' as such a long time.

I'm not sure if you've seen the rest of the site but there are some really useful articles that I wanted to let you know about, particularly this one on dealing with urges, which may help you during these first few weeks of stopping.

There's also an old thread with loads of great distraction suggestions that sophieannn posted a while back - I think it would be really helpful for you right now.

You don't say if you're talking to anyone about this - have you got anyone to talk to? If you don't feel able to talk to a friend or someone in your family, would you feel able to call a support line? If so, Tess offer support online or by text, specifically for women who are self harming.

I'm sure other users will be able to give more personal help and advice too, but wanted to say hi, welcome you and let you know how well you're doing!
Spanner

Former Member

Why don't you modify your resolution... To be kinder to yourself and to take certain steps to help improve your mental health?

Something like stopping a coping method like self-harm can lead to feeling like you've let yourself down if you relapse...

Self harm is a sympton of the hard time you're going through... Trust me as an ex self-harmer, take baby steps to help you get better and/or manage your illness... Even if it's resolving to write yourself a letter if you feel especially bad, or go for a run, or speak to your Dr about medication ect

Former Member

First of all thank you for all of your replies, I appreciate it
Sophieannnn - I didn’t think about doing something I enjoyed as a distraction, thank you I’ll definitely give that a try, also as Spanner suggested (thank you) I have looked at ur thread with self harm distractions and they look really good! So I’ll definitely give them a go thank you

Spanner – Thank you for the links, I think they will be really helpful, especially as I have tried stopping before but it has become too hard to deal with as the distractions I tried weren’t enough and some even turned into new ways to self harm
I do have a counsellor but at the moment am having issues with trusting him so currently haven’t been able to bring it up to him, and most people thought I had stopped self harming over 2 years ago, so at the moment no one knows I’m trying to stop and struggling...

Namaste – When I think about it in a sensible way I know I probably should take it slowly and that maybe just stopping straight away will be a bad idea... but I really do want to stop and push myself so I do... yet u are right when u say about feeling like I’ve let myself down if I relapse because that’s what’s happened in the past... but I do like the idea of modifying my new year’s resolution, thank you

Former Member

You're welcome, LuckyStar, I hope some of them will be useful to you

Best wishes *hug*

Former Member

Thank you sophieannnn
*hug*

Former Member

Struggling with it today... starting to wonder if i can do it, or whether it'll be easy to just carry on and try stopping another time... but then that's only when i'm feeling really low i start thinking like that, so i know that once i've cheered up a bit i will think more positively about it but i am worried that when i get really low i'm just gonna give in and then will regret it later...

Former Member

Try thinking about how positive you'll feel if you wake up tomorrow morning having not given in. Like the others have suggested go and do something you enjoy. Sending big positive hugs *hug*

Nina x

Former Member

Thank you nina *hug*

Former Member

I found a tip that really helped me stop SHing. It was to get some moisturiser or some Bio Oil and rub it gently into the places I used to target when I felt 'cravings'. It helped keep my mind of the positive of why I was trying to stop. It also gave me something to settle down and do, like a replacement for SHing. x

Former Member

My two cents worth;

Its normal to feel this way,in my personal experience my self harm is a form of addiction and I will always have urges and the key is not to try and defeat it, but to manage it differently. For example using the distractions in a sense of having a bath instead of cutting and maybe you wont still feel the need. Also to echo what others have said and try not to be too hard on yourself, recovering from a lot of self destructive behaviours tends to be more of a marathon than a sprint;)

Former Member

Self injury can be addictive, I know it was for me. Don't want to be too triggering but the chemical release and emotional release is addictive. Moving on from that is definitely a marathon not a sprint, as the lovely girl gunner said.

A lot of it, as with recovering from any addiction, is to find new things to replace the old.

Former Member

Thank you for all your support - I really do appreciate it everyone *hug*

Patience - I like the idea of the Bio Oil because I do have some which I put on to try get rid of the scars I currently have

Girl_gunner - at the moment I am trying to take each day one at a time, and set weekly goals, because although it is hard each day I have previously managed to stop for 6 weeks before and by the end of today will have completed 1 week, and i do want to stop for longer than 6 weeks this time, but at the moment i'm not sure if i can so I'm trying to just take one week completed as a new goal and i have heard of people still having urges even once they've stopping self harming, which does worry me as I don't like the idea of possibly going back to it if i manage to stop in a few years time, if i even get to stopping for that long, but yeah ur right, it definitely is a marathon and not a sprint (I do like that way u've put it )

Arctic Roll - first of all rather irrelevent but loving the name! :P anyways, i have tried a variety of things over the years for replacing my self harm and haven't found one that completely works and that i can rely on, so I guess I'll just have to keep trying and hopefully using a variety of distractions and replacements for it will work