Helpful cutting and scars
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Friday May 30th, 2008 @ 6:41 PM
Filed under: Cutting
I am one of those people who gets piercings and tattoos to releave stress, but recently money has been tight, and I have been unable to get to a decent piercing parlor. I am too afraid of the negative consequences of piercing myself, and i have turned to cutting. although this may sound more destructive, in reality, my cuts are shallow, harmless, and nearly painless. I do it for the calming adrenaline rush, not for suicidal reasons, and it has done me a world of good.
my problem is that although the crowd here on BME is tolerant and understanding, my immediate family and friends… arnt. I am afraid that if (or when) they see the scars, they will assume the worst, that I am suicidal and unstable.
basically I was wondering if anyone has dealt with a similar situation, and what the outcome was.
There is a variety of things I could get into about cutting/self-harm etc. etc. However, I’m not here to lecture anyone about their choices, unless the things they are doing are clearly putting themselves in danger. Then, I’m happy to lecture. 
Perhaps I can offer an alternative that might “do the trick”, but probably runs the risk of leaving scars:
Play piercing
This could very well give you the adrenaline rush and the stress-relief you seek, without leaving too many noticeable marks (although, be aware that bruising can occur with play piercing). I know that money is part of the reason you’ve turned to cutting, and I realize that play piercing needles aren’t free. However, you might be able to save a bit of money and invest in a box of play piercing needles that could last you quite a while.
There are a variety of sources for play piercing needles, but BME Shop is of course a great option.
The comment forum is available for anyone who wants to give a more direct answer to the question that was asked.
Posted by Derek Lowe | Permalink | Leave a comment | Trackback
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5 Responses to “Helpful cutting and scars”
In the second paragraph, hopefully it’s obvious I meant to say that play piercing runs less of risk of leaving noticeable scars.
Derek Lowe on May 30th, 2008 at 6:46 pmRegardless of how deep the cuts, if you’ve turned to hurting yourself as a coping mechanism, there is something wrong. I think you should try to find out what it is, and figure out why your only coping mechanism is to hurt yourself.
Regardless of how deep you cut now, eventually the adrenaline rush won’t be enough with shallow cuts, and you’ll be forced to go deeper. This will leave more permanent scars, and you’ll realise that this has become an addiction.
Play pierce if you want to, as Derek has given you some good advice, but I urge you to look elsewhere for your coping mechanism, because self injury is a very dangerous path to walk down. It’s not healthy, for you or for your loved ones.
I speak from both personal experience, and from several years talking to hundreds of other people who self harmed. I’m not claiming I’m right 100% of the time, but my experiences with others has a large enough sample size that I’m relatively confident with my opinions.
If you have an IAM, please feel free to message me if you want to
Dimruthien on May 30th, 2008 at 9:59 pmA cheaper solution than play piercing would be a neurowheel/pinwheel/wartenburg? wheel.
a year or so ago, i was in the same place as you are now. i do urge you to talk to someone - i *know* you’re not suicidal, but if you need to cut yourself for relief…
if you can pull yourself out of cutting now, DO IT. the longer you do it, the harder it is to stop. every time something goes wrong in my life i have to struggle to resist the urge to cut myself.
in short, get a neurowheel to cure the immediate problem, but talk to someone - there’s something deeper going on.
if you’re on iam, feel free to message me…
automaticgirl on May 30th, 2008 at 10:39 pmI agree that you should seek out help. While I’m not against cutting and know where you’re coming from, having been there myself, I also know how bad the consequences can be. I was only making shallow cuts when my parents found out and threatened to institutionalize me. Friends did the same. And that caused me even more stress, so I cut more. And eventually deeper. I was lucky that my body doesn’t scar severely and that I don’t have to look at my choices every day. Even if you don’t want to talk to a professional, talk with someone you trust. (Also know that people in authority positions such as teachers, medical professionals, people on the police force ect… are required by law to report self harm incidents, which cutting is.)
Star on May 31st, 2008 at 9:23 amIf the reasons you are looking for this release are to relax from your everyday life, you do not need to seek any kind of help, simply take up some kind of adventure sport. Being both an avid sportsman and a home piercer/brander (on myself) as well as being tattoo’d I can tell you for certain that the feeling you get after a nice bit of home pain is exactly the same as you can get from stomping a nice backside 360 into fresh powder (starts dreaming of snowboarding again..)
Basically what I am trying to say is that what you are feeling is normal, and very very common in todays society. Mainly due to the fact we no longer have to hunt/kill/survive etc, many people get very bored nowadays and don’t even realise it.
Perhaps snowboarding was a bad example, as it tends to get pretty expensive, but there are many options have a look around and see what you like, I guarantee it will change your life
(rock climbing is fun and cheap)
Hope that helps, I went on a bit sorry!
JimboJones on June 1st, 2008 at 2:53 pmJ
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