Teen thumb sucking. doctors and such only.?

Question

i kinda feel stupid about saying this but i am sick of it. i am 14 years of age and still suck my thumb. i only do it when i am alone at home and to help me sleep. i cant even get to sleep without doing it. i was told at once i do it for comfort and to ease pain. and i noticed that i do it more when i am upset. like crying and all that! but i want to stop. i plan on getting braces in a year or two. and i dont want thumb sucking to ruin it after wards. my mom frequently catches me. but just yells at me. and unfortunately it doesnt make matters any better. no one else knows outside of my family. i dont go to a dentist. or a doctor. yea i know sad but i havent seen a doctor since i was 3. and i havent ever seen a dentist. but thats not the case. i've tried a lot of things. and even hot sauce wont work. cause i am addicted to hot things. i just dont want this ruining my life. cause it makes me feel like i am hiding something. and this is actually the only secret i have. and i cant stand having this as a secret. its annoying to me. and i just need advice on how to stop!

Answer 1

I am not judging but why are you getting braces before you go to a doctor? I mean, if you haven't been to a doctor since you were 3 aren't you "slightly" behind on your shots and other health care? I saw on a tv show once where to get a guy to stop sucking his thumb (a guy in his 30s) they told him it imagine there's dog p**p on it and eventually he was just so grossed out by it that he couldn't even think of doing something like that

Answer 2

Everyone out grows this or other unacceptable behavior in their own time, you will out grow this too.  My daughter sucked her fingers well into her teenage years, her grandfather took a picture of her sucking her fingers while asleep and told her that he was going to post it in the local news paper!  Of course he was just kidding her, but she was embarrassed and she stopped her finger sucking habit shortly after that.  Everyone has to do their own work at breaking a habit and it usually isn't easy.  You may want to try wearing some thin gloves (with lots of lotion on your hands) to bed at night.  Or try fake nails, you would have lots of trouble sucking your thumb with those on.  Keep trying, you will eventually break the habit!  I wish you lots of luck!

Answer 3

There's no reason to feel stupid about it. I hate how people always assume that thumb suckers have psychological problems or lack self of control. How many people say that to nail biters or people who over eat? Everyone has a bad habit and yours is not as destructive as others.

I'm totally speaking from personal experience. I'm 17 and I suck my thumb occasionally, especially when i'm tired, pissed off, etc. Now that I do have braces, I've pretty much stopped. Mostly because the thought of having them on for more than 2 years (i just got them on) is enough to motivate me. I'm sure you'll stop on your own time.

And you really don't have to treat it as a big, dark secret. If you were a really little kid like 4 or 5, other kids would probably make fun of you but in high school its no biggie.Even though I don't suck my thumb anymore, I've realized that even when I did my friends did not care. They'd tease me about it in a light hearted way but thats it.

I'm sure you want to stop and there's numerous approaches you can take. I went to camp once and I was around my roommate 24 hours a day so whenever she'd she me do it, she'd punch me in the arm to get me to stop. I actually welcomed it (i was alot younger then) it because it helped and I really wanted to stop. I've also tried putting perfume on my thumb. It's so gross that if you suck your thumb even once, you won't want to do it for the rest of the night. And try to form some new habits to get you to sleep. Like listening to soft music or reading a boring book.

If you try to stop at your own pace and for your own reasons, I'm sure be you'll successful

Answer 4

I hear you! I was the same and it was a total comfort thing. I also still to this day rub the satin on the edge of a blanket at bed time.

Its really hard to stop. One thing I can suggest is they have a product out that is intended for nail biters. Its like a nail polish but it tastes really bad!! Sorry I don't have the name of it, but they should have it at a local pharmacy. If you cant find it on your own just ask for help and say its for biting your nails, a lot less embarrassing.  

Answer 5

WOW! If you feel that way then i should feel terrible lol I'm 18 and I still suck my thumb. I only do it when i sleep it makes me sleep better and i feel like i cant go sleep without it unless I'm soooo tired or I'm sleeping over a friend/family; don't even worry about it i mean is not going to kill you eventually we will stop (hopefully) I don't want to have kids and I'm sucking my thumb with them to lol but don't stress it your gonna have braces i don't think that will be comfortable so you'll stop doing it soon and if not O well that doesn't make you any different!!! SUCK ON GIRL SUCK ON!

Answer 6

From ur nic "love sucks" and ur story here u come across as a deeply sad person. Thumb sucking upto the age of 3 -4 years is considered normal. There are various theories as to why some ppl continue sucking thumb after that age. The most commonly accepted theory is that during the initial 3-4 years of life some life incident or family problems or other kinds of stress like parental attitude etc etc causes the child to be depressed. thumb sucking somehow provides the kid with a sense of security (it may be associated with maternal closeness that establishes in very early stages during breast feeding, the mind associates sucking with being loved by ur mum) I know this sounds like a whole lot of c**p but psychiatry is c**p.

The amazing part for me in this is that ur parents have never bothered to help u outover so many years, infact their yelling may have had additional psychological effect on u.

If i were ur dentist and u came to me for treatment of this, I would call social services and tell them ur parents had neglected ur dental and emotional well being.

anyways now go to a dentist and get this treated, and more importantly get counselling or something so that the emotional causes are removed and u become a much more confident person.