My Addiction
The first of the twelve steps is admission and that is what I am trying to do. I admitted it first to my coworkers and closest friends and now I will admit it to you, my readers. Despite the number of warning signs, the noticeably concerned remarks from family members, and a twinge of knowledge of the problem deep within my subconscious, I was able to put off the acceptance of it for quite some time. This long-term repression of my problem has done nothing but make it even more difficult for me to come clean.
My name is Megan and I am a chapstickoholic. Phew! You have no idea how relieving yet frightening this admission is for me. I have been using multiple times a day, everyday for at least four years. I smear the stuff all over my lips before and after brushing my teeth, eating, talking for a period of time, teaching a class and just about every hour in between. My "rock-bottom" moment came when I was sitting in a restaurant with some friends and just held the chapstick in my hand the entire time. I didn't once put it away because if I did I would immediately need it again.
Because of my addiction my lips no longer produce their own moisture and I am entirely dependent on chapstick. Unfortunately the chapstick has started working against me and seems to be zapping my lips of moisture rather than actually supplying them with it. I have developed incurable cracks at the corners of my mouth and the skin on my lips has become so taut that smiling is uncomfortable.
I have made a number of attempts at quitting cold turkey but to no avail. After the first day of going without chapstick my lips became so uncomfortably tight that I had difficulty eating my peanut butter and jelly crackers. A real low point came when Jennifer scolded me after she noticed that instead of weaning myself off of the chapstick I just switched to another brand thinking that it would solve my problems. Rather than a solution, this was clearly a cry for help.
Now that I have admitted my problem I will try to take steps towards recovery. Unfortunately, I'm not exactly sure of what those steps are. I need a support group, but apparently there aren't too many people with this addiction. I suppose it is important to remember to take my recovery one day at a time.
posted by Mayzilla @ 5:38 PM
2 Comments:
Hi, I’m a reader of your blog, a Korean guy.
To fight the crack on my lips I also applied chapstick as every winter of dryness came to me, but my worry was about the basic ingredient of the chapstick called petroleum jelly, which extracts from petroleum… Very good effect, but it’s from petroleum…
So I found another way.
First of all, why your lips are so dry is you have heat in your body and the heat comes out of the lips with moisture… so you need to keep the moisture stayed while you supply enough water… I’ll leave some al•lo•path•ic treatment:
You need to drink enough water, more than 8 glasses a day. And green tea is good because the nature of it is cold food so it helps to lower the heat out of the oriental way.
If you have incurable cracks, massage your lips with steam towel for 3 minutes and apply honey on your lips and put wrap on them and wipe gently after 10-15 minutes. Keep doing it at least a week…Hopefully work on you, too.
Toni
Or...maybe you could build a tiny device whereby you twist your too-dry lips in a tourniquet. The cessation of blood flow will cool them down but will help squeeze out any residual moisture still trapped inside. If you use a rubberband to do the twisting, you could snap yourself in the mouth or cheek with it every time you feel the compulsion to apply Chapstick. This is called beavior modification and I don't know if it really works but it will make your face so sore that you are likely to forget about lipial dryness altogether. If you substitute a permanent, uncapped "markeur magique" for the Chapstick, the embarassing, colored streaks on your face may make you give up your destructive compulsion and, if they don't, they will amuse the crap out of your co-workers who will probably stop chastising you in public places.
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