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Anna, I'm sure once you got the device, the sleeping pills would help initially. Not something you'd want to do long term Those things are more addictive than thumbsucking. Maybe you could handcuff your hands to the bed up away from your face JUST KIDDING!! My mom tried the nasty tasting stuff and everything and it didn't phase me at all!! It is definitely a powerful addiciton! I totally understand what you are dealing with! It sometimes still crosses my mind on nites I can't fall asleep.. (very very seldom) and I think, well maybe I'll try that to fall asleep... stick that thumb in there... and it feels so uncomfortable that it does not appeal to me at all! I guess my thumb doesn't taste nearly as good as it used to! And it's not deformed anymore! I had a callous on my middle knuckle from my teeth for the longest time! Stay strong! You can totally do this!!
Hello Bickerchick! Again thanks for your supporting message! So great to have this forum to freely talk and to receive understanding and encouragment about this issue, about which I feel so terribly embarassed in the 'real world'. Once again, a huge thanks! (also to all the others who wrote such supporting messages). It is true that sleeping pills are even more addictive than thumbsucking, and also more harmful I think. It may be a temporary solution but definitely not long term. So I should get confidence that I can do it, on my own, without pills! It is good to know that you don't have the craving anymore, I was a bit afraid that the craving will still always with me, even after having stopped thumbsucking for years.....
Just wanted to let you know that you aren't the only one with this habit. I was in my late teens when I was finally able to fall asleep without sucking my thumb.
Bikerchick85 wrote:Kipepeo, I went to sleep last nite laughing out loud about this thread!! It has turned into a confessional!! I love it! BTW.. I have some fuzzy sweaters too!!
And since we are all spilling the beans here.. and since you mentioned it, Kip.. as a kid I was the one putting boogers EVERYWHERE!!! My parents bed, my bed, the couch, and car seats!!! LMBO!!!
Bikerchick85 wrote:Kipepeo, I went to sleep last nite laughing out loud about this thread!! It has turned into a confessional!! I love it! BTW.. I have some fuzzy sweaters too!!
And since we are all spilling the beans here.. and since you mentioned it, Kip.. as a kid I was the one putting boogers EVERYWHERE!!! My parents bed, my bed, the couch, and car seats!!*
So how did you kick that habit?
LOL!! Kip, I actually grew out of that habit, thank goodness! Hahaha! I cannot stand boogers now! Ugh! I think they are the most disgusting thing EVER!
Thanks for your support, Dobiegil. I am glad to know that I am not the only one who sucked thumb for a bit long.... How did you manage to fall asleep without thumbsucking? How long did it take you before you finally managed?
I tried again last night, no thumbsucking, but I had to take a sleeping pill again to get some sleep. It makes me a bit desperate, but I think I must keep confidence that in the end I will make it!
I have been in braces for 2 weeks now. I am trying to stop thumbsucking but it is still very hard! The main problem is that I don't sleep well anymore without my thumb, so that I am on sleeping pills now which are at least as addictive as thumbsucking..... And sometimes, despite the sleeping pills and my motivation to stop, I am still sucking my thumb because the urge is so strong. It is such a comforting thing for me especially in these times of stress, and hard to leave such a habit after almost 40 years of doing it.....
I am quite desperate, I know the combination braces and thumbsucking is contra-productive at best... And worse, the opposite forces of brace and thumb can damage the (roots of the) teeth. So I definitely should stop doing this.
I find myself needing some encouragement, but you will understand,I find it very hard to share my problem with others, so only very few people know about my struggle. As for encouragement, I would love to hear some more succes stories of other (adult) thumbsuckers who got braces and managed to overcome this habit. Like your story when you were younger, Bickerchick. Thanks!
Hi there! I also had one of the thumb sucking fence/crib. Thanks to that old habit I'm serving a year long sentence in braces top and bottom Honestly, the crib/fence isn't all that bad and you will be surprised how quickly you forget that you want to suck your thumb! I'm all for getting the crib in asap so you can hurry up and get that fabulous smile your working towards!
Thanks for your reply, shopgirlbraced! I am glad you managed to kick off this habit with that fence. I think I must seriously consider getting that crip, although I don't really like it...... I would love to just stop on my own, but if that is too hard then that crip will surely help. First, I should take all my courage to tell or write my ortho about the thumbsucking and then I think I will just see what he says....
So you are also in braces because of thumbsucking? Do you also have an open bite? I wish you very good luck on your journey towards a beautiful smile!
Whatever you do, you definitely need to tell your orthodontist about this. (I've read through your posts, and they don't mention if you've done so yet.) Unless he's very "green" you certainly aren't the first thumbsucking patient. And if he's treated a decent number of adults, you aren't the first thumbsucking adult either. (I imagine thumbsucking adults need the services of an ortho a lot more often than the general population.) Unless your ortho is a moron (and I wouldn't imagine you'd sign up to be a patient if he was) you will not get laughed at, scolded, or made fun of. Your ortho's primary interest is in a quality final result; he will almost certainly be eager to do anything he can to get you to that point.
If you keep not telling him (and he doesn't guess), he may end up wondering why his treatments are not working like they should. (It doesn't take much force to counteract the very few grams of force braces exert.)
It sounds like you want to stop... I don't see any advantage in you "stopping on your own" (and possibly failing) versus using an appliance to help. I can understand a reluctance to use drugs indefinitely; an appliance would be much better. If your primary time to thumb-suck is when you are falling asleep, you have limited control over what you are going to be doing anyway; the appliance can only help.
This is very sound advice from Sirwired. Even assuming you did manage to achieve straight teeth through your current orthodontic treatment, if you have not kicked the thumb sucking habit, it will make your teeth go back to an unsatisfactory state irrespective of retainers. You will have wasted all your treatment costs, not to mention the inconvenience of having braces for a couple of years. So please share your problem with your ortho, perhaps by email or letter as I suggested earlier.
Best of luck with your ongoing treatment. I hope you are managing to overcome your self-consciousness about your braces. It took me a while, but you do eventually get to a point where you realise that no-one else is bothered by your braces and you aren't either.
Jem
Sectional brace with Damon clear brackets fitted to front 6 upper teeth 3 January 2012
Brackets added to premolars 2 April 2012
Estimated treatment time originally 6-9 months. Brace removed on 22 July 2013 after 18 months and 19 days
Now enjoying bonded upper retainer plus part time essix/hawley( I have both)
Hello Sirwired and Jem,
Thanks for your wise replies. You are right, sirwired, that I should tell my ortho about it and I agree with you, jem, that an orthodontic treatment won't really work if I continue sucking my thumb, and that would be just a waste of money.
But... still find it so hard to tell my ortho! The fact is that, before going to this ortho, I went to another ortho for a consultation and I honestly told him (the other ortho) about my thumbsucking. He said that that was really bad of me, especially as an adult, and that as a result I have very bad teeth now. I am sure it was not his intention, but I felt very low and humiliated in that ortho chair, even to the point of feeling so bad about myself, my teeth and my thumbsucking, that I needed psychological help. My psychologist said that the behaviour of that orthodontist was not professional at all and that it was even worth an official complaint.
After this experience, I went to another ortho (the one I am with now) and he was much more friendly and just professional, but I didn't dare to tell him the full truth about the thumbsucking anymore.... I was convinced all ortho's must hate thumbsuckers, especially if they are adults....
So even thought I know I should do it, I think it will still take me quite some courage to tell my ortho next time I go in (in 3 weeks) or write him about it... For now, I give myself another 2 weeks to get rid of this habit on my own, and if I don't succeed, I will tell my ortho (or write), because I agree with you all that he should just know.....
Anna, that's it [lightbulb]...have your psychologist call your ortho and tell him for you. Instruct the psychologist to tell the ortho not to discuss the issue with you in person, but just to treat you, with the cage device if needed, explaining that he's going to use the cage of course.
That first ortho sounds to have been pretty arrogant and insensitive. There is nothing in any way shameful or wrong about thumb sucking. It is just unfortunate that it can damage your teeth.
Lots of people continue to suck their thumbs or fingers as teens or adults. From the number of different types of habit breaking orthodontic appliances that you can find if you research it, dealing with thumb sucking is an everyday issue for orthodontists.
And Anna, I should think that orthos must LOVE thumbsuckers-think how much business they get as a result. But obviously they like their current patients to stop as no-one likes to see their good work go to ruin.
Your current ortho sounds OK-just get over the hurdle of telling him ( perhaps in the way Kip suggests) and you will be fine.
All the best
Jem
Sectional brace with Damon clear brackets fitted to front 6 upper teeth 3 January 2012
Brackets added to premolars 2 April 2012
Estimated treatment time originally 6-9 months. Brace removed on 22 July 2013 after 18 months and 19 days
Now enjoying bonded upper retainer plus part time essix/hawley( I have both)
Hi Anna, A couple of suggestions for you. When you see ore talk to your ortho about your habit, start with something like, "As you probably can tell, much of the problem with my teeth started with thumb sucking. I want you to know that I'm very sensitive and embarrassed about this and I still have a problem with it, but want to do whatever is necessary to correct the habit so that the work you're doing on my teeth is successful."
This way you're taking control and letting him know that you want to be treated respectfully. As others have said, he probably already surmises that you suck or have sucked your thumb. Think of it this way, maybe he's afraid to bring it up because he doesn't want to embarrass you!
Secondly, as you said you only have the urge when you go to sleep at night, maybe he can give you an appliance that you only need to have in at night.
We all wish you the best and admire the courage to discuss it here. No doubt there are others here who haven't commented who are fighting this as well.
Those things are more addictive than thumbsucking. Maybe you could handcuff your hands to the bed up away from your face 
JUST KIDDING!! My mom tried the nasty tasting stuff and everything and it didn't phase me at all!! It is definitely a powerful addiciton! I totally understand what you are dealing with! It sometimes still crosses my mind on nites I can't fall asleep.. (very very seldom) and I think, well maybe I'll try that to fall asleep... stick that thumb in there... and it feels so uncomfortable that it does not appeal to me at all! I guess my thumb doesn't taste nearly as good as it used to! And it's not deformed anymore! I had a callous on my middle knuckle from my teeth for the longest time! Stay strong! You can totally do this!!
Honestly, the crib/fence isn't all that bad and you will be surprised how quickly you forget that you want to suck your thumb! I'm all for getting the crib in asap so you can hurry up and get that fabulous smile your working towards! 