Pica

[philpot123]

I absentmindedly eat paper a lot... It's not really a compulsion, I just do it without realizing it sometimes

[Packgoater]

My little brother, though vegetarian, really liked cat food when he was about five or six. The first time we saw him eating git he was about four and had his head in the cat bowl. Pieces of the stuff stuck to his face because he had been drinking the water out of the other bowl before. None of us had noticed, and when we did we took it away. The idea now disgusts him.

 

I've gnawed on my pencil before, but without realizing. I was just kind of gnawing on the metal part by the eraser. I've never eaten paper or had the compulsion to eat ice cubes, though.

[Imbecamiel]

Heh. Yeah, I've heard of pica. I ate a ton of paper when I was younger. I still like it, and eat it sometimes, just... not to the same extent. Also rubber (rubber bands, particularly), some kinds of plastic, styrofoam, toothpicks, every once in a while bits of metal... Love chewing on ice, too.

 

Most of the time I try to resist the impulse, because I know it's not exactly good for me, but... I really like it. :/ Fortunately, it's not gotten to the point where it's affecting my teeth, anyway. Every time I go to the dentist he comments on how awesomely healthy my teeth are.

Edited October 17, 2011 by Imbecamiel

[Rubs]

I used to eat soap when i was young, but dude...

 

I also tried dog food and it was a little tasty.

[Lady-Morgana]

Soap?

[tyto_alba]

The paper cups that muffins and cupcakes come in. I'll eat those if I'm given a cupcake/muffin/anything baked in a muffin/cupcake paper cup. Been eating them for years and years.

 

There are also certain brands of dog cookies that I will happily snack on if they're provided. Been doing that since my mom decided her lapdog deserved special cookies and I tried one. Found it was quite yummy.

 

:3

[TwilightMoonDragon]

Dog food tastes kinda like raw meat, and the flavor stays in your mouth.

 

/shot

 

Never had that. Well... I... say I could of eaten dog food just for the dang curiousity, last time being today...

[xeyla]

I used to eat the Milkbone dog bones. I enjoyed the multi-flavor ones, bacon was my favorite. I can thank my sister for that, she dared me to eat one. I remember eating a whole box of alphabet dog cookies my mom bought for our dog Sparky. They tasted like sugar cookies to me, and I got in trouble for eating the whole box.

[Infinis]

@xeyla: My mom, according to a picture she has, used to love Milkbone dog biscuits. She shared them with Satan, her German Shepherd. :B

 

My brother used to love those Whiskas wet cat treats. He'd want them all the time. The memory grosses him out now. |D

 

 

[Rubs]

I've eaten flowers also, they have no taste, i guess...

 

I'm trying to control myself, i can't eat these sticky glues or my mom'll be mad.

[princessleopard]

I used to really really really want to eat dog food. It smelled like delicious potato chips. I managed to restrain myself, but /man/ it smelled so good. Now I think it smells kinda gross.

 

I'm an ice chewer too (although not the big pieces, I usually only chew smaller stuff). I'm also a chewer of plastic (my brother has many a smushed Lego). My mom calls me the family's puppy because I chew on everything and shed everywhere. :C

[Rubs]

And also i've eaten a mouse pad once.

[Imbecamiel]

And also i've eaten a mouse pad once.

Heheh. Yeah, I used to eat all the foam stuff from around the edges of ours... Now I've got a super-thin plastic one that'd be too hard to get anything off of. So I stopped.

[lizardtail]

apparently, i went through a phase when i was little and loved eating cat food with my neighbor's cat. O.o lol i dont remember much about it. i once ate an entire orange, including the peel. that orange was weird though, the peels were really soft and bit off really easily. they didnt taste sour and horrible like normal either. O.o

 

as of now, i love chewing all my pens, and i love eating ice, though i only do it when im bored and need to get my mouth moving.

[Kelkelen]

@ the OP -- did you tell the doctor about the cravings, and is there a way you could ask for more details about your bloodwork?

 

I'm always borderline anemic, because I have a blood deficiency called thalassemia trait. The full disease is usually fatal, but lots of people carry a trait from one parent; it's especially common in people of Mediterranean and African descent. It's tricky, because my blood cells don't carry or process iron well; so even if I'm eating enough iron, I'm still usually at a low iron level. I can't take iron pills because it's dangerous for people with thalassemia. Even if they're eating a ton of iron, their body still won't process it efficiently, so it accumulates much too quickly. The best I can do is to try and eat a high-iron diet, but avoid any kind of iron supplement, and just... prepare to be anemic once a month.

 

I seem to have mild pica at all times: I *always* chew ice, can't stand to leave it in the glass; and I sometimes *really* crave candy with a "chalky" texture like Nerds or candy cigarettes or Bottle Caps. My mom says that when she was pregnant with my sister, she realized she was iron deficient because she found herself wanting to bite pieces of chalk.

Edited April 21, 2012 by Kelkelen

[Kelkelen]

^ This. I've grown out of it, so I don't quite think it's thalassemia. I had a doctor tell me what it was a couple of years ago and I don't remember now. I just know that, when I was a kid, I had to take vitamins a lot. I still had to until a few years ago. I used to have really dark rings around my eyes. Looked like a raccoon, it was so bad. Ate ice like their was no tomorrow, and got chicken liver from KFC just about every week. There are times where my levels do drop to about 9-10 and I'm left with massive headaches and am weak. Eh. Oh, well. Hasn't killed me yet.

 

<3 the candy cigarettes. I could eat them all day and NEVER get tired of them. When I was a kid, I used to lick the chalk dust off my hands, as well as suck on rocks. Probably because I wasn't getting enough minerals.

 

As for wanting to bite random things... Before I had my braces put on, I'd chew on the back of my wooden chair. Anything that was chewy was a big temptation, too. Like pencil grips. Still catch myself chewing on them.

Oh, hey, yeah! Liver!!

 

It turns out that a *lot* of the things I really love to eat have a high iron content. Guess my body knows what it needs! I've always really loved liver, liverwurst, eggs, kidney beans, black beans, lentils, baked potatoes, and gingerbread or any candy containing molasses, even just brown sugar.

 

And oh! I used to lick chalk dust off my hands, too! That's why my parents looked into testing me for anemia in the first place! (Funny, though -- I don't think I was craving it at all. I was just being an OCD little artist and thought it was interesting to coat my palms in chalk dust and then lick off the 'high ground,' and see the relief that created!)

 

Now I really want candy cigarettes. Chomp chomp chomp.

[Fuzzbucket]

A lot of people have it at some point, even if only in passing. The most common example would be the eating of ice, which apparently means you need more iron.

????

 

That explains a lot. I have a tendency to get anaemic.

 

When I was pregnant I fancied coal.... but I couldn't actually DO it. I like the glue off pads of paper, too...

[Kelkelen]

????

 

That explains a lot. I have a tendency to get anaemic.

 

When I was pregnant I fancied coal.... but I couldn't actually DO it. I like the glue off pads of paper, too...

That sounds like it exactly. A lot of people suddenly find they fancy coal, or chalk, or rubber erasers, etc., though they won't necessarily act on the impulse! So, the next time you're craving ice cubes or glue pads... maybe eat some iron.