I don’t have Pica, but I thought I would try and teach myself a little something about it.  Just in case it rears its scary head somewhere in the future.

I probably shouldn’t go ahead and assume that everybody knows what Pica is.  So I’ll describe it here and if you know it already you can just skip ahead a little.

Pica is when you have a physical craving for items or substances that have little or no nutritional value.  It is the persistent eating of non-nutritive things for at least a month without any association with an aversion to food.  The word ‘Pica’ itself is from the Latin word for ‘Magpie’ which is a bird who is apparently known for its questionable eating habits.

Usually, it’s associated with Pregnant women, at least in my experience. Though I know a woman at work who has a young cousin who will literally eat anything it is left alone with, even nails and batteries!  That and other rather ‘unsavory’ ingredients.  Let me go ahead and name some of the most common types of pica.

Geophagia

If you recognized ‘geo’ you got it, eating dirt.  Topsoil, clay, chalk, etc…  Animals do it in the wild, and it’s fine, but apparently we can’t chew on the grass with our pups, people frown on that.

A pregnant woman who eats clay may be throwing back to the days of the cave when clay was the best available remedy for nausea.  Clay, in rural US areas, is eaten as some sort of soother for the gastrointestinal tract and may absorb toxins.  Why are we eating the toxins?

My best friend growing up used to eat sand right off the ground.  I don’t know how she figured out that sand was the thing to eat, at the time I just thought it was one wacky quirk.  Like being able to hock a loogie or something (ew).  Not as a geophagic deficiency in minerals.

Pagophagia. Ice

I’ve never met anyone who had to compulsively eat ice before, but I suppose it’s easy to disguise.  I mean, who is going to look at you askance if you chew on the remnants of your soft drink?  It’s even easier to hide if you like Icees.

If you have this compulsion try popping some iron pills, the two are linked.  Though apparently it’s unclear if that’s the truth or pagophagia may cause iron deficiencies, check with your doctor!  But don’t chew too much ice it’s probably not good for your teeth huh?

Amylophagia.  Starch.

What?  There are people out there who eat boxes of purified cornstarch?  News to me.  Though pregnant women should file this one away since amylophagia has similar characteristics to gestational diabetes and can gum up a diagnosis.  Just like g.d. excess consumption of starch leads to high birth weights and delivery complications.

…..

List of pica cravings:  burnt matches, hair, stones, charcoal, baby powder, mothballs, toilet paper, couch cushions, toothpaste, soap, sand, plaster, coffee grounds, coin money, baking soda, cigarette ash, dry bath sponges, kitty litter, wire etc…

Go to ranker.com/list/the-10-most-bizarre-eating-disorder-news-stories/ivana-wynn to see some evidence of pica sufferers.

Go here experienceproject.com/group_stories.php?g=99194 to visit a message board where pica sufferers discuss what they eat and why.

It is suggested (though how can we know) that half of pregnant women who suffer from pica don’t say anything about it.  I just told my husband that I would probably have a hard time telling him if I were inclined to eat let’s say chalk.  Mostly because I already have food shame, but that’s another story.

Can you imagine the fear in confessing to someone, even your doctor, that you like to eat kitty litter?

You don’t have to tell anyone if you don’t want to, except of course your doctor.  You can’t gain anything by keeping back from him/her.  Their job is to ‘do no harm’, nowhere in the job description does it say anything about being judgmental and if you have that kind of doctor…  kick him/her to the curb and start over with someone more helpful!