Weird Medical Conditions: Pica- The Eating of Non Edible Products

There are many weird, and often misunderstood, medical conditions that affect all types of people around the world. Pica is perhaps one of the weirdest, where the sufferer compulsively eats materials that are non edible.

The types of products that the individual will look to eat are things like: metal, chalk, paper, mucus, ash, feces, coal, and many other types of materials. Another variation of this disorder is where the person will have an abnormal appetite for foods that are generally served cooked, but the sufferer will eat them raw or uncooked. Foods like this include: flour, starch, raw potato, or even ice cubes.

If you are wondering where the name came from, it is Latin for magpie. This makes perfect sense as a magpie is regarded as a bird that will eat anything, hence the name of this condition. You could compare this condition similar to when a dog will eat stones or pieces of wood. They simply eat anything. By eating the objects that they do, patients put themselves at an incredible high risk for developing internal injuries. 

What Causes Pica?

The causes surrounding Pica are a little debatable. There are suggestions that it can be caused by iron deficiency, and it has been linked to patients with celiac disease, and in the past research has pointed that the products the person eats is in fact what they are lacking. Pregnant women can also develop Pica whilst carrying their unborn baby.

One of the obvious causes most people would jump to, is that it is a psychiatric disorder. Considering that it is a compulsive disorder where the sufferer feels the need to have to eat something, this would support this theory. However, Pica is not listed as one of the disorders in the DSM-IV, which is practically the diagnostic handbook for psychiatric disorders. On the same wavelength though, certain other mental health conditions can cause the onset of Pica, such as Schizophrenia.

Image via Wikipedia

What Is The Treatment For Pica?

The course of treatment for Pica depends very much on the age group of the patient and also which category they fit into. This could be a child, learning difficulties, a woman that is pregnant, or somebody with a psychiatric condition.

If the cause of Pica is due to the lack of iron or other mineral deficiency then the first line of treatment would be to balance them back again. This would in hindsight reduce the persons compulsion to eat the non edible food, but by that time it could have become a habit.

Another method of treatment focuses on changing the persons behaviour. There are many types of behaviour changing treatment programs, but the core focus of each one is to reward the person with good consequences when they eat edible food, and negative consequences for when they eat or attempt non edible food.

If the cause of Pica is found to be a psychiatric condition then the recommended treatment is therapy and medication combined.

In my opinion it is very interesting to find out about conditions which are perhaps not publicly recognized as being a disorder. However it must cause serious worry to families and caregivers of those of the patient, especially when the patient eats the more undesirable objects which could cause serious internal damage.

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