i was just sitting here reading some of your threads and noticed myself tearing off pieces of the paper towel that my bacon was on and... eating them. definitely not the first time i've noticed this, but it's friggin weird. paper towels, napkins, pieces of cardboard, etc... are some of the things that i find myself eating (yes, digesting) and most of the time i don't catch myself doing it. i often walk around the house with paper towel in one of my hands and then biting off a piece. wtf? i've even done bits (not much though) of plastic. i've chewed pens and bitten off pieces of them to where only 3/4 of the pen was left and styrofoam cups are common too. doing a search on google i came up with something about a disorder called "pica", but it usually was associated with toddlers. anemia and exposure to lead are causes for pica it seems, but also emotional distress. not sure if it even is pica. not sure of when i started eating paper, but i know that it's been a heck of a long time. does anybody else have this problem or know of anybody who has? what did you or the person that you know do?
I used to do that as a child, but it's been a long time since then. And, I had iron-deficiency anemia when I was young, so maybe that's related. Though really, it seemed more like an oral fixation. I just liked chewing on stuff; swallowing it wasn't important. Eating paper probably doesn't matter, but you should probably avoid eating plastic and styrofoam. That can't be good for you.
yeah... was i thinking the anemia bit. not sure exactly what it is... guess i'll googlit. stress maybe for the past few years. i'm due for a physical. i haven't really been sick of anything for the past several years besides a cold. thanks for the input.
Definitely a form of pica read this for more info: http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a5_090.html -- droxford
I dunno what to tell you. I've been diagnosed with anemia since I hit puberty, and I don't eat paper or the likes thereof. Maybe you had to have anemia as a child.... But eating paper isnt exactly detrimental to your health... It's pretty much like eating a plant.... some parts you can digest, and the other parts just go right through anyway. The thing that I would be worried about are the bleaches and dyes used to make the paper.
i chew plastic just like omega does i chew until my jaw gets sore and tired and then i will stop. then i will start chewing some more. generally i do it more during times of stress. but sometimes i just want something to chew on and gum is too soft. i want something that i have to work at. i also bite my nails to the point of where its like a perfectionist habit. i mean that in the sense that i feel like i have to keep biting them until the edges are all smooth. that really can't happen since when you bite them you make them not smooth. i used to do it to where i would hurt my fingers and they'd bleed, but now i make sure i carry a fingernail clipper on my keychain so i can clip off any little bits of fraying on my fingernails after i bite them.
That's pretty efficient. You save time on wiping after taking a crap, because the paper wipes as it comes out. Ingenious!!!
You wonder how many pica's are secretly employed at paper towel factories around the world. 20/20 needs to break the story.
pretty weird... but probably harmless (at least the paper part; don't know what it's been processed with). Paper is cellulose. Lots of carbs, but not the kind that count as calories, since you can't digest them. The paper/fiber will just go in one end and out the other, "so you can stay regular for the rest of your life". (Though I do like Falcons Talon's comment about wiping with it. Of course, being so regular, you wouldn't be using as much toilet paper... at least not on that end of your body.) A friend of mine used to eat paper in elementary school. Usually I just made fun of it; tried it once, just to be fair, but couldn't ever get it chewed up enough to feel that I could swallow it. Tough stuff. He quit doing that when he got older... at least, I think he did. Maybe I should put a hidden camera in his house just to be sure. Looks like a surprising number of people have really "weird" habits... guess I should quit feeling like I have trouble fitting in. Just never had any weird fetishes, or eaten paper or teacups.
Pica was the topic on the Rob Ryan show on the Buzz this morning at 6:45. They were talking about some guy that ate TWELVE POUNDS of coins before his stomach finally fell down into his intestines and led to his death. Paper's not that bad, when you compare it to the human CoinStar.
