Has anyone had the symptom of craving ice? Needing to crunch it?

Yes, and there is a name for it - pica. It is a symptom of a vitamin deficiency. That was the one symptom that triggered me to get tested for anemia. I was craving it pathologically. I would bring a baggie of ice with me to have with lunch. I would go to the restaurants with the best ice. I got tested and my hgb was at 8.

Maybe some of you can help me with my craving......I crave cooking flour...It has to be White Lily Self Rising.....I have done this for as long as I can remember........I used to try to keep hidden from the kids but now they know about it......I eat it by the spoonfuls......every time I go to the dr I ask each of them about it.....some have said it was a vitamin deficiency and others have said it is psychological......not sure myself...It is the first thing i eat when i get up......any suggestions for this strange craving that is I guess a form of PICA.......I think I can remember a time when i was pregnant and on prenatal vitamins that I did not crave it as bad......so something tells me it is a vitamin dificiency but I also seem to eat more when i am nervous.....so who knows it maybe a little of both...i have been taking a B-Complex vitamin for a couple of weeks now and hoping that will kick in....... http://www.healthboards.com/ubb/smile.gif

Definitely a vitamin deficiency. Since they can test for iron binding and b-vitamin deficiencies, I wonder why they couldn't test for others. I think it is tough to say what you might be deficient in. It's usually not at all connected to what you crave, but maybe there is something in the flour. At least that does have some nutritional value - not like paint chips and rocks.

Do you take a regular multi-vitamin, too? I'm sure it can't hurt.

I take a Centrum Chewable Multi Vitamin daily and also the Vita Ball........I have had several choking incidents so I have to take chewable or liquid vitamins.......the flour thing is just getting way out of hand......i have had times that i have brought it to work (not often) or have stopped and bought and ate it on the way home.......i just want it to stop....but it does keep my weight in check.....because if i am hungry that will satisfy me but i am not getting much nutritional value from it.......I have my yearly physical scheduled in a couple of weeks and once again i am going to talk to the doctor and see what he thinks......blood work is always fine.....i think i am just stressed out http://www.healthboards.com/ubb/smile.gif

I forgot to mention that pica is listed as an illness in the DSM - the guidebook for psychiatry. I guess there could be a psychological component to it. I'm not sure what they recommend as treatment. I'm sure you could do a search for it and see it there is any way to stop it. My ice craving ebbs and flows along with my anemia and my bleeding. The worst part of it is that I like the texture of the ice when it has melted a little in a coke. So, not only is it bad for my teeth to crunch it, it is also just bad because that is the only time I really drink cokes.

You know, I really should be honest. What I really crave isn't ice, it's snow. I guess that's why I like the ice to melt in a carbonated drink a little so that it has a texture that is closer to ice. It used to snow more here. In fact, it should start before Halloween. But, it's just not as easy to get good snow. I go crazy when I can. You can see where I have bitten into it all along the window sills.

yep....if i can say i eat cooking flour then you can say you eat snow.......hardly ever snows here in Georgia (GO DAWGS) so i would be in a panic.....flour is easy to come by http://www.healthboards.com/ubb/smile.gif

I had been craving & crunching ice for about three months...this is before I was diagnosed with iron-deficiency anemia. I thought it was just a bad habit! The funny thing is, after my diagnosis, and having taken iron supplements (2x a day)for about three weeks, I've stopped crunching ice...I didn't purposely stop, I didn't realize it, until I had a diet soda with ice last night. (I've never craved strange things like chalk or plain flour though)

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