craving

[nevaeh_babygurl]

im craving cardboard andi dont understand why...am i stressed or ami weird, i have noo idia. im only 15  turning 16 and this prolly weird for my age..ok ok it is but i dont remember when or why i started what made me do it. i used to bite my nail sb ut now its cardboard..smh

[specialmom]

Hi there.  So, there is a mental health disorder called PICA. That's what this sounds like.  It's when you want to eat things that you should (dirt, ashes, paper, etc.). https://www.webmd.com/mental-health/mental-health-pica  Copy and paste the article to read about symptoms and ways this is treated.  I'm very sorry this is the situation.  You should see your doctor right away and explain the situation. The first thing they will do is to do blood work and check to see if there is anything like anemia going on. They will also check to see if there are vitamin deficiencies either from replacing other food you would ordinarily eat with the cardboard or if there is some deficiency that is making you have the craving in general. They'll do an x ray of your intestines probably too.  Just to make sure any health issues from consuming the cardboard are uncovered to keep you safe. Once that is done, then you can move onto the issue of PICA itself.

They actually often consider PICA an eating disorder and is often treated by a mental health care team. When they test for mineral or nutritional deficiencies, they then work to correct these if they are found.  Correcting those deficiencies can actually overcome the entire issue so that's the very first thing they focus on. https://www.healthline.com/health/pica  Since OCD is so often involved with PICA, that too is a lot of times treated along with. Because of that, sometimes they do use medication as well.  

People overcome this and it is important to do so. Let me know what you think of this information.

[specialmom]

One last link.  Eating of paper specifically for which cardboard falls under is a subgroup of PICA.  https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4261218/  It's got a weird name, xylophagia.

[Paxiled]

PICA isn't the only reason people obsess over eating strange things.  Sometimes it is just a weird behavior you pick up for whatever reason.  But you know, you can just stop.  I know it isn't easy, but you can.  You didn't always do this so you already know you don't have to do it, and if you seek help you will eventually be told to stop doing it.  It can cause cuts inside of you.  See if you can not do it for a day.  Then for a week.  Then you'll find you've stopped doing it and have started to do something else weird teenagers do.  

[Paxiled]

I don't mean you're a weird teenager, that's how it sounds, I meant that all teenagers do things that will seem pretty weird when you're older and look back on it.  Being a teenager is a really fun time but also a very difficult in between time when you're not a kid anymore and not yet an adult and it's a time for experimentation and can have stressful periods of time and thus a lot of weird stuff happens that you'll use as material for fun stories for the rest of your life.  Now, there might also be some troubling stuff going on in your life or your family.  And, it could be PICA.