Signs and Symptoms
Pica is the eating of substances with no significant nutritive value such as earth or ice. Subtypes are characterized by the substance eaten for example:
- Amylophagia (consumption of starch)
- Coprophagy (consumption of feces)
- Geomelophagia (consumption of raw potatoes)
- Geophagy (consumption of soil, clay, or chalk)
- Hyalophagia (consumption of glass)
- Consumption of dust or sand has been reported among iron-deficient patients.
- Lithophagia (a subset of geophagia, consumption of pebbles or rocks)
- Mucophagia (consumption of mucus)
- Odowa (soft stones eaten by pregnant women in Kenya)
- Consumption of paint.
- Pagophagia (pathological consumption of ice)
- Self-cannibalism (rare condition where body parts may be consumed; see also Lesch-Nyhan syndrome)
- Trichophagia (consumption of hair or wool)
- Urophagia (consumption of urine)
- Xylophagia (consumption of wood or paper)
This pattern of eating should last at least one month to fit the diagnosis of pica.
Read more about this topic: Pica (disorder)
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