Michaela Martin (both pics), at left with unidentified children
Obscure cravings are a common occurrence throughout
pregnancy, but what one woman can’t stop chowing down on is sickening,
and it could kill her baby and be harmful to her own health. After
months of feeding her face an addiction in private, her secret was found
out, but she’s still not stopping.
Michaela Martin is a 23-year-old mother, expecting her
second child. Her whole pregnancy has progressed as well as anyone could
hope for, eating a healthy diet for two, until her third trimester when
she found herself succumbing to an “insatiable craving” she claims she
has no control over. It started out small, just a need to satisfy a
sense of smell with one thing, but it soon devolved into consuming the
nasty stuff until she finally confessed her strange secret.
Michaela said she was drawn to the smell of laundry
detergent, often finding herself huffing the stuff and taking in the
clean soapy scent many people love. But then smelling it just wasn’t
enough, and there was one particular powdery variety that her body and
brain made her believe she had to have. Before she knew it, the New
Zealand mother was dipping her fingers into the laundry powder and
eating it.
“I chewed the grains between my teeth to kind of get the texture of the powder as well as the taste,” she told the New Zealand Herald,
“and then would spit it out and rinse my mouth out straight away.” But
then her need for the grainy detergent went beyond swishing and spitting
it out.
The mother-of-two told the news outlet that her love for the
chalky soap wasn’t about the taste, but about the coarse texture she
craved in her mouth, along with the scent of the soap that would fill
her sinuses as she ground the grainy powder between her teeth.
Where's her Mother! She needs #redmeat & #3veg. #WashingPowder indeed. http://t.co/HWQT2YMWxG pic.twitter.com/sW86TBxW1C— Val Heffer (@HiTechVal) September 22, 2015
“Even after trying it and knowing how disappointing the
taste was when consuming it, I continued to crave it insatiably,” the
pregnant mom described of her inability to quit the detergent addiction.
Michaela wanted to quit. She had a love/hate relationship with the
habit, but couldn’t bring herself to stop. Then she found out the
extremely unusual reason when she finally sought answers.
Michaela discovered she was suffering from a relatively rare
condition called pica, which is an eating disorder that “involves
someone eating objects which are not suitable to be eaten and have no
nutritional value,” as described by B-eat.
Stock photo of woman eating laundry detergent like Michaela does
People who suffer from pica will eat any manner of chalky,
grainy products, including actual chalkboard chalk, plaster, paint, and
even clothing, which sort of throws a curve ball into the issue. It’s
all about a texture for Michaela, which wasn’t something she experienced
with her first pregnancy. She’s been advised that her addiction will
end when her pregnancy does. “I can’t wait to give birth so I can go
back to having a normal palate,” she said.
Doctors are not sure what the connection between pica and
pregnancy is, but say it’s more common than people realize. According to
one study, “38% of the pregnant women surveyed practiced pica and 11% of them would eat more than one non-food substance daily,” Lift Bump reported.
Physicians urge the obvious for pregnant women who find
themselves with an overwhelming craving for non-food items — seek
medical attention soon. What many pica sufferers consume can be toxic to
both mom and baby, as well as cause dangerous bowel infections and
obstructions. Michaela isn’t being treated for her pica because she has
chosen to wait it out, hoping it goes away on its own. This
old-fashioned method probably isn’t the best when you have a baby on
board.
h/t: [Metro]
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