Hi There, I've read a lot of your posts, most of which are very familiar to my past ice eating habit/addiction. I am still searching though to hear what you have replaced the ice with?? You say that after addressing the anaemic factor, the ice crunching addiction went away? Ok, I'll tell you my story:
I crunched a lot of ice when I was a teenager, right through my 20's. (I'm now a 40 year old mother of 2). I never craved cold drinks, it was only the crunching of the ice I wanted. I'm not sure if I was anaemic back then, possibly. I actually stopped due to respiratory problems and I thought the ice might be contributing to that. It wasn't a problem for me to stop as although I guess I was addicted, my health is much more important and I can be disciplined if I need to. I no longer suffer with respiratory issues such as asthma, sinusitis etc, but also did other things to help with that.
I don't think I realised at the time, only now do I see this, but not long after I gave up eating ice, I started eating raw carrots!! So for me it was definitely the crunching thing. I never got ridiculous on carrots although if I don't have a bag of carrots in the fridge, I will run to the shop as I always like to have them handy to crunch. I feel it better than the ice obviously because it's food and they are good for you but still sometimes I over do it and eat too many carrots in a day. Maybe the most carrots I've eaten in a day is 20. ha haa!! usually I would eat at just 4, but not usually less.
So, just recently, like 2 days ago, I was on holiday with my kids and I started eating ice!! I've not done it for 15 years and I won't go down the ice road again. But I had to question my reasons, what I was feeling and why I was feeling it when I ate ice. Firstly, I was by myself with my kids so a little tired but nothing unusual, just not much head space. We'd just got back from the beach and I was feeling hot. Usually I would sit and drink some green tea but I just felt too hot for tea so for some reason grabbed a glass of water and put some ice in it. Freakishly, eating the ice felt like heaven!! Felt like home!! I wonder then, do I hold tension in my jaw or something? Is crunching ice or eating carrots so soothing to me because my jaw is stressed?
I think if I wasn't so health conscious I would definitely be eating ice still but it just wasn't good for me. It bloated me up and I didn't have space for real food. And don't take that as a hint to get skinny as that won't work either. Eating ice slows your metabolism down, I'm sure of it!!
Anyway, back to the crunching of ice and the now crunching of carrots. Why is this? What is this?? I meditate, I'm actually a yoga teacher. I'm pretty chilled. I think my jaw is not relaxed though. When I was a kid I had slightly purtruding front teeth but never had braicers. They did straighten up nicely but left me with a bit of an overbite that i was self conscious about. If my jaw was fully relaxed my over bite was more pronounced. I didn't like it so would constantly hold my jaw in a way that didn't show the over bite so much. I don't know if that has anything to do with the crunching thing. I'm not anaemic now and still like crunching, be it carrots, but secretly, if ice did me good, I'd crunch it in a second, especially that frosted stuff you guys are talking about!!
Can anyone relate? Or am I just a carrot munching crazy yoga mum?
Oh my God,i have been eating ice since my school.I never realised till today that eating ice is because of aneamia.I knew that i am aneamic but then i didnt knew that eating ice was a symptom of something bad.:(
All my buddies told me to stop this addiction,but i tried so hard .Highly impossible.Unknowingly i eat off minimum of a tray of ice if i am at home. Though i am suffering from sinusitis i am not able to control myself but have to.But frankly i can never take off ice from my mind,keeping it away from time to time and diverting it jus for my health reasons which is so tough.
Can we really get out of addiction asap aneamia goes off?
Can some one help?
I too am ice addict, I have this addiction since 2005 and it all started when I worked at this company that had the soft ice exactly like Sonic the fast food drive does. I was in heaven and I loved that ice sooooooo...etc etc. that I my co-workers would bring me cups of it and sit it on my desk...:0) boy was happy...it all started from there and every day while I was there at that company I was in paradise with eating this nugget ice as it's called..Now, I still have the cravings and the type of ice has to be crushed/nugget ice or very close to it or I will not eat it..I would go so far to go to my girlfriends house who has a very clean deep freezer and scrape off the ice it taste just like snow..she would call me to tell me that the ice was ready for me to eat..yeah yeah I know crazy right...but I just have this addiction I have been to the doctor to have my blood check to see if I was anemic but I was told several times that I am not anemic. Where I live we have Sonic locations on three sides of town and if I am close I will stop by and get at least two XL cups of ice to crunch and munch..as I call it..I started another job and they had the "Sonic ice machine again I was in heaven and will fill my own personal cup up and munch at my desk...wheeeeew....let me tell you that it was the best..out of all the companies that I have worked three had the "SONIC" nugget ice machines and it was the best..now that I do not live to far away from a fast food drive place called "Cookout I know I at least go by there 3 to 4 times a week and have my fiance' or myself pick up everytime 2 XL cups of ice and it is the BEST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!....my fiance knows my fetish and calls it crazy I just laugh..heck I'm craving some as I am typing just thinking about it....well that is my story... I think after I am done typing this long story..that I am going to the "Sonic" drive in further down the street to get my fix or I will drive to the "Cookout" to get me two XL cups of ice it taste just like the nugget ice except it's broken up and it's soft!! YUMMY I must say...so to all the crunch and munchers eat up...crunch crunch crunch crunch...;0)
I started eating ice a few monthe ago ,when I first started the addiction I thought that i was going through early menapause .My husband even bought be ice bags to to in the freezer so that i would always have it that is the small cheewable ice the ones i like best .But yesterday i had a doctors appointment I told my doctor about the addiction and with no surprise when she check the level of my iron blood count level it was way under the mormal number I was very anaemic so she prescribe iron pills .I never knew that excessive ice eating could be this bad...
I ALSO HAVE A VERY BAD ICE ADDICTION I EAT IT ALL DAY LONG BUT IT HAS TO BE THE ICE CUBE THEY HAVE A TASTE I CANNOT EXPLAIN I EAT SO MUCH ICE THAT SOMETIMES I CANT EAT FOOD BECAUSE IM SO FULL AFTER EATING TRAYS AND TRAYS OF ICE I NEED ICE REHAB IM EVEN DAMAGING MY TEETH FROM BITING THE ICE ALL DAY BUT I CANT HELP IT ...HELP !
I eat ice all the time and the problem now is that it gives me the ice-eater cough. So i self-help by eating ice and the same time drinking hot water so that in my gut the ice is warmed up. plus it helps you from feeling cold after eating ice. You should see me, chomping a cube swallowing and the a gulp of hot water. I know anemia is indicated but myself I have another condition of a dilated heart resulting in non-perfect circulation. I am under treatmen but takinig iron will not help.
its so wierd you having said you had back pain and pain in your left side cause i have been chewing ice for the last 6 years and just a couple months ago had the same painful symptoms... except it was worsend by the ice i would be chewing my ice and all of a sudden i would feel the pain in my back first then in my side but along with the pain on the left side it felt like a huge knot it would be intense
I too am an ice attic. My nickname around the house is "Icehead". Like "Crackhead". Its not at all funny nor is it cute. But it's true, I am an icehead. I eat ice morning, noon, and night. All day long. I am starting to wonder if eating so much of it has anything to do with the reason why I stay so gassed up. I get this intense pressure in my abdomen, from which I assume is in my stomach. I take beano and it usually subsides thereafter. But after it is gone, I'm right back on my ice binge. It is so bad that I have a method of preparing my ice before I eat it. I prefer ice from the icemaker, and what I do is fill my cup up. It's a large 32oz plastic cup. I fill it up and rinse the ice with hot water and then let it sit for about a half an hour before I start eating it. It is really good. I tell my kids that it is better than eating icecream. To me it is anyway. I have been eating ice since I have been about 10 years old. I use to watch my mom scrape the frost from the freezer, before there were frost free refrigerators. I started doing the same thing and use to get terrible sore throats from it. I then moved on to crushing my ice in a plastic bag and a sock. Weird huh. It is crazy I tell you. I am now 40 years old and have been anemic all my life. Just last year I had to have a blood transfusion and I take 65mg of iron pills everyday, but still continue to eat ice. I don't know what my problem is. It has just become a very addictive habit, that besides having painful gas, I have no interest in stopping. "My name is......... and I am an Icehead."
yes and i need an answer now
they also call me & ice head we have similar stories because its because of my mother i eat ice i used to crush it for her when i was little i will take a pillow case dump the ice tray it in fold it up and bang the ice with a hammer and scoop it in a cup and give it to her who knew that when i got older that i willl be eating ice like there is no tomorrow and yes the reason ice gives u gas is because when u start to chew your digestive system gets ready to digest food but because there is no food to digest it turns into gas i have the same problem i eat so much ice that it makes my stomach ache i still have to have it preferably ice cubes melted a lil mmmmm im in ice heaven girl we need ice rehab ...signing off ______________ICE HEAD XOXOXO
I eat and love hospital ice!! It is the best!! I work at a nursing home that has hospital ice. I eat it the whole time I am at work. I crave it when I am home. And think about it while I am driving into work. I think I love my job only because of the ice. I have chewed ice for as long as I can remember and I am almost 40 years old. Now that I have hospital ice regular ice cubes don't work and I will wait days just to get the real ice. I saw someone post about eating snow. And yes I love fresh snow and eat it with my kids. Glad to know I am not alone!!!
Can I suggest you have blood iron work done? Sounds like you and your Mum are very iron deficient. I was craving ice and eating 12-14 trays of ice a day for about 2 years. I found out recently that I have "depleted iron stores" that was the reading on my blood iron test. I am willing to bet that you both need iron supplements.
I love the same frosty ice!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! soooooo goooood.