Problems due to excessive eating of ice

I am 42 years of age and have been eating ice for 18 and a half years. the past few years have become alot worse. instead of using the little ice cube trays to rest on the tray in the freezer. i pour water into the freezer tray daily and eat the ice by breaking it into pieces. I went on this forum for the first time last night and after reading took a trip to the doctors this morning and had my blood taken. I have suffered with anaemia over the 18years on and off. Always tired but put that down to a bad nights sleep all the time. Anyway Ill keep you posted and let you know if I am anaemic again. Thank you all for posting. I too thought I was just weird because I dint know anyone else that does it.

Yes eating ice is one form of the condition called PICA. I am severly anemic and eat ice like it's a food source. I have to have it crushed I can't do cubes although I would fill a freezer bag with cubes and take a hammer to them to crush them. I've been on Iron and Folic Acid daily which helps as I see my cravings have diminished somewhat but I still have to have it day and night to some degree. My blood count was so low I've had two (2) transfusions in 2 years and even test run to see if I was bleeding internally. Thank goodness nothing was wrong other than a low count that needed to be built up drastically.

I never knew anemia could kill you. I was on the verge of my vital organs shutting down from lack of oxyginated blood flow to them and my heart would race frantically if I walked too far or ran up a flight of stairs. My Dr. told me I could have a heart attack or organ failure if I'm not careful because my heart was working overtime to pump more blood to my organs that were not being nourished.

I have been eating ice for almost 8 years. I am anemic and have been for about  8 years...lol. I agree the soft white ice is the best. I know I am addicted and wish I wasnt but I have to have it. I have a problem that just started, when Im not crunching on ice my jaws hurt so bad. As soon as i drink something real cold, or crunch ice it goes away. Is this a serious problem or is it all in my head?

omg i love eating ice also i eat loads i have to have stashes ov it at work i just love the white kinda ice anyway dunno wat its doing to me but recently went dentist he told me my tooth is loose and moving and asked did it hurt i said no he said ok so im happy eating iced but why is the ice white is it coz u put hot water in trays and whats the difference with hard water/ i need to know this to perfect my ice crunching hehe

 

I seem to be doing the same thing, eating a lot of crushed ice and my sister think that I might have a medical problem. Could this be?

omg i thought i was the only ice eater in the world,glad to see im not. I have been doin it for sometime now i only like frosted ones,i have to eat it all day long. The people at my job think i got some kind of problem but i know whats wrong they need to try it LOL its soooo gudd.....

I recently started eating ice after years of not caring if I had ice in my drink or not.  I starting eating at dinner time but now I eat ice as soon as I get up in the morning and if I go home on my lunch break I eat ice. I am concerned that I am messing my teeth up or making myself sick somehow.  I notice that after a while the digested ice will come back up (I have acid reflux) in a rush of water.    I can stop myself from eating ice if my teeth or mouth is bother me.  Also I am not picky with what type of ice I eat.  I've started filling my ice trays halfway so the cube I eat will be smaller. Does anyone else have acid reflux and eat ice? 

I eat ice constantly. I go to sonic and by it by the bags. I have to have the small frosty cubes. Sometimes when I  do not have ice i get very edgy, and feel like i can not function without it. My teeth hurts bad from it, but it does not stop me from eating my ice. I just got to have it. I have been diagnosed with anemia, and my bllod count has been so low the lowest was five and they wanted to do bllood tranfusion, but i talked them into giving me the iron pills and vitamins. Now i dont take any and I feel that the eating ice is worst and I can not stop.

I read your posting and it's as if we're the same person. You discribe EXACTLY what i'm experiencing in my life. I eat at least eight 8oz cups of ice when I'm at work sitting at my computer. I also take two cups of the ride home. My Iron has always been low since teenage years. I can't just stop, it's hard! I only eat the frosty looking ice, whatever shape or size. We have several ice machine in the office, but i only get ice from one, the one with the frosty ice. My icemaker at home has to be on constantly. I also take a cup of ice with me to church service and i keep it in a foam cup so it takes longer to melt. Now my back on the left side above my hip, hurts. I have to go see a doctor. I purchase my Iron pills, but i cannot remember to take them. Sometimes my head hurts, due to the chewing is waring down my filling, thus the nerves are getting closer to being exposed. This is not good, but i still chew ice. I also take a cup to bed, i'm not proud! Now i have to go see the Dentist, let's hope it's not expensive.

I'm glad to see I'm not the only person with this problem I have been eating ice now for about 4 years and I cannot seem to kick the habit honestly it's completely taking over my life!!! I think about it constantly and It has to be blended up so it's basically like snownow after reading alot of your post I think I need to see my doctor 

I use to chomp on ice all the time and then I met several other people who did this also, so I realized my craving wasn't to bad. One thing I did learn from these other people that did cause me some concern was because they chomped on ice so much they also caused hairline fractures to their teeth and in some cases tooth lose and sensitivity. This made me stop chomping on ice but could not curb my cravings, so I brought a Ninja blender and add ice no water and it makes snow....I can still eat ice without the worry of tooth lose. I'll deal with the underlying causes eventually.

Hi, I'm 33 yrs. old and have been crunching on ice for about a year. I went to my family doctor and told him I had been feeling weak and tired lately. He done some blood work and told me a week later that I am very bad anemic, however I didn't mention that I eat ice all the time. I told him that my monthly period was bad and he sent me to another doctor who did a Novasure prosedure in his office that is suppose to stop or slow your period down. I am still having my periods which have slow med down a lot and he has me on iron pills. He find more blood work and told me I'm still anemic, what do you think I should do?

Oh my gosh I thought I was the only one!!! Reading these replies not only made me feel relieved that I wasn't alone but also worried ... My ice addiction began when I was 13 ... I've been doing it on and off but for the last 3 years it's come back and it's constant (I am 23) I am anaemic but I had no idea ice munching is a symptom... In fact I'm crunching on ice as I type this =/ definitely making a docs appointment tomorrow.

I am 14 years old. I eat ice...alot. I have been eating ice for the past year or so. My parents tought there was nothing wrong with it at first. I started waking up at night just to eat ice. It got pretty bad. I ate ice everyday and finally ,my parents got mad. They disconnected our ice maker. I was mad but that did not stop me. I started getting ice from school. Ever time I go out to a resturant, I always get ice. I crave it so much. The size never mattered. It made my teeth hurt like hell, but I did not care.The ones from resturants DONT taste good to me. They taste diffrent. I used to love the ice cubes my refrigirator made. My friends and family do not understand at all. They all think it is normal. They dont know how far this has gone. My mom keeps telling me to stop because its bad for my teeth. She thinks its as easy as that. I have not gotten my blood checked yet, but I am planning on it because maybe then I would know what the heck is wrong with me!

hello everyone , i have been eating ice for about 3 years it is due to low iron , also my skin starts to itch really bad feels like i got things crawling under my skin , i have been on iron tablets yeah it helps but then i get bellyache bc cant go toilet , but i can cope with that much better than eating ice and having itchying skin . my skin is so sore i ripped my skin apart it stings when i get in bath , my doctor said i cant be taking to many iron tablets bc then it becomes dangerous if my iron level goes to high so dropped me down to 3 a day , and hello itchying skin and eating ice again , really can not take anymore of this :(:(