Current p SYCHIATRY CASES THAT TEST YOUR SKILLS Ms. A is depressed about weight gain in pregnancy and has a history of bulimia. During her pregnancies, an obsessive craving for inedible items, which is fairly common among expectant mothers, overrides her bulimia. ▼ Eating baby powder controls her urge to purge History An inpatient discovery her from gaining more even as she ate as much as she s. A, 20, presented to the emergency room with an wanted. M exacerbation of asthma due to noncompliance with For 11 months after the birth of her first child, she medications. A review of her systems and a physical purged three to four times daily. She could eat as many exam revealed significant bilateral shortness of breath, as five “value meals” within 2 to 3 hours at fast-food wheezes, and rhonchi. restaurants. Eating relaxed her and made her feel A single mother who lives with her two daughters, comfortable, but the frequency of purging escalated to ages 5 and 2, Ms. A is 28 weeks pregnant with her third five to six times daily and the vomiting was physically child. After receiving albuterol nebulizers for her asthma, exhausting, painful, and caused esophageal damage. she was admitted to the obstetrics and gynecology floor At age 17, Ms. A became pregnant with her second for monitoring of maternal and fetal status. There, a child. In the first 2 to 3 months, she continued to eat large nursing staff member observed her eating baby powder. quantities of food but purged less often (two to three The psychiatric team evaluated Ms. A and learned times daily). that, during her first pregnancy at age 15, she grew One day in the third month of this pregnancy, Ms. A uncomfortable with her increased weight and started watched as her mother used medicated powder on her purging. Standing at 5 feet, 6 inches, Ms. A weighed as own child, and the powder's scent stimulated within Ms. much as 220 during the pregnancy; her weight fell to 170 A an urge to taste it. Before long Ms. A was eating the pounds after delivery. When she presented to us she powder regularly and had stopped purging. She recalled lamented, “All of my friends are still thin.” purging only three times during the remaining 6 months The stress of being a single teenage mother and of the pregnancy. The craving for powder replaced both going to school, combined with disgust over her physical her desire to vomit and the need to binge on food. She appearance, provoked her purging. She did not think returned to regular binging and purging (once or twice purging would help her lose weight but would prevent weekly) after her second child was born, however. 58 VOL. 1, NO. 6 / JUNE 2002 In your view, which should be addressed first, the bulimia bulimia simply as an erroneous or aberrant or the obsession with baby powder? Or should both be appetite (Box 1).8 Pica has been known to occur addressed in tandem? with—and can be a symptom of—bulimia and anorexia, but it is rarely cited.8,10 As in other eating disorders, affected individuals are ashamed of ▼ their weight, body shape, and body image.13 Comorbid bulimia and pica disorders tend to work together to accomplish a similar task: weight loss/control. Eating non-nutritive substances occupies space in the stomach, creating a sense of satiety without taking in calories. Therefore, this behavior acts as a substitute for binging in the patient with bulimia.14 One study identified eight themes associated with pica during pregnancy: keeping practices secret, singularity of the experience, extravagant Commentary This case displays a form of adult pica for means for obtaining the craved substance, fears for the effects baby powder, which has only been described in the literature on the fetus, yielding or not yielding to the cravings, use of for pediatric pica.1,2 She displays no cognitive deficits or psy- the substances as medication, pica and lack of food intake, chological disorders (e.g., mental retardation, schizophrenia) and sensory experiences other than taste.2 All eight of these that are commonly associated with pica.3-6 Pregnancy, which themes were present in Ms. A. is also common in pica, did exist in this patient and may provide some physiologic or psychological insight into the Evaluation Needing more and more patient’s disorder.7 The patient’s bulimia nervosa, however, y her third pregnancy, Ms. A's obsession with gives an unusual twist to this case. B powder started to take hold. She found it easier to In the 18th century, pica was classified together with conceal the purging from her partner, so she began purg- ing more often (twice daily) to offset her cravings for the Box 1 WHAT IS PICA? he term pica has evolved over centuries to describe Pica has been speculated to be a form of aggres- Tthe compulsive ingestion of non-nutritive substances sion, a result of compulsive neuroses, or a manifestation or unusual food cravings. Its etymology stems from the of oral fixation because of its association with thumb Latin word for magpie (genus Pica), a bird said to pick sucking.1 In the end, pica is a poorly understood up, carry away, and presumably eat a myriad of objects. disorder. The word was first used in 1563 by Thomas Gale, Scientists question the etiology of pica. Early psy- who noted this consumption of unusual foodstuffs in chiatric hypotheses focused on societal expectations of pregnant women and children.8 In contemporary litera- women’s outward beauty. A higher prevalence of pica ture, the word “craving” is often used instead of pica to has been recognized in mentally retarded persons and minimize social judgment toward practices that deviate patients with schizophrenia.3-6 from “normal.” Pica is most frequently observed in children, preg- An estimated 20% of pregnant women are believed nant women, and patients from a low socioeconomic to have a history of pica, but the documented preva- background.10,11 More comprehensive studies have lence of these cravings may be underestimated because explored geophagia (a craving to eat chalk, clay, or dirt) women often are embarrassed to disclose the behavior.9 in Africa and the southern United States.12 VOL. 1, NO. 6 / JUNE 2002 Current 59 p SYCHIATRY CASES THAT TEST YOUR SKILLS Eating baby powder controls her urge to purge baby powder. Purging was a last resort for the patient and In the hospital she craved powder 2 days after it was her only means of off-setting her desire for the powder, removed from her access. She became extremely anx- which relieved her urge to vomit. She ate baby powder ious and distressed. She then ordered as much food as throughout the day, even awaking two to three times at possible so she could purge and forget about the powder. night to ingest a few spoonfuls. Until she presented to us, Ms. A had How would you explain the patient's psychopathological followed a daily ritual. At 10:30 a.m., when attraction to baby powder? the local drug store opens, she superficial- ly tested the consistency of a certain brand of powder available on the shelves. She ▼ then purchased one case (six 14-ounce containers) of powder, went home and sampled each container, and rated them in quality from 1 to 6, with 1 being the bottle of powder she ate that day. The next morn- ing, regardless of how many cases of pow- der were piled in her closet, she went to the drug store and repeated the process. Commentary Patients with pica typically express Ms. A felt comfortable eating the talc-based powder satisfaction from consuming non-nutrient substances (Box in her apartment and her mother's house. She kept some 2). Ms. A’s motive for eating the powder stemmed from what baby powder in her desk at work, but she regularly took she perceived as its soothing properties. an hour-long lunch break to drive back to her apartment Other reported cases have alluded to the sensation and satisfy her craving. She also carried powder in the generated by the texture of soil or chalk in the mouth. Some car, tasting it while driving. When asked how the powder made her feel, Ms. A Box 2 replied: “Powder is like nothing else. It makes me feel COMMON OBJECTS OF PICA content and at ease.” Whenever she was irritated, or if Object Specific disorder the children were frustrating her, she would take a Burnt matches Cautopyreiophagia spoonful of powder. Earth (chalk, clay, dirt) Geophagia In the beginning, she consumed approximately one Feces Coprophagia 14-ounce bottle per month. When she presented 28 Hair Tricophagia weeks pregnant with her third child, she could not imag- Ice Pagophagia ine life without baby powder. A spoonful satisfied her for Laundry starch, cornstarch Amylophagia only 5 to 10 minutes before she would desire more. No Lead paint chips Plumbophagia other substance quelled the cravings. She had tried edi- Raw potatoes Geomelophagia ble substitutes such as confectioners sugar, cornstarch, Stones Lithophagia and ice chips, but nothing offered the satisfaction she got Other known objects of pica—Ashes, baking soda, from powder. balloons, carrots, celery, chewing gum, cigarette butts, When she is unable to ingest powder, she develops cloth, coal, coca leaf, coffee grounds/beans, cotton balls, a headache, begins to sweat, gets extremely anxious and concrete, crayons, croutons, detergent, grass, hard candy, irritable, cries profusely, and becomes depressed. If she insects, lavatory fresheners, latex gloves, licorice, lint, is abstinent more than 2 days she is unable to sleep and metal, milk, newsprint, oats, oyster shells, paper, parsley, becomes preoccupied with the powder.