Hunter is a seemingly fulfilled woman, married to Richie. The day she becomes pregnant, the young woman develops an eating disorder that upsets everything in her path: Pica. This is the summary of the movie Swallow, which hits theaters on January 15. But what does this disease consist of?
Eating dirt, swallowing marbles, ingesting paper … These unusual eating practices are not reserved for children’s experiments. They have a pathology name, it is Pica. It is characterized by the repeated ingestion of inedible food.
A man swallows 1894 coins
It is only after the age of 2 that we speak of Pica syndrome. Most often, patients ingest earth, dust or pebbles, but also soap or wood. They do not seek to feed on it, it is a compulsive behavioral disorder. Another disease can be linked to Pica: tricophagia, eating your hair. In 2018, a Japanese man suffering from this pathology made the headlines by swallowing 1894 coins.
This is a fairly rare psychiatric disorder. However, several cases were reported around the time of pregnancy, such as in the movie Swallow. It can lead to abdominal problems, malnutrition, poisoning, nutritional deficiencies, intestinal perforations or even dental damage.
Pica disease is often linked to another mental or behavioral disorder, but can also be caused by a severe mineral deficiency. There is no actual treatment, other than psychotherapy.
Also read:
Pica disease: doctors find 2,000 parts in the belly of a patient
Pica’s disease: man found with 7 kilos of metal in his stomach
