Pica?!!

My wife was a quite worried about eating seafood as she is in the first trimester and some seafood is known to contain high levels of mercury, and so I did a google search on it. As I was reading an article about eating during pregnancy from KidsHealth, at the food cravings section, I came across this word - Pica.

What in the world is Pica?? The only Pica I know is the noise that Pikachu made in Pokemon LOL! So I clicked on the link and this is what I learnt:-

Pica is an eating/medical disorder (it's also a unit of measurement, but that's not what I'm talking about) characterized by having an appetite mostly for nonfood or non-nutritive items which can also include food ingredients.

While it's normal for young kids to put various items into their mouth (most kids do that at some point in time) since it's how they explore and learn about their surroundings, kids with Pica goes beyond innocent exploration and it's characterized by persistant and complusive cravings.

Pica can be seen in young children (especially those who are developmentally disabled), pregnant women (as food cravings), people with epilepsy and also in animal (mostly dogs). It can last for one month or longer.

Here are some examples of nonfood items people with Pica normally crave or consume (source: KidsHealth):-
- dirt
- clay
- paint chips
- plaster
- chalk
- cornstarch
- laundry starch
- baking soda
- coffee grounds
- cigarette ashes
- burnt match heads
- cigarette butts
- feces
- ice
- glue
- hair
- buttons
- paper
- sand
- toothpaste
- soap

Below is a picture of items found in a pica patient's stomach (picture obtained from Wikipedia)

1,440 items found in a patient suffering from Pica

Ewww!! We learn new things everyday, and I learned that we're living in a crazy world that's always full of surprises LOL!!

To read more about Pica such as signs and causes of it; treatment etc, please visit the sites below for more information.

References:
1. Wikipedia
2. KidsHealth

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A Crabby Craving??!!

Alright, here's a funny story, or 2, about cravings.

Once upon a time in a small town somewhere in the state of Sarawak, East Malaysia. A pregnant wife suddenly woke up in the middle of the night (around midnight I was told) and was very angry and throwing a lot of tantrums, demanded the husband to immediately go and buy some yummy crabs for her to eat (yeap, a crabby craving), and out he went.

However, most of the restaurants that served crabs are usually closed at such ungodly hour and tried as he did, he just could not find a single yummy crab selling restaurant that was still open.

The husband was determined not to return empty handed (for the sake of his own life), so he did the only thing he could do at that point in time, which was to CROSS TO THE OTHER SIDE OF THE RIVER to try his luck.

He was lucky to find a place that sells yummy crab, but by the time he reached home, it was already about 4am in the morning!! I just hoped, for his sake, that the wife wasn't too cross about eating cold yummy crab for (very) early breakfast LOL!!

Nice try, crab! I really like your suggestion of going back to my bed to count sheep, unfortunately, my wife is WAYYY more persuasive than you are, so, I guess you're breakfast!

Story No. 2 - A tarty craving??!!

Ok, before you start to wonder what do I mean by tarty, it's actually related to edible tarts.

One fine, and very busy (for the husband) afternoon, a pregnant wife suddenly developed a very strong craving for egg tarts. So even though the husband was busy, he decided to go and buy some egg tarts for his lovely wife.

When he reached home, the wife said that the tarts were cold, and she was in no mood to eat cold tarts. So she insisted that he goes out to buy her some hot yummy egg tarts.

The couple was actually our relatives and this was related to us by our cousin sister (another relative). She was furious and thought that the wife was a really mean and terrible person.

Of course this cousin sister wasn't married and was never pregnant (she was only in her early 20s), so how is she to know what others' going through during their pregnancy? But then again, who am I to say that I know what being pregnant is like? After all, I AM A GUY!!!

Please Share: I would love to hear from you, about your experiences with cravings. Were the wives from the crabby and tarty stories behaving badly? Are they being too extreme and too hard on their husband? Can you and is it possible to actually control your cravings? Do you have a similar, or maybe even a more extreme story to tell? Please please tell me!! Me wants to know. :)


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Impossible Morning Sickness??!!

I've heard of stories where the pregnant wife asked the husband to go out hunting for THE food of their desire (cravings) very late at night, or very early in the morning depending on how you look at it (I'll share a funny story in my next post); I've also heard of stories where the morning sickness is so bad that the wife just didn't feel like eating anything. How about a wife who's experiencing morning sickness and feels sensitive to most of the food, and still feel very hungry most of the time??

HOW, OH HOW, CAN I SATISFY MY WIFE??? WHAT SHOULD I DO???

Just the smell, and sometimes, just by thinking about some food, is enough to make her nauseous, and she also gets hungry pretty frequently. When I asked her if she's craving for any food or what does she feel like eating, she usually can't think of anything. Occasionally she may thought of something, but most of the time, nothing. And if I don't fill her stomach quick enough, she'll get nauseous again because being too hungry makes her want to vomit. Argh!!! Thank God she is someone who will try her best to make do with what's available to her, such as a cup of Milo with a few pieces of cream crackers or cereal, but it makes me feel helpless not being able to do anything for her.

Cream Crackers - believed to be good for combating morning sickness. Munch 1 or 2 pieces when you feel nauseous, it may help you to feel better.

Please Share: Feel free to share or leave a comment if you have any suggestions or advice for ME!! LOL! Or just share about your experiences. I'll be more than happy to hear them :)

For those who have not experience morning sickness, don't get me wrong, it's NOT a bad thing. Granted it's not a good feeling, and despite it's name (which is rather misleading), unfortunately morning sickness does not occur only in the morning but can affect you at any time of the day, and to some people is an all-day affair. Different people will have a different experience. Some mothers did not feel anything througout the whole duration of pregnancy (the lucky ones), some have mild discomfort and some are affected very badly. It also does not necessary last through out the whole pregnancy. Like for my wife, usually after the 1st trimester she will start feeling better. There are of course some unlucky ones who suffered from severe morning sickness throughout pretty much the whole 9 months.

Scary as it may sound, some people believes that having morning sickness usually means that your baby is healthy and growing well. According to Wikipedia, studies have shown that women who suffers from morning sickness are less likely to have miscarriages or to give birth to a baby with birth defects. There are of course doctors who disagree with it. Go and read more about it here. HOWEVER, not having any morning sickness does NOT mean that there's anything wrong with your pregnancy. I've met people who did not suffer from morning sickness but still gave birth to beautiful babies.

Moral of the story: Do your routine check up and listen to your gynecologist. Don't worry about having or not having any morning sickness. As long as you do your check ups, or if you are in doubt, just go to your doc, I'm sure he/she will tell you if there's anything wrong, and if the sickness is really bad, I'm sure your doc will be able to help you out by giving some anti-nausea medication.

To read more about morning sickness, you can look up Wikipedia. Another site that offers good and simple to understand information is www.morningsicknesshelp.com. Granted they are also trying to sell their products, but no harm in checking out good info.


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