Long-standing Pica with compulsive features in a woman with iron and zinc deficiency

Abstract

Introduction

Pica is the consumption of non-nutritive substances, which is inappropriate to the individual's cultural practices or developmental level. It is frequently associated with mental retardation, and occasionally observed in pregnant women and children.

Objectives

We describe a case of long-standing pica in a woman with no co-morbid psychiatric condition.

Case

Madam NA is a 27-year old married Malay housewife, with 4 sons and 4 miscarriages. Her mother had addiction problems. She sought help from the Eating Disorders Clinic, Singapore General Hospital, for uncontrollably eating uncooked rice. This started at age 8, when she was left alone at home with no food. Since then, she had been eating up to 10 cups of raw rice daily. She was unable to leave the house without carrying a bag of raw rice; if she forgot, she would feel intense discomfort and would need to return to get the rice. She persisted in eating raw rice despite it causing friction in her marriage. When she tried to stop, she would get irritable and crave it. This behavior only ceased during her pregnancies but would restart soon after delivery. There was no other psychiatric history. Blood investigations showed anemia, with iron and zinc deficiency, as well as newly diagnosed Grave's disease. After iron and zinc supplementation, her raw rice intake decreased substantially.

Conclusions

We report an unusual case of long-standing pica with compulsive features in a young woman with no psychiatric co-morbidity, which improved during pregnancy and with iron and zinc supplementation.

Disclosure of interest

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.