I got an email over the weekend, which said, in part:
So, lately I read your post “Tuesday October 30, 2001, In Which I Eat Something Else That Doesn’t Agree With Me” and it was kind of a shock/revelation to me.
If it’s ok to ask, can you please answer the following:
a) Was this topic of yours true or false?
b) What do you think is the reason for you to do this?
c) Are you still doing it or with time this habit gone?
d) Have you ever had any problems after swallowing something?
A) Yes, this is a true story.
B) The reason I was swallowing things is complicated. When I was little, there wasn’t a lot of thought involved. It was like scratching an itch. As I got older I became very interested in the notion of “circus freaks” and people who could do tricks such as swallowing lightbulbs or goldfish and bringing them back up again. I had an idea that I would train myself to do this, to swallow larger and larger things until I was swallowing things that I had to bring back up. I was also interested in the idea of sword-swallowing. Growing up as an outsider in my community (which is another story all together), I felt like I would probably end up in a circus or jail or something. It’s probably better that I went to college instead.
When I got older (teens) I realized that it was more like compulsive behaviors I have read about. My brain would simply “itch” until I had swallowed the penny or rock or bug or god-knows-what. I felt better–until next time. I hit a figurative wall when I was seventeen. My coworkers and I were chatting at work, and we were kind of a foolish, punky crowd so I made a bet with someone that I could swallow one of those sticky security tags that you find on the back of CD cases or electronics (about the size of a stick of gum). I don’t remember how the bet came about, but knowing me I’m sure I initiated it. We were also curious to see if a security tag would go off if it was inside your body. (Imagine the shoplifting possibilities there!)
There were two results: the first was that security tags don’t go off if they are inside your body. The second was that when I thought about what I had done, which was to swallow a sharp piece of plastic encasing a sharp piece of metal, I realized I could get myself into some serious trouble. I realized that I needed to take it to the next level, and get some serious training for my hobby, or I needed to step down.
So, C) I stopped. It was hard, but I quit it like I’ve quit everything else: cold turkey. I have days when I’m only halfway aware and I’ll start fixating on some little object, and then I’ll snap out of it and control myself. It’s not like smoking, which can bring one a lot of pleasure and is still marginally socially acceptable. I didn’t want to drive people away or cut my guts open.
In fact, smoking, which I started doing heavily around the same time, helped a lot. I don’t recommend this as a cure, of course. I quit smoking regularly in ’95, picked it up again during my divorce in ’03, and quit again sometime in ’04. That is also a different story, though.
D) I have never had physical problems that I’ve been aware of as a result of compulsive swallowing. You touched on the issue of swallowing foreign objects and sexual satisfaction as well. There was no connection there for me. I don’t know if all the objects came out, either. Maybe stuff is still jingling around in there, like those sharks that swallow boots and such. I don’t know.
I hope this helps in some way. Good luck.
i read somewhere that all the gum we swallow doesn’t get digested and just bounces around in our guts forever. can you imagine a colonic to get rid of that?
“she’s blowing bubbles out her ass!!”
I would pay good money to fart glitter. I don’t know if that relates at all, but, man, wouldn’t everyone be happy to see you?
The bee-yatch is hardcore. That I knew, SJ, but I had no idea about this particular compulsion!
Up until a few years ago, I never paid attention to what I put in my mouth (although I rarely swallowed anything). And then one day I was putting up posters or something and realized that if I fell from the chair, I might breathe in an entire mouthful of tacks (it was just a convenient place to keep them). I decided that from then on I should just have a couple at a time that I kept on my lips.
Strangely, I had had a very uncomfortable episode years earlier (age 16) with a LEGO that was lodged in my throat. At the time often had a lego (or other small object) in my mouth, but in this instance it suddenly went down my esophagus. Normally I can swallow things (12 pills at a time is not a problem with a little water), but in this case it only went halfway down the pipe. MAN, this was painful. Later I realized that it had scratched my throat, and so even after I technically swallowed the thing, I felt like there was something stuck.
On the positive side, I feel that I can assure you that things have been making it out (including gum). My mother (as you have unfortunately found out) has a fixation on these sorts of things and always verified that my inputs matched my outputs, so to speak. Even accidental swallowings as a child were resolved as safe issues (no pun intended). Our intestinal tracts are remarkably robust (like so many other of our biological processes).
Watching my own kids, I wonder what level of distress this caused for my own mother….
Peace!
http://www.cnn.com/2004/HEALTH/02/18/coin.eater.ap/index.html
“The patient’s rare condition is called pica, a compulsion to eat things not normally consumed as food.”
What if you have 12 pounds of quarters in there!
That would explain why I can’t lose weight. Or maybe I’ll hit the jackpot one morning.
It’s actually an e-mail I sent to SJ hoping to get any clue on the matter. I’ve spoken with few pediatrics, but no real luck since nobody knew the reason for that kind of stuff, so I decided to get information from “first hand” you know. Well, I’ll just let you people know how the story ended. It all helped me realize that only way to put an end to this is to speak with her about it. I was avoiding it because it may be hard to speak with my daughter at times, and even harder to put some sense into her. Besides, “don’t do it” won’t work with her, because the next question is “why?”. ANd whatever I say next, next “why?” follows. But I’ve had a long conversation with her anyway and it seemed to have a result. At least she’s not doing it anymore.
Lesson here? For me – I learned that it’s always better to talk straight rather than trying to determine someone’s reasons behind the back, because everyone has his or her reason for anything. Not a big revelation, I know, but I had to face it to realize, for understanding ain’t always the same. Um… enough phylosophy, I just wanted to say thanks and that the prob got a solution in a straigh mother-daughter talk. So thanks everyone, be good!
I also swallowed things starting very young with little objects, just to see what would happen. Over the years I swallowed bigger and bigger stuff and was always looking around for things that were new I could try, part of it for me was seeing it “come out the other end”. Well a few months ago I ended up in the hospital after some extremely large items I swallowed got stuck in my small intestine, I was there for several days and they amazingly passed on their own but I have stopped doing that now. It was just a gradual progression and until something bad happened I didn’t realize it.
Bobby J,
What items did you swallow?
Several cigarette lighters and CO2 cartridges were what got stuck, but I probably had thousands of objects pass through over the years and never had any problem.
Bobby J,
Did you have a blog called WIYS? I remember, some months ago, chatting with a gentleman who swallowed CO2 cartridges. His last post was about his attempt to down a 12 gram cartridge. I am wondering if you are the same person? If not, please tell me what exactly happen in your case, and what went wrong with your attempt? Thanks.
Yes, same person. Contact me by email and I will tell more about the story. th14539@yahoo.com
In recent news they say that the Lighters that look like toys and have been implicated in numerous house fires over the years will soon be banned from being sold in the state under a measure signed by Gov. Chris Gregoire. Under the new law, any lighter that has flashing lights, makes musical sounds, or could be mistaken as a toy is banned. Disposable lighters with decals and artwork are exempt.
Good work! Thank you very much! I always wanted to write in my blog something like that. Can I take part of your post to my blog? Of course, I will add backlink?
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