What Does Pica Syndrome Or Allotrophagia Mean?

We have all seen programs or reports in which they show a person who has the strange facility to eat things like light bulbs, pieces of metal, glass, stones and other indigestible delicacies, if apparently nothing happen.

These people, and many others who have a desire to eat and eat dirt, metal objects, powders, chemicals and things that are not food, suffer from Alotriofaiga or also known as Syndrome of Pica.

Allotrophagia, the scientific name for this syndrome, derives from the Greek "alotrios", strange, and "phagia" (to eat), and can be translated as eating strange things.
The name of Pica Syndrome, arises from the name of a magpie that takes everything that seems attractive and with it builds its nest, this bird is known as pica pica magpie.

It happens in both children and adults, and a disorder with the desire to consume indigestible or non-food items, in many cases reaching an obsessive saturation.

This can range from mild conditions such as stomach pain and diarrhea to serious injuries such as appendicitis to a torn or perforated intestine.

Many doctors consider it an anxiety or obsessive compulsive disorder. In children, treatment consists of vigilance and reeducation to avoid these substances. In adults it requires the use of treatments that reduce anxiety; This disorder is frequently detected late, since people tend to hide their habit from others, causing irreversible damage on many occasions.

An example of this syndrome is the case of a Chinese woman who ate a large part of the wall of her neighbor, and due to the composition of the clay with which it was built, her damage was irreversible; Despite this, the woman told doctors that she cannot live without consuming the brown earth from her neighbor's wall.