Pica

Did you know I used to eat paper?  I hated the taste but I craved it, I just knew I needed something in the paper. 

I also ate salt, I have always eaten a lot of salt, but one time I was given a bag of salt for a science project and I literally ate the whole bag.  I was in the second or third grade. 

Of course my parents got dragged into this.  Something is wrong with your kid.  They took me to the doctor, who said I was fine.  We had already been to family counseling and I was deemed "normal".  Ha! 

I found the texture disgusting and the taste sour, but I'd work it between my molars and chomp it, sucking the juices.  I would rip off the edges of my schoolwork and nibble as I worked. 

Why was I eating the paper? 

I read recently that children suffering from pica - eating non-food items, are often severely anemic.  That makes sense.  I had the symptoms. 

Oh, well, they're wiser now. 

I just thought I'd share that nugget from my far past.  Once I stopped growing, I didn't want paper anymore. 

Thank God I never had a blockage! 

I still crave salt, and I should.  Doc made it really clear I need to consume a lot of salt, because lithium evicts it from my cells, and I need sodium to live.  I take salt tablets.  That was an easy fix. 

I'll never forget licking my finger and sticking it in the bag of salt, then sucking every grain off my finger.  Then I'd make a run to the water fountain. 

I stopped taking my supplements for a couple weeks, while I was getting over the hives/poison ivy on my leg.  I didn't want to consume an allergen and exacerbate the problem. 

However, I'm a big fan of supplements in general.  I bought some "women's multivitamin with iron" tablets today, and when I did up my pills those got added, along with some A, E, and other things. 

I need to get some large sized vitamin C capsules.  I am lacking that and it's allergy season. 

Happily I don't seem to be allergic to any of the many pollens that abound in Houston.  I don't like mold, and cat dander (!) is an issue, but I do alright allergy wise. 

I read one nutrition book, it basically said to treat an allergy attack the same way you would a cold or flu, go to bed, rest and plenty of liquids.  I don't think many of us can afford to do that. 

Ron gave me today off.  I slept in until 7, well, I would have, but Biscuit woke me up early, asking for breakfast.  I let him do it.  I just made sure to turn off the alarm before "we" got his breakfast.  Later on, when he wanted dinner, he got under my chair and begged by rubbing against my foot, instead of walking on they keyboard.  Good boy. 

He continues to like the Gravy Lovers cat food.  I give him 2 cans a day, and he eats dry, and treats.  He's nice and plump, probably a pound overweight. 

Ron overfeeds the cats.  He basically says a skinny cat is an abomination, and he won't have skinny cats in his house.  Considering all our cats came to us, skin and bones, starving, I can understand. 

We went to Walmart.  Even with the air conditioning filter and a case for my sunglasses (I wear them over the regular glasses, NOT a clip-on which I hate), I still only came to about $60. 

I forgot to get food, but I have a fair amount of canned stuff.  I'll work on that. 

I did remember more Gravy Lovers for Biscuit.  I got 3 flavors. 

I decided not to throw away the cat food trash in the trash can, it makes the whole house smell like rotting meat, or fish.  I decided to throw it directly into the trash can.  I can also hold the can off to the side for an hour and see if Biscuit likes that particular flavor. 

Hard to believe Biscuit was not in my life, 2 years ago.  He wasn't even born! 

It is nice to have young cats (about a year and a half) with my very old Torbie.  When she does die they will help mediate the pain. 

I keep expecting the worst with poor Torbie, but she will probably get raptured with is in a week. 

We came home, I was pretty tired.  I took my medication (Ron and I had split a 20-piece chicken nugget and small fries) and a nap.  I managed to sleep for about an hour and a half, and I was happy to get it. 

Then, organizing.  I am always trying to get things tamed, not that you'd guess by looking at the house.  I rounded up the laundry and got that started. 

God help me if I'm caught "letting" Ron walk around "dirty". 

Happily he is fine using the glove so he won't smash his hand again.  It looks unhappy so I disinfected it again today.  His leg is still healing OK, but slowly. 

His legs take a while to heal from anything, I've been told he has bad circulation, but not as bad as the images I've seen on the "bad vein clinic" commercials on TV.  His legs are very pale, paler than mine.  He never wears shorts these days, his legs are too scarred up.  He is very shy about the scars. 

He has a huge scar on his forehead so I think that's a little silly.  You don't see him wearing hijab to cover up.  But he can't feel it, and boy it was spectacular.  I'm amazed it healed as well as it did.  At the end of the day, he just lost some pigmentation. 

No one told me I should keep Ron out of the sun while he was healing, so that might have been a factor.  I feel a little bad about it, but he already had scars.  I was just worried about getting him some vitamin D. 

These days, he's pretty good about taking his supplements.  He has a braille Dymo labeler, so he can mark it "B" or "D" and take it accordingly.  He is not getting multivitamins from his diet of takeout and frozen dinners. 

I try.  I get him V8, I make him salads, I cook vegetables, and he won't touch any of it.  At one point I was putting canned sweet potatoes (the unsweetened mashed type) into cornbread just to get him some Iron and Vitamin A. 

If I can't get him to eat right - and no matter his independence, some will always blame me - I can at least make vitamins available. 

He was asking me today how much Vitamin A I consume, and I told him.  I feel he is becoming more serious about his health. 

I got back on the iron bandwagon.  Those green iron tablets make me sick, but the kind they use in the multivitamin are far better.  Good, I'll take that instead. 

I remember when I was donating blood, I had to take the multi with iron just to keep my levels in a donation range.