Goodness, I have never known anyone in my life who was more in the grip of pagophgia than me....... It started in mid-1999 and lasted until 3/01............ Day after day, week after week during that time i chewed approximately 9 or more big cups of ice per day....... i carried an ice chest with me all of the time, I knew the stores on my route with the best ice..... I wouldn't go anywhere unless i could be assured that I could have ice........... I would eat ice until my mouth was so cold my speech was slurred, I would eat ice until I uncontrolably shook with coldness........ It was unbelievable..........at one point i coincidentally had to visit an ice manufacturing plant and i laughed to myself that i was "home"..... and for virtually all of that time, I had no idea that it was a documented medical phenomenon! It was a fluke that i discovered the concection to iron deficiency.... and that was EXACTLY the case......... I had had all of that time clinically low iron levels........ I had a partial-hyst in 3/01 and w/i 3 months the pica cleared!!! and i have never had it since!! I had only 1 negative repurcussion......... I badly cracked and chipped my teeth........ and now these years later am having to pay for expensive restorative dental work................. all in all i found it to be an interesting phenomenon and know that it had a lot to do with a sensation on my tonge, though that is hard to explain.
In any event, though it did keep my weight in check and kept me hydradted, i would recommend that anyone with that problem, seek medical attention right away from knowledgable medical personel. At one point i saw a dentist during my syndrome and he did not have an answer for my ice craving......... he was poorly informed and to my detriment.