Ice AND Candy chewing?

[Kathryn]

I am not an obssessive ice chewer, but I do it enough where people have noticed and asked me to stop. I have heard that ice chewing was related to iron deficiency, but I wasn't sure if it was true until I came to this site. I cannot believe how many people that are anemic who chew ice! I am also anemic, but I just thought it was a coincidence. I love chewing ice, especially cubes that have holes in them, or the flat cubes that some fast food retaurants have. I also love the ice that come in bags, but it has to be fresh and clear. I have tried to just suck on the ice because I know chewing cannot be good for my teeth, but I just can't do it. I notice that I do that with any hard type of food I put in my mouth (such as candy). I cannot put a jolly rancher in my mouth without immediately chewing on it. Forget about suckers,..they are useless for me. I wonder if there is a correlation between that and ice chewing too? Anyone else like this?

[Dedeains]

I too have an obsession with chewing ice. I have been chewing ice for a long time. I also like especially crunchy foods (Old Kettle Chips). I have been diagnosed with anemia and have a difficult time getting my blood levels up where the Dr. would like to see them. I am glad to see so many other people with this same problem, because I really did not know why I craved ice so much.

I also have reuined my teeth. The dentist gave me a quote of $6,000 to repair some of my teeth, but not all. However, I do not have $6,000. I keep hoping my teeth will just fall out and then I can get dentures, but it's not happening soon enough. It's frutstrating because I work in a field that requires me to come in contact with a lot of people and I don't feel confortable smiling because my teeth suck. I'm afraid that if I smile the clients will see all of my missing teeth. I also have TMJ and panic attacks, so it is difficult for me to even go to the dentist. I love chewing ice, but I know that it is creating a disaster with my teeth.

[Guest]

I am not an obssessive ice chewer, but I do it enough where people have noticed and asked me to stop. I have heard that ice chewing was related to iron deficiency, but I wasn't sure if it was true until I came to this site. I cannot believe how many people that are anemic who chew ice! I am also anemic, but I just thought it was a coincidence. I love chewing ice, especially cubes that have holes in them, or the flat cubes that some fast food retaurants have. I also love the ice that come in bags, but it has to be fresh and clear. I have tried to just suck on the ice because I know chewing cannot be good for my teeth, but I just can't do it. I notice that I do that with any hard type of food I put in my mouth (such as candy). I cannot put a jolly rancher in my mouth without immediately chewing on it. Forget about suckers,..they are useless for me. I wonder if there is a correlation between that and ice chewing too? Anyone else like this?

I heard someone tell me that i chewed ice due to an iron deficiency. I then took some vitamins with iron and in approx 2 to 7 days, it was gone. I did chew some, due to habit. Yet the only time it comes back, the want to chew ice, is when I dont take my vitamins, with iron. I dont want my teeth to suffer. I read in another article, that a Dentist wrote, that they can tell ice chewers because there are small fracture lines in the teeth of an ice chewers. So they have found that later , people crack teeth and porcelin crowns that require replacement. That can be very expensive. Even though I have had a physcial, it showed not exact anemia, yet my level was on the lowest side of normal. And I dont care what anyone says. If you are a heavy menstraual bleeder thru the month, it is more blood loss.
Try the vitamins with iron for at least 30 days. You may have to consult a dr to get a stronger iron supplement if necessary.

[jkleena]

BTW I am anemic, but I too thought the ice chewing was just a coincidence., but the pattern I'm seeing here is phenomenal.

As I child I didn't have the patience to let hard candy dissolve in my mouth. Jolly ranchers, lollipops etc, I would end up crunching away at.

It wasn't until I was in my late teens that I started having a fixation with hard mint candies. Whether its those red & white starlite mints, altoids and even upgraded to blue peppermint Halls cough drops!

Even when I wasn't sick, i would buy the Peppermint Halls. I would tell my family that I had some slight congestion. I was actually addicted to the menthol vapors that would fill my mouth and sinuses. (Sometimes while sucking on a cough drop, I would hold a jar of Vicks vapor rub to my nose and smell it, for a double dose of menthol eucalyptus power)

Then one day, during a college seminar in a small auditorium of students, I had just popped a cough drop in my mouth, and accidentally swallowed it whole. After a period of discomfort, I knew I had to stop. This was insane.

At the time, I also worked part time at Braums Ice Cream & Dairy Store . I would sometimes stay inside the walk-in freezer, loving the "freezy" smell of the ventillation, the ice, the ice cream and other produce (limes, onions, pickles)

Best of all, this Braums Ice Cream Store on Forest Ln & Plano Rd in Dallas,TX had the best mini cubelet ice, which broke easily. I would order a cup overflowing with ice and a little bit of soda water to dissolve it.

I discovered that crunching on ice was better than crunching on hard candies or cough drops. I still had that cool menthol effect, yet if i accidentally swallowed a piece whole, at least it would just melt

To this day, my family and friends know my fixation with "Braum's Ice" I live in San Antonio,TX now, where there is no Braums (but there is Sonic Burgers which has great ice in small pellets) but whenever we go back to Dallas for visits, they're used to my cravings for Braum's ice, and I would buy a bag to take back to S.A.