Low-Iron...

[ElizaInWondrland]

In an e-mail from MARY CAIN, she tells me how she craved too much ice, which is a symptom of a person with low-iron. She went to the doctor and got B-12, iron, and blood. Within a week, she stopped craving ice. She asked me to share this with you.

I think that this might be a problem, but for me, It's just like a bad habit. I drink vitaminwater, and eat a lot of food with iron in it. For sure I don't have low iron, but some people might.

A topic for discussionn...

[Rambling]

I dont think it has anything to do with that.
I stopped for 5 years and restarted a year ago for no reason.

[Jessabelle]

Personally, I believe that this is the reason I chew ice. About 3 years ago I was planning on giving blood for my schools blood drive. They did the thing where they tested your blood to see if it was safe for you to donate that day but unfortunately my iron wasn't up to par and I was denied being able to give blood that year.

I'm pretty sure I started chewing ice before I even knew about having low iron. And since that day at the blood drive I haven't gotten my iron checked so I could just be chewing out of habit if my iron has been corrected without me knowing it in the past three years.

[Sasha]

I chewed ice for years, craved it, absolutely had to have it. During a routine visit to my doctor last year it was discovered I was anemic, iron levels low. Doctor put me on a iron supplement and my cravings stopped.

Today, I no longer even like to have ice in my mouth - it's too cold. Sounds strange, but it is absolutely true. It's just the strangest thing to go from driving everybody, (including my husband) crazy with my ice chewing habit to not even liking to have ice in my mouth.

Try some iron, what do you have to lose? Don't overdose on the iron, just take the recomended amount on the bottle, and see what happens. Wouldn't it be cool to not have to worry about your teeth or driving your friends crazy for a change? Try it you might like it!

[yoginichris]

Yes, I have iron-deficiency anemia and I love to chew ice.

[sherrodk]

During a physical I was found to be severely anemic. I had been an ice chewer for years much to the dislike of friends and my sister in law who is dental hygenist. The anemia diagnosis led to a stress test which led to finding out I had to have open heart surgery as a valve in my heart had all but stopped working. After the surgery my craving for ice chewing totally dissapeared. About 6 months later it returned and the ice chewing did as well. Recieved treatment for the anemia and the chewing again stopped. To the person who said you always eat food with plenty of iron in them, you could still be anemic and not know it.Your body may have a malfunction that does not allow it to absorb iron. Or as in my case it turned out to result from extremely heavy periods. Believe me, your diet won't necessarily reflect your iron levels. I'm the healthy food queen and it still happened to me.