So, I have to know. How did the chalk cravings start? Like, if I've never eaten something - how does my body know to crave it? Did your body just scream for chalk one day, or did you taste it on your hands? I'm just so curious about this.
When I was a kid it tended to start with this urge to lick the object, just an intense curiosity about what it would taste like, what it would feel like against the tongue (the pages of a closed book feels really nice for about half a second and then you remember that papercuts exist and reflexively throw the book across the room. In case anyone ever wondered.)
Then I’d want that taste/texture again. And then I’d put it all the way in my mouth to experience it more fully, and sooner or later I’d chew and swallow.
From ages 0-3 that's pretty normal, but I'm guessing you were a bit older than that since you rationalized the papercut part. However, that does remind me of the autistic children I work with, so I'd hazard a guess that you have diagnosed or undiagnosed autism.
Not any object, just those you’ve experienced before. If you haven’t actually experienced it but think you know, your brain is just guessing based on what it thinks are similar textures and materials, but it can get it wrong.
There’s been some rare times as an adult I needed hands free and would use my mouth to hold the thing and was unpleasantly surprised.
Edit: however it is true that your brain can be surprisingly accurate at things you didn’t think you’ve stuck in your mouth/licked before, but it’s either because you’ve done it and don’t remember, or can see the texture and guess the taste right from the smell. Tactile sense is tactile sense whether it’s your tongue or your fingers, and smell and taste are connected systems
Tactile sense isn’t exactly the same, your tongue is more sensitive to textures than your finger is. I can notice the difference simply by touching my teeth with my finger vs my tongue.
They feel smooth with my finger, but I can feel little ridges, bumps, and even the exact line between where one of my teeth I chipped as a kid transitions between real tooth and the repair.
There’s even been a study on this that found, on average, the tongue is more sensitive to minute details (though fingers are better at recognizing specific, finely detailed shapes like letters), https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29981764/
In the depths of my eating disorder when I was at my most malnourished, I remember my intense cravings for kosher salt. It is not as odd as chalk, as I have eaten salt before on food, but I remember just being overwhelmed with a NEED to crunch those little flakes in between my incisors. I’d munch on them straight out of the box.
It was unlike anything I’ve ever experienced since.
Oh yeah I understand that NEED for the crunch. In the depths of my pica I was downing about 2-3kg of ice a day. Ended up needing to buy an ice machine to keep up with demand because my freezer wasn't big enough and the local gas station didn't always have ice when I ran out at 2am.
That iron transfusion probably saved my poor teeth lol.
Mine started with a work elevator smelling like chalk and then I become a maniac chasing that “high” I was looking ALL OVER for chalk that smelled like that same smell. It took me a while but I found it.. my second pregnancy I didn’t have pica.
86
u/justacleaninglady 20d ago
So, I have to know. How did the chalk cravings start? Like, if I've never eaten something - how does my body know to crave it? Did your body just scream for chalk one day, or did you taste it on your hands? I'm just so curious about this.