What is Pica Syndrome? What are the symptoms? How is it understood?

What is Pica Syndrome, What Are Its Symptoms, How Is It Diagnosed? Pica Syndrome is a disease that usually occurs in children, but rarely in adults. We have witnessed that some mothers around us complain that their children are eating soil.

Our elders say that children's eating of soil is caused by a lack of vitamins and there is no reason to be alarmed. However, Pica Syndrome is not such a simple disease, it is a wrong and harmful nutritional action that needs to be treated urgently.

These patients not only eat soil, but also engage in other acts of food that will harm their health. People with Pica Syndrome start with eating soil and progress to eating sand, pebbles, clay, coal, and chalk. In the later stages of the disease, the patient begins to eat paper objects, metal objects, fabric types such as rope, pieces of cloth and wool that are not related to nutrition and even harm health. If the patient with this wrong and unhealthy eating disorder is not treated, it can go up to poisoning due to any object he eats in the future.

Pica syndrome, its causes include; iron deficiency, malnutrition, and pregnancy. Pica Syndrome occurs with a lack of minerals and vitamins that the human body needs due to malnutrition. Pica Syndrome is a disease that can be treated, it is treated within the scope of applying to a relevant physician, and the person returns to a healthy diet.

What is Pica Syndrome?

What is pica syndrome? Pica syndrome is a health problem that is a type of nutritional disorder. Pica syndrome, which is most common in young children, can rarely be seen in adults and pregnant women. Pica Syndrome, which is called a malnutrition, is caused by children's act of eating soil. In progressive cases of Pica Syndrome, it is seen that patients also start to eat objects that harm their health. This disease, which is primarily caused by iron deficiency, may be the body's reaction to a vitamin deficiency. Health Scientists the causes of this disease; they match it with mental problems, mental depression, neurologic diseases such as autism and schizophrenia.

What Are the Symptoms of Pica Syndrome?

Pica Syndrome symptoms include; It occurs primarily when children are more involved with the soil and then when children eat soil and earthy objects.

If parents ignore and neglect these malnutrition actions of their children, Pica Syndrome, that is, the child's eating disorder; It continues with iron, stone, pieces of paper and many other unbelievable things like these. Until the child who continues to eat harmful things will either be poisoned or face another health problem in the future. Some of the symptoms of Pica Syndrome include:

• The patient with Pica Syndrome complains of constant abdominal pain.
• Blood begins to appear in the stool of a patient with Pica Syndrome.
• The complaint of constipation of the patient with Pica Syndrome increases.
• The patient with Pica Syndrome has constant nausea.

Malnourished children begin to see the above-mentioned symptoms due to the foreign substances they eat. The reason for these complaints seen in the patient is due to the exposure of the patient to various toxins and harmful bacteria with the things he eats.

As a result of the above symptoms of Pica Syndrome, the patient:

• May experience intestinal obstruction.
• May experience lead poisoning.
• It can be caught in various infectious diseases.
• The germs that the patient eats can cause various organisms and parasites.
• The patient's attempt to eat hard things such as stone and iron may impair dental health.

How is Pica Syndrome Diagnosed? And How Is It Treated?

How is Pica Syndrome Diagnosed? In addition to the fact that children play with the soil a lot, the first symptoms are seen when the child starts to eat soil. However, this is not taken seriously by the parents. Children with Pica Syndrome are not content with just eating soil, they start to eat a different harmful substance every day.

The desire to eat these abnormal things seen in children now begins to attract the attention of everyone around them. Because Pica Syndrome patient has started to eat unhealthy and unrelated objects and gnaw on things such as iron and stone. Parents who see this behavior disorder in their children should see a doctor immediately.