WHILE many of us crave a morning coffee or square of chocolate, one woman has told how she has an appetite for something very unusual instead – toilet roll.
Kesha, from Chicago, appeared on TLC's 'My Strange Addiction' and revealed that she likes to divulge on half a toilet roll every single day – and she has done for the last 23 years.
In fact, the 47-year-old, who has an addiction known as xylophagia and goes through around 75 sheets daily, is so fond of munching on bog roll, her mum says it's "like crack" to her.
Kesha recalled how the bizarre addiction started in the sixth grade following childhood trauma of leaving her family home to go and live with her grandma and aunty.
“I think I crave it because I love the way the toilet paper feels on my tongue, how it dissolves when it hits my tongue," she explained.
She goes on to specify that two-ply is her favourite loo roll to eat because it's "easier to digest."
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However, she admitted that if she eats too much she experiences “stomach cramps” and has “a hard time going to the bathroom."
Kesha's cravings get so intense that she doesn't leave the house without it, and even carries it in her bag and to the cinema for a snack.
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Kesha's mum recalled: “Every time I’d see Kesha, she’d have tissue in her hand and she’d try to hide it behind her back.
“If you tried to take it from her she’d get upset.
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“I’ve never been able to understand why she eats tissue, and I never will.”
Kesha has a condition known as 'xylophagia'- a "paper eating disorder" which sees people "ingest either edible or inedible substances."
But she doesn't seem to understand quite how serious the disorder is.
What is xylophagia?
"Xylophagia is a condition involving the consumption of paper and form of eating disorder known as pica.
"Pica is an unusual craving for ingestion of either edible or inedible substances.
"Inhalants are volatile substances, which produce chemical vapours that can be inhaled to induce a psycho-active or mind altering effect."
Source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4261218/
“I don’t think anything’s wrong with it," she commented.
However, her mum replied: “You eat it like it’s crack.”
Elsewhere, psychiatrist Kimm Dennis was also eager to point out: “If your intestines rupture inside your abdomen, that could be fatal, and could be fatal pretty quickly.
“You’re putting your body at risk and really playing Russian roulette with your life.”
Instead, he advises she swap toilet roll for wet wipes which are moist and indigestible.
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