The eating disorder she developed in sixth grade is reportedly a behavioral habit triggered by childhood trauma.
A woman named Kesha has been gorging on toilet rolls since the age of six. Yes, you read that right. The Chicago-based woman is reportedly a classic case of xylophagia, which is "a condition involving the consumption of paper and form of eating disorder known as pica," according to the National Center for Biotechnology Information.
The 34-year-old woman appeared on TLC's My Strange Addiction and shared her strange eating habit with the world. She explained that she suffers from xylophagia and has been munching on about 75 sheets daily for the last 23 years.
Her condition is said to be a trigger response to a childhood trauma. Kesha explained that the unusual eating habit began after she moved out of her family home in sixth grade to go live with her aunt and grandmother.
"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 said. As you can probably imagine, munching on loo rolls hasn't done much good to Kesha. She admitted that it has become difficult for her to use the restroom since once she consumes too much toilet paper, she experiences cramps and stomach pain.
Just as people have food preferences—like how some love chocolate cake while others prefer butterscotch—Kesha's taste buds crave two-ply rolls. She also revealed that they are "easier to digest."
Appearing on the show, Kesha's mother said: "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. I've never been able to understand why she eats tissue, and I never will." The worried mom added: "It's like crack."
Kesha's years-long toilet paper-eating habit eventually turned out to be life-threatening. She was unaware of the serious dangers it posed to her health until Psychiatrist Kimm Dennis warned her: "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."
The potential threat surrounding her eating disorder concerned Kesha's loved ones. Acknowledging that abrupt withdrawal might not be possible, they urged her to swap loo rolls with wet wipes.
Baffled by Kesha's strange addiction, Instagram user @abinashsahu_ joked: "Good for recycling." Another comment from @misscyn1 read: "Life hack: she doesn't need to wipe when she poops it out." Meanwhile, many commenters on YouTube appeared to somewhat relate to Kesha's condition.
"I started chewing (not swallowing) tissue a couple of years ago in college, the reason at first was because I had pain in my molars and the dentist didn't really offer anything, so I just chewed on tissue and it seemed to ease it. After a while though, I realized I started doing it whenever I'm up at night studying, I guess it made my anxiety and stress more bearable - it just felt nice. I don't do it much anymore, just from time to time. Lol, I did it a few mins ago and googled what I thought was 'my' abnormality, That's how I landed here," wrote Lily Dparsh.
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