Is Eating slate pencil is harmful?

Answer 1

Yes, eating slate pencil (pica) is very harmful. I have been consuming slate-pencils for the past 1 year now. I eat as many as 40-50 slate-pencils per day at a stretch for about 2 -3 weeks. After that, I tend to stop eating slate-pencils for a day or two at most. During this past 1 year, I observed that my haemoglobin levels have dropped drastically, I have begun to experience bouts of dizziness for a minute or two once in a month. Eating slate-pencils has lowered my appetite for regular food to some extent. I have stomach cramps occassionally. All this is nothing compared to a kind of dazed feeling I experience in one part of my brain - especially the left brain. I feel dazed, as though something horrible is happening inside my head without my control. I feel as though it is the end of the world and that I may go insane. It was at this point that I began to try and understand the effects of slate-eating. As a child (4 yrs. old) during play, I used to eat slate-pencils and stopped that when my parents scolded me. By then the damage was done - because I loved the taste of it. It was at this point that I was found to be having calcium deficiency. Almost 33 yrs later, I resorted to eating slate-pencils again out of severe depression resulting from financial losses,marital disputes - and my mother-in-law's bid at damanging my reputation. I have since been unable to resist slate-pencil eating. But, after I began experiencing abnormal pains, dizziness, blank mind etc., I have started efforts to curb this habit but am unable to break this habit. I know that the root cause is depression but my love for my young kids is what making me rething and change my habits. I hope I will come a winner.