Mum with decade-long addiction munches 14 SPONGES a week and even begged nurses for them instead of gas and air while in labour
A MUM-of-three with a decade-long addiction to chewing sponges has revealed she munches 14 in a week and even took them in to hospital each time she gave birth.
Emma Snowdon’s habit is so severe that she gets “shaky” if she doesn’t have a sponge to chew and has sent her husband, Mark, to a 24-hour garage in the dead of night to buy them.
The 36-year-old, from Stockton-on-Tees, County Durham, is now determined to quit after her dentist discovered sores in her mouth.
She said: “There’s a funny side to it, but it can be awful, too, because I don’t understand why it started, or why I can’t stop.
“I worry my gums will be completely destroyed and I don’t want to be an old lady sitting there chewing sponges.
“I don’t know what to do, though. There’s help out there to stop people smoking and drinking – but it’s not like there’s anything to stop me chewing sponges.”
Emma, who is a full-time carer to youngest son Ben, five, who has chromosome 21q deletion – a genetic abnormality – explained how the bizarre addiction, known as pica, began 10 years ago when she had an agonising abscess on her tooth.
Plagued by pain, she put a cold sponge in her mouth to soothe it, and found chewing it comforting.
But her habit continued even after her abscess was cured, and when she fell pregnant with her eldest Jack, now nine, it spiralled further.
She doesn’t swallowing the sponge, but pops it in her mouth and chews until it virtually disintegrates before spitting it out.
She explained: “I feel like it’s a comfort thing. At first, the sponge took the pain and stress away when I had toothache, but then I couldn’t stop.
“It got a lot worse during my first pregnancy. I even took a bag of about 28 sponges with me to hospital when I gave birth.”
She added: “The midwives couldn’t stop laughing, they’d never seen anything like it. I told them I didn’t want gas and air because all I was bothered about was chewing sponges, but they wouldn’t let me in case I choked.”
Since then, Emma, who also has a daughter, Lucy, seven, admits her problem has escalated.
As well as bathroom sponges, she also munches on scouring pads, although she is fussy about which brand – insisting they only taste good if they are from Boots, Superdrug or Tesco – and is careful to avoid the rough parts.
“Mark gets annoyed when he opens the cleaning cupboard and sees bite marks taken out of the sponges,” she said.
Embarrassed by her behaviour, Emma has only confessed her habit to a handful of family members, who all reacted with disbelief.
She even tried to get Mark, 38, who cannot work due to a heart condition, to try chewing one for himself but he hated the texture.
Remarkably, she has managed to hide her habit from her friends.
“I don’t know how they haven’t cottoned on, as I always leave bits of sponge about. When I’m out with them, I take little pieces in my pocket, so I can quickly pop them in my mouth.” she said.
“I do it in front of my friends, but I’ll tear them into strips, so they look like gum, then throw them in the bin when I’m done. I always keep gum with me too, so I can give them some if they ask what I’m chewing.”
Emma has never eaten sponges around them as she wants to ensure that her children do not imitate her.
When she is alone, though, she said her self-restraint disappears – causing the sores in her mouth that are now affecting her dental health.
As a result, she is desperate to stop and keen to track down other people who share her strange compulsion.
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“It’s definitely feels like an addiction. I feel shaky until I get to chew, then the relief is instant. It’s like being really, really thirsty, then finally being able to drink,” she said. “It’d be great to find someone else out there like me. They might be able to help me quit for good, and show me I’m not alone.”
Another woman suffering from pica ate 500g of talcum powder every day and a mum recently revealed her five-year-old suffered from the condition, which made her eat door frames and even carpet,
For more on pica, click here.
What is Pica?
According the Boots WebMD, Pica is long-term eating of inedible things such as stones, coins, shampoo, clothes or cigarette butts.
The charity The Challenging Behaviour Foundation says research into the causes, assessment and treatment for pica are have been extremely limited.
Estimates suggest between 4 per cent to 26 per cent of people with learning disabilities display pica symptoms, and a craving may also be experienced during pregnancy.
Pica may be linked with iron and zinc deficiencies, but is most often thought to be a psychological disorder.
Dr Mark Griffiths, Professor of Behavioural Addiction at Nottingham Trent University, said: "There has been no definitive explanation as to why some people consume such substances as hair, ice, soil/clay, wood, stones, glass or laundry starch.
“Obviously there is a reason for starting this particular habit – to alleviate access pain. Emma’s initial use of chewing sponge led to comfort so this behaviour was reinforcing (i.e. rewarding) and the habit has just developed where she no longer needs to do it for pain relief, but is likely to be psychologically comforting.”
