Trichophagia

The first time I heard the word, Trichophagia, I had no idea what it meant. I heard the word in a television series known as Doc Martin and it is about one of his patients. The story is about a man who complains about his stomach, can't eat, has bad breath and wears a hat. When the hat is removed, he has bald spots on his head and Doc Martin immediately diagnoses the problem. "Have you been eating your hair?" The patient proceeds on coughing up a hair ball. Who would have known that there are people that eat their hair?

Ever since I was a young child, the one thing that will make me want to barf is seeing or just the thought of finding a hair in something I am eating. The movie almost had me in the bathroom heaving my dinner! I could not imagine anyone pulling their hair out and eating it. When I looked up the description of the word Trichophagia I found many examples of what people suffering with Trichophagia eat.

I thought and hoped I would never see or hear about Trichophagia again.Yet, on Sunday at an outdoor mass there was a lady with long braids and holding a baby. The baby had the ends of one of her braids in his mouth and happily chewing it. I couldn't help wondering that maybe he would grow up being a person who enjoyed eating hair. I certainly hope the baby is at the age where he puts anything and everything in his mouth and his Mother's braid was handy!