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Addicted to Match Heads

Hi guys I am so happy that I found this forum. I am one of those people that craves strong scents, rubbing alcohol, gasolene, nail polish remover, acetone, nail polish, just some of the common ones.. But my major concern is eating match heads....I even have a favorite brand. I seem to eat abut 20-30 every day and I mean kitchen matches...It has been a problem throughout my childhood but I cannot seem to get rid of it. Does anyone have the same issue? Or am I just weird?
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Avatar universal
Im addicted to match heads myself . i absolutely love them think they are making me sick does anyone have problems with thier bowels ??
Helpful - 1
Avatar universal
I used to sneak and hide with one of those huge box of wooden matches and eat the heads off of them. I craved them and I was just a toddler when it started and continued up until I was about 6 years old. I’ve thought over the years maybe I had some sort of deficiency, but I see where the experts say they taste bad, but they tasted good to me.
Hiding with a box was like other kids sneaking candy.
Helpful - 0
1 Comments
Glad you outgrew it.  PICA does seem to involve kids a lot.
Avatar universal
I also eat matches I started at 20 years old when I was pregnant that's what I craved and 22 years later I'm still doing it. My family also told me they had to be doing damage. Well I finally had the nerve to read about it and now with kidney 4th stage kidney failure I now reading other than being a juvenile diabetic I wasn't help out with eating matches while reading my books weird huh. Well this forum was very informative however unless its medicationto help it's still going to be difficult. My brand is D.D. Bean&Son. So no I never felt weird but in knowing this I hope it's not to late because it is truly an addiction for me.
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
Same issues lol... I couldn't help myself.
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
I did this all the time as a child. My mom and dad smoked, I've never smoked cigarettes, ever. Still, when my mom would put out her match, it was like candy to me. I would put that matchstick in my mouth and use my teeth to get the burnt part off. Being a mom, I now wonder why my mother never thought this behavior was odd. She never told me to stop and just kept smoking. BTW, she was a nurse.
Helpful - 0
1 Comments
LOL, I like the She was a nurse part.  Do you still do things like this now, eat non foods?  Pica comes to mind.
Avatar universal
I also have a addiction I eat about 5 match boxes in a day is this dangerous ? How to get rid of this
Helpful - 0
1 Comments
That does not sound good..
5 boxes a day!!
Stop it.....seek help. Pray about it.
Avatar universal
I delt with this same problem when I was young, like 6 I loved to eat them I did it off and on till about 18. I’m 30 now and I’m starting to crave them again. My mouth literally waters at the thought of eating them again smh. I read that people with iron deficiency (which I’ve struggled with most my life) have these kind of cravings. I never knew match heads can poison your organs. That definitely stops my fantasizing about eating them again I also fantasize about eating coal smh. I’ve tasted it on occasion but haven’t really indulged like with match heads.
Helpful - 0
1 Comments
Do you treat your iron deficiency? Is a craving a sign to work on that again?  Pica also often has a psychological basis so analysis of what is going on in your life regarding mental health would be helpful too.  All who suffer this craving should seek medical attention to get to the root cause so they stop doing it as it is dangerous.  
Avatar universal
I have the same urge, I had lots of matches when I was a kid and now I have the same urge again at 34
Helpful - 0
1 Comments
Please see your doctor.  Pica is a disorder and eating non food items can be dangerous.  good luck
18655974 tn?1467287844
May be try a multi mineral (having all the minerals) tablet for a month and then see ?
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
I light a wooden  match and inhale the fumes..... then I let the wooden match burn down as low as I can.  Once the tip is cool, I eat the lil sulfur ball and then the burnt match stick.  Luv the taste of the salty burnt sulfur & the crunchy burnt wood
Helpful - 0
1 Comments
I get that!
Avatar universal
Hi thank god there's someone else out there I eat a box at least a day if I don't have them I have a real craving where I have to have on it what no matter what time it is and when I don't have my my little irritable I've been doing it since I was 20 years old slow down a little bit but I love them and have to have them pray for me
Helpful - 0
1 Comments
Thank God for helping you stop. You are killing your self. It gets in your blood and slowly kills your organs. Worst than smoking.
DO YOU WANT TO DIE?  Are you that selfish?  Then STOP. God loves you cares about you.  Please stop.
Avatar universal
I have been eating match heads when I was small but stop now I am 29 have two kids and  guess what I am doing it again but now I have a different way of eating it I put the match sticks on the stove let it burn down then put them on a napkin take the match heads out and eat the body of the match sticks.

But I know something is not right so I am going to get help because I need help. I have two kids to live for.
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
I too had an addiction to matches, thank God I stopped, I ate matches for 20 years constantly, boxes of them I still love the smell but will not eat them because they are harmful and can affect your internal organs such as sex drive skin bladder and bowels, I still crave them but just fight through it and don't eat them, it's a mind over matter thing, be strong and stop eating them especially to the extent that I did where its addicting and harmful.
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
Am from Kenya and I have a favorite brand to I started craving match sticks last year and I thought I was alone am so glad for this site.
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
Am so glad You posted this I thought I was the only one I also have a favorite brand and crave box paper :( to.
Helpful - 0
2 Comments
Can someone help me with this craven
Just don't want to die. Because that's what it is. A death wish.
The carbon in the natches steal the oxygen from your blood then the blood kills your organs then you if you don't catch it in time.
See a dr. Its not cute or funny and id he laughs he's an ******* and het a different dr. But trust me if hes any kind of dr he will know the fatal blows that match eating can do. Be brave and courageous.  I care if you live if no one else does.  Please confide in your best friend.  They will help you if they love you at all. I will be praying for whether you believe or not. God loves you and cares about every hair on your head. So hold on tight and fight for your life. Please let me hear from you. God bless you sweetheart. I also just started and plan to quit while I'm ahead.
11425779 tn?1418114060
hii im neha from mauritius im addicted from matches , guys i tell u  in a day i can eat 10 boxes of matches , and i don't knw how to stop , can u plzz guys help me to stop it from eating ........
Helpful - 0
2 Comments
Hi i dont know if I'm the only one but I like to eat matches but also while I'm smoking a cigarette I will let the burning part of the cigarette and save it and eat it not the cigarette ashes but the burnt cigarette itself the burning part the part that you smoke a wet it and then I eat it and I alone in this and why does anybody know and is it harmful
I think this person is a troll.
Avatar universal
I ate burnt matches out of the ashtrays when I was a little kid.  The doctor said I was deficient in something dietary.  This was during the late 50s, and my parents were both smokers who used paper matches.  

It went on for years and years.  Finally, I just ate enough of the cigarette ash on the match heads to make it undesirable.  I would suggest going ahead and coating the match head with something undesirable, like ashes?  Anyway, that is what cured me.

I should also mention that I was allergic to citric acid and would have terrible bouts of hives from lemons or kool aid, even though I craved citric acid.  One day, I ate the entire contents of a plastic lemon juice container, and I got hives like no other time in my life.  From then on, I could eat citric acid.

I am very sensitive to drugs (I've had terrible reactions to Anacin?), and have several allergies that usually include skin reactions.  I don't crave match heads anymore.  I will always remember the last nasty ashy one I tried to eat.  

Hope this helps someone.
Helpful - 0
3 Comments
Me too!!! I was born in 1961. My parents never even thought it was odd. :/
My young girl child is eating match heads for the last few years. She does not know that we know about it. She does it secretly but we could guess it well. We are unable to remove her the habit. What to do?
I think there are many answers to your question in this very long and old thread.  There is a condition called pica that some have.  Sometimes it indicates a nutritional deficiency.  But the only way to find out is to see a doctor and if it's psychological a psychologist.
Avatar universal
Still having the same issue.  I have come back to this post and no one else has commented!  I still need help.  I crave them all the time.  Now I'm wondering if it has something to do with some of the health concerns I have now.  
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
OMG!  I have the SAME issue and cannot quit.  Except, I eat the burnt matches.  I have been looking for relief.   I thought I'd NEVER FIND SOMEONE struggling with this same issue
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
No, u r not weird. I live in the caribbean and I thought it was just me and my sis and some pregnant woman crave for it. I can't stop
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
my sister and I hv this crazy taste for matches. Whenever I get a pack I'll finish it within a day r two. 3 box I finish in less than 10mins then drink 2glass of water. I just can't stop, its too hard....
Helpful - 0
1 Comments
Hi just interested to know if this is still going on?
3206854 tn?1345570058
I ate matches when I was little too. I was living in Barbados and would keep a box in a little suitcase. Up in my room I'd take out one match and suck on the head till it got soft. Then I would scrape the match 'meat' off with my teeth and savour the delicious flavour. I thought I was the only person who did this but now I know I am not alone.
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
hey lisa im Mandisa from South Africa.u not weird i have the same issue i started eating match heads from a very early age im now 23 and its difficult to stop i buy a box of matches and within an hour its finished. I dnt know how to stop and everyone at home tells me its dangerous its causing harm internally.my family always tell me that i will have cancer but that falls into deaf ears. i enjoy my match sticks and like everyone else i like the lion brand. I also used to eat cigarette ash i stopped that i dnt know how that happened plzzz yall pray for me i know this is not healthy and its ruining my teeth also.
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
hey lisa im Mandisa from South Africa.u not weird i have the same issue i started eating match heads from a very early age im now 23 and its difficult to stop i buy a box of matches and within an hour its finished. I dnt know how to stop and everyone at home tells me its dangerous its causing harm internally.my family always tell me that i will have cancer but that falls into deaf ears. i enjoy my match sticks and like everyone else i like the lion brand. I also used to eat cigarette ash i stopped that i dnt know how that happened plzzz yall pray for me i know this is not healthy and its ruining my teeth also.
Helpful - 0
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