Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Case Reports
. 2012 Jul;34(3):276-8.
doi: 10.4103/0253-7176.106030.

Onset of obsessive compulsive disorder in pregnancy with pica as the sole manifestation

Suneet Kumar Upadhyaya  1 , Archana Sharma
Affiliations
Case Reports

Onset of obsessive compulsive disorder in pregnancy with pica as the sole manifestation

Suneet Kumar Upadhyaya et al. Indian J Psychol Med. 2012 Jul.

Abstract

Pica refers to eating of non-nutritious substances, which is usually seen in childhood or pregnancy. Here we report a case of an illiterate tribal woman who developed pica as the sole manifestation of obsessive compulsive disorder, with onset during pregnancy. The patient had compulsions of eating uncooked rice or wheat, which resulted in toothache and abdominal discomfort. She had this habit in three pregnancies, consecutively. In the first two pregnancies it resolved spontaneously after puerperium, but persisted in the last one. Probably physical stress of limb edema during the third pregnancy was reason for the persistence. She responded to fluoxetine 40 mg / day after three months of treatment, without behavioral therapy. We conclude that pica may either be only a manifestation of obsessive compulsive disorder during pregnancy or it is an obsessive compulsive spectrum disorder.

Keywords: Amylophagia; obsession; physical stress; pica; pregnancy.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest: None.

References

    1. DSM-IV-TR. 4th ed. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association; 2000. American Psychiatric Association. Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders.
    1. Young SL, Wilson MJ, Miller D, Hillier S. Toward a comprehensive approach to the collection and analysis of pica substances, with emphasis on geophagic materials. PLoS One. 2008;3:e3147. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Young SL. Pica in pregnancy: New ideas about an old condition. Annu Rev Nutr. 2010;30:403–22. - PubMed
    1. Edwards CH, Johnson AL, Knight EM, Oyemade UJ, Cole OJ, Westney UE, et al. Pica in an urban environment. J Nutr. 1994;124:954S–62S. - PubMed
    1. Nyaruhucha CN. Food cravings, aversions and pica among pregnant women in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Tanzan J Health Res. 2009;11:29–34. - PubMed

Publication types