From drinking blood to chewing ice the top 10 weirdest addictions
It might not seem anywhere near as dangerous as drink or drugs but your dinner could be just as addictive.
Common foods such as potatoes and white bread have been found to cause cravings and excess hunger.
They even stimulate the same parts of the brain that are linked to abuse and addiction.
Scientists at Boston Children’s Hospital say it’s all about the processed carbohydrates, which are absorbed quickly and cause a blood sugar rush followed by a comedown.
But this food fix sounds pretty run-of-the-mill compared to these extraordinary addictions…
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Sausages
SAUSAGES
Accountant David Harding spent nearly £2,000 trying to kick his sausage habit – without success.
The dad-of-three, of Greenwich, South East London, devours up to 13 bangers every day.
The bizarre habit cost him £700 a year and eventually drove him to seek counselling.
He said: “I genuinely cannot bear the thought of living without sausages.
“Drug addicts crave their medicine of choice, and it’s the same for me except that my drug is a banger.”
Diet Coke
DIET COKE
Mum-of-two Claire Ayton’s bubble burst when she realised her taste for fizzy drinks had developed into a full-blown addiction.
The teaching assistant drank four litres of Diet Coke every day for 10 years – but thought it was normal.
It wasn’t until 2011 that she realised her habit was excessive.
Claire, of Pailton, Warks, used hypnotherapy to tackle her addiction. Since then she hasn’t touched a single drop of pop.
Within months she shed 5lb, while her new healthier lifestyle has saved her £1,000 a year.
She said: “Now I just drink water with a chunk of orange.
“My head is clearer, not so fuzzy, and I have much more energy.”
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Wigs
WIGS
Last month television presenter Esther Rantzen admitted she had a hairy habit that she had hidden for years.
Because the star is, by her own admission, addicted to wigs.
And Esther is not alone, there are countless diaries of wig addicts and even a help group, Wig Addicts Anonymous.
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Blood drinking
DRINKING BLOOD
Julia Caples admitted to drinking nearly two litres of human blood every month.
The 45-year-old mum-of-two, from Pennsylvania, US, has been drinking like a vampire from willing donors for the past 30 years.
And she’s not the only one with what she claims is a gory addiction.
A tattoo artist from California known only as Michelle takes her Bloody Marys literally – by mixing them with real blood.
The 29-year-old knocks back a litre of blood every day, drinking direct from her friend’s arm and topping up with pig plasma.
Michelle said: “I get cravings like someone craving a cigarette. I drink it while reading, relaxing or painting. It’s like having a hot toddy.”
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Funeral
FUNERALS
When it comes to funerals, Brazilian Luis Squarisi is the life and soul of his home town of Batatais. The 42-year-old’s bizarre taste for the macabre has seen him attend every funeral in the town for the past 20 years and he has even quit his job to feed his habit.
He said: “The first thing I do every morning is turn on the radio to find out if anyone has died. If I don’t hear anything I call the hospitals.”
A local funeral director added: “We don’t want him to go to therapy, everyone expects to see him.”
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Sun tanning
TANNING
A spot of sunbathing is a popular holiday pastime, but for some it really gets under their skin.
Self-proclaimed “tanorexic” Trisha Paytas has spent £30,000 keeping her skin brown.
The 24-year-old, of New Jersey, US, admitted she used sunbeds every day – sometimes twice – and got her first tanning session as a 14th birthday present.
The University of Texas found frequent tanners experience an addictive “reward and reinforcement” reaction in the brain.
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Coffee
COFFEE ENEMAS
Many of us need a caffeine kick to make it through the day, but Trina and Mike Elliot take it a step further and give themselves coffee enemas.
They heat the coffee on the stove before inserting it using a Vaseline-coated hose. It means the caffeine is absorbed into the bloodstream much more quickly than drinking it.
Trina gets her freaky fix up to four times a day.
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Loud Music
LOUD MUSIC
It might sound far-fetched, but experts believe some listeners really do develop a decibel dependency.
And you are just as likely to be addicted to Mozart as Metallica.
In 1998 researchers at Northeastern University in Boston found music had a potent ability to cause mood changes, cravings and even arousal.
And they found the more the listener loved the song, the louder they tended to play it.
The habit, which has been fuelled by the advent of personal portable stereos and MP3 players, can cause hearing loss.
Genuine addicts may even suffer withdrawal symptoms and depression when they dial down the volume.
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Woman chewing ice
ICE CHEWING
The practice of compulsively chewing and consuming excessive amounts of ice is called pagophagia.
It is a form of pica, a condition where people crave and eat non-food items that have no nutritional value.
About 2% of US men aged 18 and older and 16% of women aged 16 to 19 have it, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention revealed.
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The Internet
THE WEB
One of the world’s first clinics to treat patients who are addicted to the web, reSTART, has opened its doors in the US.
It has centres in Fall City, Washington, and Seattle – just a short drive from Microsoft’s HQ.
Several patients have even been caught trying to smuggle in smartphones.
Researchers at the University of Kentucky believe up to 38% of us are addicted to the internet.
Many of us stay up late into the night sending emails or trawling the web, and some even get anxious when we can’t log on.
This addiction can have a devastating impact on people’s lives, reducing attention span and causing sleep or eating disorders.
And in recent years there have been a number of deaths as a result of an extreme addiction to computer games.
....but diet coke?
