Addicted to bowl fresh cleaners
Administrator
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Australia
Posts: 211,454
Hi Peaches - welcome 
we don't allow people to post their email addresses - thats for your protection as much as anything else - but you can certainly respond to others who will post here
Obviously eating bowl fresheners can't be good for you and almost certainly dangerous - anemia or low iron seems to be a factor in a lot of these stories I've read here - have you considered speaking to your Dr about this?
As you can see others have had this problem too - you'll find support and understanding here
D
we don't allow people to post their email addresses - thats for your protection as much as anything else - but you can certainly respond to others who will post here
Obviously eating bowl fresheners can't be good for you and almost certainly dangerous - anemia or low iron seems to be a factor in a lot of these stories I've read here - have you considered speaking to your Dr about this?
As you can see others have had this problem too - you'll find support and understanding here
D
Member
Join Date: May 2019
Posts: 1
Omg! Me too! I don’t eat them but I also love to smell them while crushing ice. I always thought that was not normal and wondered why I do it. I’m glad I’m not the only one.
Originally Posted by Janedprincess 
I also have a extreme desire to smell and eat toilet bowl freshners. It started from a visit to a place of business that used them and I've been smelling them since. I am pregnant so I don't know if the desire will continue after my pregnancy but, after a while of smelling them I wanted to start eating. Because I know it's just not healthy I discovered a way to curve my appetite for them. I simultaneously eat ice while smelling them and the the smoothness of the ice makes me believe it is the freshners. I found that this only work with the moon shaped ice cubes not square or crushed and I melt the ice down to smaller pieces and chew them while smelling it and it does wonders for me. I also run hot water on them before smelling it to make the smell stronger so it can make them smell way more pungent while chewing. good luck 😊
Member
Join Date: Mar 2018
Posts: 73
If you are having your iron supplements increased then try the iron with vitamin C, vitamin C increases the absorption of iron and is less rough on your stomach, anemia is rough, if that still doesn’t help then ask your doctor about vit B12 shots because the type of anemia may not be helped by just iron alone. Good luck, the cleaning chemicals are rough business for your body
Member
Join Date: Feb 2024
Posts: 1
Me too
I'm also addicted to sniffing toilet deoderizer (bowl fresh ONLY), don't eat it, but keep it around to sniff when i get am urge (such as.... The laundry room & the sink in my bathroom so my hubby didn't know!!!! I also have one clinged to each of. my toilets 😵 idk got to stop it and idk what it will take for me not to eat it????? I don't think it's gotten that far, i do have anemia, but i just want to be healthy!!!!!
Member
Join Date: Jun 2018
Posts: 278
"Pica" is the medical term for a compulsion to eat non-food things. Sometimes it's ice chips, sometimes it's dirt, maybe sometimes it's bowl cleaners. Point is, this is a real thing, and there are known ways to deal with it. You might get control over this with a DIY approach, but there is help available. I'd start with your physician, and ask for a referral to someone who can evaluate you for pica and treat it, if that's indeed what's going on. There are professionals who help with this kind of thing, just so you know.
Member
Join Date: Nov 2023
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 901
Hey MissH,
Argh - I really feel for you! It must be hard reaching out with something like this, as it’s so unusual.
I saw a programme once where a lady was addicted to eating the walls of her grandmother’s house!
It’s really hard for other people to fathom, but as an addict myself of multiple vices (alcohol, coke, gambling - all of which I don’t do now) I know that WHATEVER the addiction is, the thought processes and the ‘model’ are the same. And it’s all consuming. So, although I haven’t been hooked on bowl cleaners, I can understand your problem on a basic level.
I don’t know enough about this topic to suggest anything, but please do keep posting.
The ingredients in bowl cleaner might do the damage to your body much faster than other substances like alcohol. Although I have no idea.
Just a quick note on the anemia: Is your addiction to ingesting bowl cleaner definitely linked to your iron deficiency? Or are you not sure. If it is, having vitamin C with your iron helps the body absorb the iron better. Also, instead of tablets, try eating liver or steak for iron, I believe the nutrients are much more bioavailable.
Again, you might have tried this.
Keep us updated - you are never alone. We all understand addiction.
xxxx hugs
Argh - I really feel for you! It must be hard reaching out with something like this, as it’s so unusual.
I saw a programme once where a lady was addicted to eating the walls of her grandmother’s house!
It’s really hard for other people to fathom, but as an addict myself of multiple vices (alcohol, coke, gambling - all of which I don’t do now) I know that WHATEVER the addiction is, the thought processes and the ‘model’ are the same. And it’s all consuming. So, although I haven’t been hooked on bowl cleaners, I can understand your problem on a basic level.
I don’t know enough about this topic to suggest anything, but please do keep posting.
The ingredients in bowl cleaner might do the damage to your body much faster than other substances like alcohol. Although I have no idea.
Just a quick note on the anemia: Is your addiction to ingesting bowl cleaner definitely linked to your iron deficiency? Or are you not sure. If it is, having vitamin C with your iron helps the body absorb the iron better. Also, instead of tablets, try eating liver or steak for iron, I believe the nutrients are much more bioavailable.
Again, you might have tried this.
Keep us updated - you are never alone. We all understand addiction.
xxxx hugs
Member
Join Date: Nov 2023
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 901
Originally Posted by Schne
If you are having your iron supplements increased then try the iron with vitamin C, vitamin C increases the absorption of iron and is less rough on your stomach, anemia is rough, if that still doesn’t help then ask your doctor about vit B12 shots because the type of anemia may not be helped by just iron alone. Good luck, the cleaning chemicals are rough business for your body
Agree, cleaning chemicals are rough business on the body
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