Six strange addictions

Addictions - eating sausages, wearing Google Glass and looking like a doll. Photos / 123RF, AP, YouTube

In the first documented case of its kind, doctors have treated a 31-year-old for Google Glass addiction.

Google Glass provides online access via a tiny screen attached to a spectacle frame and the American was wearing his for up to 18 hours a day and even experienced dreams as if looking through the device.

From eating ice to picking scabs, people can become addicted to all sorts. So much so that a documentary - My Strange Addiction - was made in 2010 and has been going strong for five seasons.

Here are six of the strangest addictions we've come across.

Funerals

Brazilian Luis Squarisi turns on the radio each morning to find out if anyone has died. He has a bizarre habit of attending funerals - he has been to every one in his town for the past 20 years.

Ice

There is a name for the affliction which causes people to chew and consume large amounts of ice - pagophagia. It's a form of pica - where people eat and crave items that have no nutritional value.

Sausages

Father of three and accountant David Harding hit the headlines in 2011 when he spent nearly NZ$4000 to kick his sausage habit.

The sausage fan from Greenwich, South East London, ate up to 13 snags every day - enough to make him seek counseling.

Drywall

Featured on My Strange Addiction, Nicole pulled hunks of drywall from her home, leaving holes up to three feet wide.

App users: Tap here to watch the video

Blood

Mum of two Julia Caples drinks nearly two litres of human blood every month. The 45-year-old from the United States sucks the blood from the backs of willing donors she meets at an occult and oddities store.

App users: Tap here to watch the video.

A 29-year-old tattoo artist from California known as Michelle drinks a litre of pig's blood every day.

During her appearance on My Strange Addiction, Michelle said, "Blood is as important as water to me."

"I like to drink blood when I'm reading, when I'm relaxing, when I'm watching TV, when I'm painting. There's never a bad time for me to drink blood."

Pulling out hair

Trichotillomania is the practice of repeatedly pulling out hair from the scalp, eyebrows or eyelashes. Biting, chewing or eating the pulled-out hair may also be associated with this disorder. People with trichotillomania may also pick their skin, bit their nails or chew their lips.

App users: Tap here to view the video.

Living dolls

My Strange Addiction introduced three people addicted to emulating dolls. Justin, Venus and Emily. Venus, whose mother promotes her through photography, video and public appearances, has a natural doll-like appearance. Justin models and accepts plastic surgery - he's had 115 procedures - as gifts. Emily has never had surgery but wears eye-enlarging contact lenses, long wigs and a wardrobe of corsets.

App users: Tap here to view the video.

- nzherald.co.nz