Hi all!

Has anyone ever had an addiction to ChapStick®?  We’re talking the classic ChapStick® that has been around for forever and a day.  Well, I had a discussion with my aunt while I was visiting friends and family in Maine last week about my cousin having an addiction to ChapStick®. 

No, she doesn’t chow down on the stuff, but rather licks it off her lips constantly such that she has to reapply the ChapStick® countless times throughout the day.  She feels she definitely has “eaten” enough ChapStick® in her lifetime to wonder what it is doing to her body. 

There are no studies about eating ChapStick® that may lead us to the answer.  However, I did call Poison Control to see if they could help us sort out the mystery.  It turns out the ingredients in ChapStick® are not dangerous if you eat them accidently (or on purpose!).  It does not build-up in your system if you are a constant lip-licker like my cousin – there won’t be a layer of waxy-type stuff in your stomach or gut!

If anything, a bunch of ChapStick® eaten all at once may give you some stomach upset (i.e. nausea/vomiting) or an angry gut (i.e. diarrhea, gas, etc.).  It would act more like a laxative than anything else!  With my cousin’s case, she would not feel any of the symptoms in her stomach or gut because she is getting very little of the ChapStick® in her belly. 

The Poison Control guy told me that you may have to worry with other lip protectants/moisturizers because they all have different or extra ingredients in them (i.e. peppermint oil).  If you have another “chapstick” in mind, give Poison Control a call at 1-800-222-1222 and they will definitely help you out.  They are super friendly and can give you information on just about anything from household cleaners to prescription drugs.  They can even identify a drug if you tell them what it looks like!

If you would prefer to check them out on the web, you can find them at www.aappc.org. 

Let me know if you need any further information on Poison Control by e-mailing me at cate@getpharmacyadvice.com or commenting on this post.  I know you will find Poison Control to be very helpful and you will be surprised at how nice they are!

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