A Traumatic Brain Injury Can Make You Crave Cheese and Swear Like a Sailor

We'd never say that a deep, sphincter-squeezing love of dairy is a symptom of any illness. After all, we'd have to commit our very own cheese stalker/washed rind expert, Charlotte Kamin, who wrote that "whether it's to eat away the feelings of rejection and unlovable-ness that plague your moments of solitude, or if you're serving it in an attempt to get into some perceived hottie's pants, cheese will never steer you wrong."

Check the pasta pot for pet bunnies, right?

But a rabid craving for cheese can, in fact, be caused by some highly unfortunate neurological wiring.

Just ask poor Kai Thomas, a 15-year-old student in the UK who collapsed after suffering a sudden brain bleed last summer. Following a six-hour surgery to repair the bleed, he remained in a coma for nine days, according to The Daily Mail. For a long while after he awoke, he was unable to walk or talk.

While he has since regained those abilities, a couple of other peculiar behaviors have cropped up: constantly cursing and eating cheese as if there were no dairy tomorrow.

"One day I was in the kitchen, when I heard Kai yelling in his bedroom," Kai's mother, Tracey Thomas, told the Daily Mail. "He was screaming, 'Fuck, bitches, shit.'"

When she went to investigate, she found her son chowing down on an entire block of cheese, which has since become a regular part of his diet. Kai apparently even puts it on his cereal.

While doctors explained to Kai and his family that changes in mood and behavior are quite normal following a brain injury, they couldn't explain the yen for cheese.

But in the odd history of unfortunate neurological side effects, there have been far, far worse cases. Alien hand syndrome—perhaps best exemplified by the titular character in Dr. Strangelove—is a very rare but very real side effect of some brain trauma. And consider the man who underwent brain surgery to treat his epilepsy and woke up obsessed with child porn. (He was later diagnosed with Klüver-Bucy syndrome, a rare disease that can cause hypersexual behavior and even excessive eating patterns.)

For his part, Kai is reportedly undergoing therapy, and his condition has continued to improve. Let's hope that he makes a full recovery, but that his love of cheese endures all the while.