NationStates Jolt Archive


5 weeks of hiccups

Sel Appa
02-03-2007, 02:37
A Florida girl was owned by constant hiccups for 5 weeks and tried dozens of remedies and saw several doctors, but the singultus would not give up...until now. All of a sudden, her hiccups just stopped. Notably, at certain times she would hiccup 50 times a minute.

Link (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070301/ap_on_fe_st/endless_hiccups)

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - She sipped pickle juice, held her breath, breathed into a bag, even went to a neurologist, but for more than five weeks nothing would stop a 15-year-old girl's rapid hiccups — until they finally just stopped on their own.

After trying countless remedies and attracting national media attention, Jennifer Mee said her hiccups suddenly stopped around 5 p.m. Wednesday. No one is certain why.

"Right now, my nose is burning and my throat hurts," she told the St. Petersburg Times, but she said she felt a lot better than she has in weeks.

Jennifer had started hiccuping Jan. 23 close to 50 times a minute and said it only stopped when she was sleeping.

She saw an infectious disease specialist, a neurologist, a chiropractor, a hypnotist and an acupuncturist. She tried a patented device that is designed to stop hiccups, plus all the old remedies. Her mother called the media two weeks ago to try to find more help for her daughter, who ended up on NBC's "Today" show.

According to the
National Institutes of Health, hiccups can be triggered by anything from spicy foods to stress, and they can start for no reason at all. They're caused by involuntary contractions of the diaphragm, which causes the vocal cords to close briefly, making that distinctive sound.
Demented Hamsters
02-03-2007, 02:59
The world record, apparently, for non-stop hiccoughing is 69 years. Some poor sod hiccuped around 40 times a minute that entire time and then suddenly stopped.

Reminds me of a bit in The Simpsons where they interviewed a man who had been hiccoughing for years - "Please -hic- just -hic- shoot -hic- me -hic"
Mentholyptus
02-03-2007, 03:41
I hiccuped in intermittent 1-4 hour bouts for the past 3 days. Then it stopped yesterday, which was glorious. I can only imagine how shitty it'd be to have hiccups for 5 weeks, let alone many years.
Boonytopia
02-03-2007, 11:04
Hiccups are annoying. I often get them when I'm really drunk & they're extremely difficult to get rid of.
Naturality
02-03-2007, 11:18
I hate it when I get the hiccups! Man.. they hurt.. and is soo annoying. I feel for people who have them. :( I think if I got a case of hiccups that didn't go away soon I'd start trying all sorts of stuff to get rid of them.

And what do these people do when they sleep? do the hiccups stop when they sleep? Edit: read it. Glad it stops so they can sleep. That's weird.

Hiccups are annoying. I often get them when I'm really drunk & they're extremely difficult to get rid of.

Yeah, that's when I usually get them. Or if I eat potatoes too fast without drinking something .. they get stuck in my throat and I'll hiccup for a few minutes.
Ifreann
02-03-2007, 11:19
Grrrr, I hates the hiccoughs. Made of fail they are.
Call to power
02-03-2007, 11:37
clearly something very scary happened on Wednesday at 5pm

edit: And coincidently I was having a shower at this time :(
Lunatic Goofballs
02-03-2007, 11:48
Hiccups are God's practical joke. :)
HC Eredivisie
02-03-2007, 12:20
The world record, apparently, for non-stop hiccoughing is 69 years. Some poor sod hiccuped around 40 times a minute that entire time and then suddenly stopped.

Hiccups are God's practical joke. :)Poor guy:(
Vorlich
02-03-2007, 13:16
Drinking water from the other side of a glass works for me every time (you have to bend over and you chin is in the glass - you get me?).
Kanabia
02-03-2007, 13:32
Hiccups are annoying. I often get them when I'm really drunk & they're extremely difficult to get rid of.

It's eating stuff while drinking that does it. Especially things like peanuts. :mad:
The Nazz
02-03-2007, 13:48
Here's your cure (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=3395000&dopt=Citation)
Termination of intractable hiccups with digital rectal massage. *nods*
Dobbsworld
02-03-2007, 14:49
I just take a deep breath and hold it. That usually stops it. Trick is to then keep your breathing low and even for a minute or two, otherwise the hiccoughs can start up again.
Carnivorous Lickers
02-03-2007, 15:09
I dont think I've had the hiccups more than 3 or 4 times in almost 40 years.

Once though, I had them while trying to revover from broken sternum,ribs and clavicle.
That was excrutiating.

A day later I topped that by getting an extremely viscious case of food poisoning.

That was a bad month.
Dinaverg
02-03-2007, 16:35
They never go away when you're thinking about them...
Szanth
02-03-2007, 16:47
Hiccups are like cancer. It comes outta nowhere and could last for however long it feels like lasting, and could possibly disappear one day without you doing anything.

Unlike cancer, though, it doesn't kill you. It just tortures you.
Utracia
02-03-2007, 16:52
Wow, that's just awful. Luckily I rarely hiccup so all I can do is give a sympathetic smile.

*does just that*