No End to Hiccups
Seth Dowell has had the hiccups nonstop for 11 months now. He has been featured in People magazine, interviewed by countless of radio and television shows, met celebrities such as "the Rock" and Jay Leno, and was even invited to Japan, where the producers of a TV program were sure they could cure him by scaring him with roller coasters and a haunted house.
Nothing has worked, however. Ever since Seth ate a sandwich from a fast-food restaurant almost 1 year ago, he has been hiccuping every 5 seconds.
At first he thought it was funny--just a bizarre side effect from eating his lunch too fast. But after 3 weeks of restless nights and a sore stomach, the novelty wore off. He felt his hiccuping was disturbing his coworkers and classmates. At 21 years old, he became so self-conscious, he stopped dating or going to movie theaters, and eventually dropped out of school. (He intends to return next fall.)
The doctors explain that the hiccups result from a muscle spasm of the diaphragm or an irritated nerve in the back of the neck. To cure this irritating bodily function, Seth underwent various treatments: physical therapy, two different types of muscle relaxers, Valium, and Thorazine. Seth's doctors hoped Depakote mixed with clonazepam (both anti-seizure medications) would do the trick. But Seth is still hiccuping on a regular basis.
"Nothing has cured them yet," says Seth. "Some have helped. Muscle relaxers are the ones that help the most. Zanaflex is the new drug I am on now."
Basically, doctors are baffled. They have probed Seth's body with MRIs, CT scans and X-rays, but they say he suffers from no real physical problem.
Seth says he is getting used to it. He thought a cure was in sight when his doctor tried a muscle relaxer, baclofen, but his body became desensitized to it. Valium made him violent. He admits he feels sort of like a guinea pig and has suffered several side effects but is confident the hiccups will go away one day. In the meantime, he takes the teasing and ribbing in stride. He thinks it's funny, too.
"Everybody knows I have the hiccups so I'm not so self-conscious now," says Seth.
Hiccups are known scientifically as "singultus and diaphragmatic spasms." They occur when a stimulus triggers the nerves, making the diaphragm (the muscle that separates the lungs from the abdomen) contract involuntary, causing the person to take in a quick breath of air into the lungs. The air then causes a brief closure of the glottis (located in the voice box, the opening between the vocal cords) to produce the "hic" sound.
Most hiccups are harmless, and they usually stop after a few minutes. Chronic hiccups are very rare. Those that last for months or years are called "intractable" hiccups. The longest hiccuping on record was experienced by an American pig farmer whose hiccups persisted from 1922 to 1987, about 65 years. (Another report says this same case lasted 69 years).
Some possible triggers of hiccus include hot and spicy food, carbonated drinks, nervousness, sudden laughter, intense emotions, and fumes. Some possible causes of intractable hiccups include excessive alcohol consumption, pneumonia, abdominal surgery, asthma, stroke, brain tumor in the brain's breathing center, indigestion, side effects from certain medications, and liver and kidney problems.
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