Girl needs help - Hiccups defy remedies -- for weeks

St. Petersburg Times ^ | February 14, 2007 | MARY JANE PARK

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Jennifer Mee of St. Petersburg has tried scores of remedies and seen several doctors. Still, the 15-year-old's hiccups persist. LINK at source above to hear her hiccups.

ST. PETERSBURG — She has tried holding her breath. Drinking water from the far side of the glass. Putting sugar under her tongue. Sipping pickle juice. Holding a paper bag over her face as she inhales and exhales.

None of that stops 15-year-old Jennifer Mee’s hiccups.

It started more than three weeks ago during first-period science class at Northeast High School. After about 15 minutes of nonstop hiccuping, she went to the medical clinic on campus. The staff there worked with her for five hours, and still she hiccuped.

That was Jan. 23.

In the weeks since, she has seen a pediatrician, a cardiologist and a neurologist. She has had blood tests, a CT scan and an MRI. She had an allergic reaction to one medicine, which triggered hives.

Something like 50 times a minute, Jennifer Mee hiccups, a staccato routine that sounds a bit like a smoke alarm whose battery has run out. Her mother, Rachel Robidoux, likens it to the sound of chihuahua barking.

When they go to Wal-Mart, strangers come up to them and try to scare the hiccups away. They offer prayer and healing hands and folk remedies, none of which has worked so far.

So Robidoux turned to the St. Petersburg Times.

“I’m just looking for some answers,” she said, “where somebody’s gone through this. At this point, we’re willing to do anything.”

[NonValueAdded]

Paging 60Gunner to the ER, stat!

[Lazamataz]

Surgeons have succeeded in curing a man who had non-stop hiccups for a year.

OR

Medication is sometimes needed to stop persistent hiccups. Various medicines have been used for this. For example, chlorpromazine or haloperidol are medicines which can relax the diaphragm muscle or its nerve supply and may stop persistent hiccups. Other medicines sometimes used include: baclofen, gabapentin, and metoclopramide.

[tiki]

I drink 10 sips of water without breathing. There was actually an episode on the health channel where a woman had had them for weeks and I missed what they did.

[Chickensoup]

1 glass cold water. 1 big breath. 10 swallows without breathing.

Resets the vagus nerve.

[Chickensoup]

antipsychotic and they went away.

We used to use Thorazine 25 with mixed results. Not enought for antipsychotic properties.

[leilani]

bottom line treatment,lol. Didn't realize he was an Ignoble winner! That's probably more likely where the House crew first found out about it, too. Just up their alley, they can probably get a whole seasons worth of scripts from the annual winners list.

[BlackVeil]

According to the above article, this interesting new treatment for hiccups was reported in the Annals of Emergency Medicine.

I daresay the scriptwriters wouldn't dare add that detail! Real life is stranger than fiction.

[Claire Baby]

I HAVE THE ANSWER !!!! LAMAZE BREATHING- JUST LIKE WHEN A WOMAN IS HAVING A BABY- IT'S SOUNDS CRAZY, BUT IT WORKS! AND I LOVE WHEN GUYS TRY IT! GOOD LUCK !

[Bodean18]

Visit this site and order "The Hic-Cup." http://www.hic-cups.com/ I got one several months ago for my husband who frequently gets hiccups. It has stopped them every time!

[SunkenCiv]

To start with, she should quit whinin'.

http://thelongestlistofthelongeststuffatthelongestdomainnameatlonglast.com/long44.html

THE LONGEST HICCUP FIT

So what was the longest hiccup fit in the world?

The biggest cause of hiccups is eating [too] fast.

Back in 1922 Charles Osborne of Iowa must have done just that, because he got a case of the hiccups. Actually his hiccups started while he was weighing a hog.

This was no ordinary case, it was a world record hiccup fit, it lasted 68 years up until they mysteriously stopped in 1990, hiccupping an estimated 430 million times. He died 1 year after his hiccups stopped.

In the early years Charles Osborne hiccupped up to 40 times a minute, which in the later years slowed to 20 times.

Charles Osborne, however, did manage a somewhat ordinary life, he was married twice and had 8 children.

[Ramius]

When they go to Wal-Mart, strangers come up to them and try to scare the hiccups away.

You know... I'd get ~real~ tired of that.

[Ramius]

it was a world record hiccup fit, it lasted 68 years up until they mysteriously stopped in 1990

How wierd would that be? For years and years of having the hiccups only to be sitting there and have them stop all by themselves? I think I might even be a little annoyed.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Early Edition: The St. Petersburg girl who has had the hiccups for three weeks will appear on the Today show Friday.


http://www.sptimes.com/2007/02/15/Tampabay/She_just_wants_some_h.shtml

[Fred Nerks]

In Australia the most popular cure for prolonged hiccups is a swipe across the face with a wet mop when the 'sufferer' isn't looking. I'm not sure if it works, haven't tried it myself, but I imagine it does a lot to help the irritation the swiper might feel having to live with the whining and sound of incessant hiccups...

HA! If it doesn't work the first time, keep doing it!

[SunkenCiv]

Wax someone in the face with a mop, check.

[Gerty]

Could your hiccupping be caused by allergies? Could you be allergic to certain foods? Do you remember eating a certain food before it started? Or you could even be allergic to some thing in your house? Maybe dust mites or maybe the perfume your wearing?

Or maybe it's just psychosamatic. Are you stress out about school or a relationship? Have you tried exercising or relaxation techniques.

[Blue Eyes]

A spoonful of peanut butter always does the trick for me. It gums up the mouth, and the effort to swallow the peanut butter seems to calm the diaphragm. Water has never worked for me.

[aruanan]

What will work depends on the cause. One thing that works for me is to hold a deep breath and then drink a glass of water with small, even swallows. This rhythmic stimulation overrides whatever feedback mechanism is causing the hiccups.

If she has a brain tumor, though, nothing she swallows short of a lethal dose of poison will affect the hiccups, though it may effect other changes.

[SoftballMominVA]

**snicker** took me a minute to figure out why you pinged me. Thanks, I needed a chuckle

[wintertime]

Sometimes, anesthesia for a a brief time will permanently stop the spasms. It requires and out-patient surgical room and an anesthesiologist, and that is somewhat expensive.