Woman Had Hiccups for Eight Years – Here’s How She Finally Stopped Them

Metro (U.K) ^ | Wednesday 22 Feb 2017 | Richard Hartley-Parkinson

[nickcarraway]

A woman has finally got rid of the hiccups after eight years.

Danielle Kirkland woke up in March 2008 with the hiccups and they didn’t go away until last year.

She was diagnosed with chronic hiccups in October 2008 and visited gastric, ear, nose and throat, and lung specialists before a cure was finally found.

She said she was kicked out college where she was training to be a nurse because she was ‘disruptive’ to the class. She said: ‘I was trying not to be. I just couldn’t stop hiccuping.’

Another time, during the eulogy at her friend’s mother’s funeral, she had a fit of hiccups, making the congregation laugh. ‘Luckily my friend didn’t mind,’ she explained. ‘It made things light-hearted.’

Danielle was called disruptive by a tutor at college due to her constant hiccups in class (Collect/PA Real Life) One tutor kicked her out of class saying she was disruptive (Picture: PA Real Life)

Danielle has been dating Scott McCracken for three years, but previously she’s had some bad luck. She said: ‘Guys would make fun of me.

Danielle thinks her hiccups, caused by the diaphragm suddenly and involuntarily contracting, started because of a combination of the pain-killing medications she was taking for arthritis and migraines.

What the hell is that massive blob that's washed up in the Philippines? ‘I took barbiturates and Lortabs (an opiate of acetaminophen and hydrocodone),’ she said. ‘I was addicted to them and would doctor-hop and pharmacy-hop to get them.

‘I had been doing this for years before I went cold turkey in 2008. Going cold turkey was tough, I felt so fluey, but I recovered and am now sober.

‘However, I think the long-term impact gave me chronic hiccups.’

Around four years ago, Danielle started taking a medication called metoclopramide to try and control her hiccups.

Generally used to treat gastric problems, it caused uncomfortable spasms in Danielle and so she abandoned it.

However, it prompted her to seek more solutions. So, she started to try a muscle relaxant called tizanidine which did work.

‘It really helped,’ she said, explaining she takes a tizanidine capsule nightly.

The tizanidine took about a month to work. After that period she was hiccuping just six or seven times a day – instead of an hour. Now, if she misses even a dose, she notices.

‘I start hiccuping straight away,’ she laughed. ‘But I’m basically back to normal. No longer do hiccups interfere with my life.

‘Now if I do get the hiccups I panic. I always time them. If it goes past an hour I take an acid neutraliser or sugar as it helps.

‘I dread the thought of getting them again. I hate the hiccups. If I hear someone with them, it makes me cringe. I’ve had enough hiccups to last a lifetime.’

RCP Registrar Dr Andrew Goddard said: ‘We know that both barbiturates and opiates can be recognised causes of long-term hiccups but there are of course many others. However, it is worth stating that cases such as these, which involve such a long timeframe for hiccups are very unusual.’

[CrazyIvan]

Big deal about her hiccups. I want to know more about Michael Moore’s Phillipine cruise.

[Rockingham]

Try the breathing into a bag thing. That worked for me when I had a problem with hiccups for several years due to shingles.

[Albion Wilde]

Double dose of liquid Pepto-Bismol is my magic hiccup cure. Works every time.