Continuous Hiccups Can Be a Warning Sign For Cancer, Tumors or Stroke
Almost everyone has had hiccups at least once in their life. The frequency of hiccups becomes rarer with age and men are more likely to have hiccups than women. Hiccups have been found to begin when you are a baby and occur to allow air trapped in the stomach during breastfeeding to escape and allow more milk to be ingested.
Some of the common causes of hiccups are eating too quickly or too much; drinking too much alcohol; smoking; laughing; sudden change in temperature in your stomach (drink something hot and then immediately drink something cold). Carbonated drinks, including beer, can also cause hiccups. There are also medical reasons that can cause you to have hiccups: certain medications (opiates and benzodiazepines); have a metabolic disease; diabetes; renal failure; electrolyte imbalance; or deviated septum.
Hiccups can diagnose serious illness
The medical term for hiccups is synchronous diaphragmatic flutter. The muscle between the chest and abdomen is essential for breathing. When you have hiccups, they cause this muscle to contract involuntarily. When contracting, it will affect your vocal cords and you will hear the “hic” sound. Consequently, Hiccups’ name has become layman’s terminology.
People seem to view hiccups as more of an annoyance than a symptom of a more serious condition. There are different and more threatening causes that a doctor should consider. If your episode of hiccups lasts longer than 48 hours, it is called persistent hiccups. If they last at least a month or more, they are called intractable hiccups. These types have more serious diagnosed causes such as tumors; cancer; stroke, infections or injuries and a doctor should be consulted.
If you have damage or irritation to the nerves that run from the brain to the diaphragm, this can be a possible cause for long-term hiccups. These nerves can be irritated by a hair or other object in your ear that touches your eardrum. Damage can occur from a sore throat, laryngitis, acid reflux, or from a cyst, goiter, or tumor on the neck.
Home remedies for common hiccups
There are many simple home remedies for hiccups.
- Drink a large glass of water, it will calm the nerves that irritate the muscle. Gargling will also help.
- Hold your breath, pinch your nose and close your mouth. Hold your breath for as long as you can.
- Breathing into a paper bag works just as well as holding your breath. They both increase the amount of carbon monoxide in the blood.
- Place a teaspoon of sugar or honey on the back of your tongue – the back of the tongue is where “sour” is tasted. Putting the sugar in there will give you an overload of sweetness that will help stop the hiccups.
The usual duration of a common hiccup is only a few minutes or a few hours. If they don’t go away within that time, try some of the remedies above. If you’re still having hiccups after 48 hours, it might be time to contact your doctor’s office and get their assessment of the situation.
