For many of us, hiccups are terribly annoying, but fortunately they usually go away as quickly as they came. In some cases, however, it can last for several days or even longer.
The next time you’re struggling with this involuntary ‘diaphragmatic flutter’, think of a man named Charles Osborne who hiccupped for 68 years (who knows? Maybe it goes away when you get scared).
Charles Osborne started hiccuping on June 13, 1922, while working on a farm in Nebraska. And the hiccups didn’t stop until 1990.
Speaking to People magazine at the age of 94, Osborne described that day as follows: “I was carrying a heavy pig and I lifted it and then I fell to the ground. I didn’t feel anything at the time, but later the doctor told me I had brain damage.”
But despite this, he led a surprisingly normal life. He married twice and fathered eight children. This strange affliction even brought him a small measure of fame: He appeared on a very popular radio program, spoke to the press, made the Guinness Book of World Records, and his name was recorded as ‘the person with the longest hiccup attack’.
We’ll come back to Osborne’s story later, so let’s open a parenthesis here…
So what are hiccups? Why do we hiccup? Can we stop hiccups?
Hiccups are thought to be related to a neural pathway called the ‘reflex spring’. In simpler terms, it is caused by a sudden and involuntary contraction of the diaphragm muscle. The opening between the vocal cords and the glottis (larynx) suddenly closes and the familiar ‘hicck’ sound is produced.
Conditions such as drinking too much alcohol, eating too much food, eating too spicy food or swallowing air while chewing food, some medications, even getting excited and laughing can trigger these contractions and cause hiccups.
We may only hiccup once, but it can often occur at regular intervals and in a cycle ranging from four to 60 hiccups per minute. But does it have a function? Why do we hiccup? It is not known for sure, but the fact that we hiccup even in the womb suggests that it prepares our muscles for breathing.
The medical name for this phenomenon is ‘singultus’, derived from the Latin term singult, which roughly translates as trying to breathe while crying.
There are some common tactics for stopping a ‘singultus episode’; drinking cold water, gargling, breathing into a paper bag, holding the breath and even hypnosis or acupuncture. There is no evidence that any of these are effective or safe. Having someone scare or tickle you may distract you, but it probably won’t stop your hiccups.
Prolonged hiccups should always be taken seriously
Probably the only promising remedy is a special pipette called HiccAway, recently developed by a neurologist. In early evaluations, 90 percent of people found HiccAway to be more effective than any of the above efforts, but more studies are needed.
Ordinary hiccups usually go away after a short time without intervention, but longer-lasting hiccups should be taken seriously.
Chronic hiccups (lasting more than 48 hours) is the term for persistent seizures and can cause fatigue and weight loss. Chronic hiccups may also be due to a serious underlying cause. These include disorders of the central nervous system, diabetes, surgery, reflux, stroke or cancer.
It is important to see a doctor for chronic hiccups because tests can give more insight into the cause. One study found that 80 percent of people with chronic hiccups have abnormalities of the esophagus or stomach, and two-thirds of these cases are treatable.
A review of recommended pharmacological treatments for chronic hiccups found insufficient evidence to favor one over the other, suggesting that the condition is individualized. Identifying and treating the underlying medical cause seems to be most beneficial.
In a rare case, three weeks of hiccups was the only symptom that brought a patient to the emergency room. Another patient who had hiccups for four days turned out to have had a heart attack.
A musician in the UK hiccupped for nearly three years. Eventually doctors determined that the hiccups were caused by a brain tumor, and fortunately the problem was solved by surgery.
But poor Osborne was not so lucky
Despite visiting many doctors, there was no cure for her hiccups. During an experimental hormone treatment he was hiccup-free for 36 hours, but due to other health problems the treatment was stopped and the hiccups returned.
He remembers a friend trying to put an end to it and firing his shotgun right behind him: “That scared me a bit,” Osborne says, “but it didn’t work.”
Still, he lived his life cheerfully and learned breathing techniques to minimize the sound of hiccups. Over the years he received nearly 4,000 letters with advice on how to make the hiccups go away.
In February 1990, Osborne’s hiccups suddenly stopped for an unknown reason. After a year of being wonderfully hiccup-free, he passed away in May 1991 at the age of 97.
It is estimated that he hiccupped 430 million times in his lifetime.
Compiled from Science Alert article and People magazine archive.
