case study: man hiccupped 12 hours a day

chris sands was a healthy 23-year-old from england when his life hit a little hiccup. or rather, a few million of them.  

it was early 2007 and the aspiring musician from lincolnshire was becoming increasingly alarmed a s   the  minor annoyance   developed  into  what would become  a  three-year nightmare.  after the onset of his condition, he  estimated he would  h iccup every two seconds for 12 hours, each and every day.  

“it has ruined my life pretty much,”  sands told abc news at the time . “when it got to the point where it was really bad, my diaphragm would go into spasms and i would stop breathing and wake up on the floor.”  

as the early days stretched into weeks and then months, sands exhausted every  supposed  remedy known to man — from acupuncture to pickled plums — all to no avail. the once-talented musician, a guitar  player  and  backup  singer for a band called ebullient, was slowly beginning to unravel as an unending wave of hiccups robbed him of sleep and made each day a new ordeal.  

“i was desperate to play piano or guitar,” he said. “i have all this music in my head all the time but i wasn’t able to play it. i would start to play, then the hiccups would start up and i would vomit. it was so disheartening not to do what i love.”  

hiccups are typically caused by stress, eating too quickly or consuming carbonated beverages or alcohol. this  can lead  to an involuntary contraction of the diaphragm and a quick gasp for air  that is  accompanied by  the telltale“hic” sound from the vocal cords as they suddenly close shut.  

during a brief   lapse in his  condition  later in 2007 , sands was able to travel abroad to seek further treatment . this led  to the discovery of a congenital condition in the valve that connects his stomach to his esophagus. doctors believed this was causing his vomiting and heartburn ,  but surgery to correct the issue did nothing to halt the hiccups.   

as his saga stretched on, sands received increased media coverage of his condition, prompting  a television station  to offer  him an all-expenses-paid trip to japan for treatment by a specialist. after meeting with his new patient, the doctor quickly ordered an mri that revealed the root of the problem: he had a tumour in his brainstem.  

“it totally knocked my socks off,” sands said. “it’s lucky there was a chair under me because i almost fell off. i burst into tears and thought i was going to die.”  

as dire as the news sounded ,  the location of the tumour could have been much worse, said martin  makary , a surgeon and professor at the john hopkins school of public health. “the brain stem is a great location to remove tumo u rs without a lot of peripheral damage, so (surgery) can be done with a very clean cut. ”  

but there was still  a  real risk to his life and sands only agreed to go forward with the operation after meeting  with  an “eccentric and confident” surgeon who earned his trust. “he said, ‘there is no margin for error and if i make a mistake you are dead. even if i don’t make a mistake you could end up with a speech impediment or in a wheelchair for a while,’” sands said.  

knowing his condition was going to take him to death’s door one way or another, sands  decided to go  under the knife in september 2009. after 60 per cent of the tumour was  successfully  removed, the hiccups finally , mercifully,  went away.  

“from starting off with a silly, amusing hiccup condition, to it getting quite serious and lasting a rather long time, to then travel to japan to find out i had a brain tumour was just absolutely insane,”  sands said in 2010 , a few months after his surgery.   

“everything is slowly getting better but it is a long -h aul recovery. it’s going to take 18 months but it is progressing. my left arm is still pretty rubbish but i’m just about able to play guitar again, which is really nice.   

“we just had a band practice. i didn’t perform very well but it’s just nice to get back to that — such a good, positive feeling.”  

dave  yasvinski is a writer with   healthing.ca  

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case study: man hiccupped 12 hours a day

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