The woman described how the hiccups made her life a nightmare after having one attack for eight years. Danielle Kirkland, 28, of Shelby County, Alabama, was not worried when she woke up from a hard night in March 2008 with hiccups.
However, she spent the best part of a decade trying to find a cure for her condition, which has hampered everything from dating guys to college. The doctors did not find any way to help the girl.
Hiccups occur when the diaphragm involuntarily contracts. Kirkland was finally diagnosed with chronic hiccups six months later, but doctors were unable to find a cure for it. Nearly eight years later, the woman made repeated visits to stomach, ear, nose, and throat specialists at the St. Vincent Health System in Birmingham, Alabama, before the drug was found, in the form of a simple muscle relaxant.
Danielle thinks her hiccups, caused by the sudden and involuntary contraction of the diaphragm, started from a combination of pain medications she was taking to treat arthritis and migraines. About four years ago, Danielle started taking a drug called metoclopramide to try and control her hiccups.
Typically used to treat stomach problems, it caused Danielle to have unpleasant cramps, so she refused it. However, this prompted her to look for new solutions. So she started trying a muscle relaxant called tizanidine, which helped her a lot. After a month of use, she began to hiccup only six or seven times a day - instead of an hour.
Now, if she even misses a dose, she notices that she immediately begins to hiccup. However, she mostly returned to normal life.
Burmas Roman