Help needed, continuous painful hiccups for over a year

[amaq01]

Hi,

My father who is 70 years old has been experiencing continuous hiccups for a year now.

This is obviously very painful as he is unable to eat or even sleep properly.

After testing countless home remedies, we got him checked by medical experts about 6 months ago.

Almost all of them informed us it is due to prolonged stress, which might be true due to certain events in our lives.

He has had high blood pressure and high cholesterol for more than 25 years, has been gout patient too for that amount of time.

He has been obese as well for 25+ years, current weight = 245 lb, height = almost 6 feet.

He can barely walk and is not active at all, mostly due to back and joint pains.

He has avoided almost all meat products for 10+ years, but I think he gained weight due to more consumption of carbohydrates, specifically white flour and rice.

None of the doctors were 100% sure about the solution and prescribed the following tests and medications:  

All information is within 3 months range.

-Uric Acid = 7

-All Cholesterols Total/HDL/LDL within range

-Triglycerides 10-20% above normal range

-ALT normal

-Blood sugar controlled by 2 medicines, Glucophage and Glucobay

-His ultrasound was i think normal too.

-His heart walls have become thick due to prolonged stress and cholesterol

-He has also been experiencing cough and weakness and loss of appetite for the last 20 days or so.

Few doctors also suggested it might be GERD or acid reflux but he does not have all the symptoms.

I wonder now why no doctor asked to check his "cortisol" range? Is it not important to test?

Any other important factors to test for his stress levels?


Medications for hiccups he has been using regularly since the past 3-4 months

-Motilium tablet [4 months][1+1+1 before each meal]

-Nexum capsule [3 months][1+0+1 before each meal]

-Gaviscon syrup [3 months] [1+0+1, 1 tbsp after each meal]

-Motival tablet [1 month][1, in the night]

-NOVATIL? for stress management prescribed just today by a neurologist for 3 weeks.

No smoking or recreational drugs habits

Age 70 years.

These are in addition to many other medications he has to take for heart, blood pressure, sugar, uric acid and pain killers etc.

Please tell me what can we do about it? This has been very painful not only to the patient but for all family members as well.

I can of course provide more info if needed.

Any help will be highly appreciated.

Thank you very much.

[purple1234567]

So sorry to hear about the medical issues your father is going through- I wish I had some cure that would help, but unfortunately, I don't.  I would venture to guess that he will feel a lot better and the hiccups may even resolve if the other issues are addressed.  Is he willing to watch his diet a bit closer?  He's in a tough spot now, it sounds like because losing the weight likely will assist with the joint pain too- but it's very difficult to get up and moving with the pain, in order to lose the weight.  Perhaps you can talk to your doctor about seeking help from a dietician to see if you can get him on a better track with healthy eating, for starters.  

I do hope the issue resolves soon for him!