Hiccups ruining my husbands health 5yrs+ need diagnosis

[dropanchor]

My 59 yr old husband has been suffering with severe chronic hiccups for the last 5 yrs. They range in severity from mild to very severe but are basically there round the clock, very severe mostly during sleep but also when awake. He has had the esophagus bleed from the severity of them. He has a sleep disorder,GERD, diabetes, depression,muscle weakness,chronic sinus infections, mood swings, irritability,hep C, .....He has had numerous tests,biopsy of the liver,and thyroid,blood work,and different meds followed by a "hiccup specialist" all to no avail. actually the medications mostly caused more problems. No one seems to have an answer. He recently had surgery to fix a hernia and attach the stomach to the esophagus which helped the GERD and for 5 days he was hiccup free but came back with a vengeance before settling down to the usual pattern. He had several sleep studies and at the last one  they tried something different because the hiccups were severe and the nitrogen{?] level being increased seemed to ease them, He has had  cat scans,MRI, x-rays ,only a few small nodules were found in the lung and thyroid. His blood work and tests present a healthy man but has been hospitalized twice because he was so ill. His color is often pasty grey. and his strentgh is often very low. I am wondering if the vagus nerve is the culprit,maybe affected by the interferon shots and pills he took until 6months before the hiccups hit him. Any help or information would be greatly appreciated.

[Dr Santos]

Hi,
How is your husband? Hiccups are involuntary contractions of the diaphragm muscle which can be caused by irritation of the nerves that extend from the neck to the chest. As the muscle contracts repeatedly, the opening between the vocal cords snaps shut to check the inflow of air and produces the hiccup sound. Can you elaborate on the interferon shot that he took 6 months ago? Take care and do keep us posted.

[murat92]

I hope your husbands hiccup was cured by this time.
I suggest him to go to see herbal medical doctors.
I had hiccups for three years from 2002 to 2005, no medication worked. Then I went back home in East Turkstan (now occupied by Chinad) 2005 and went to herbal medical doctors. I took herbal medicine for 6 months then hiccups stopped suddenly. Since then I didn't have hiccups.

[dropanchor]

thanks for the response...we have checked all the meds several times the only difference with the surgery was morphine I believe for 3 days .I should add that they were clocely watching for any differences. Although the surgery was for hernia and GERD they were hoping between the anesthetic and lessening of the irritation from the acid it may give a rest to the diaphragm and calm the hiccups .Also hiccups can be a side effect of surgery and he seems to do the opposite that they expect they were hoping it would stop them. I will check out the mayo link you sent thank you.

[RJ233]

This is a site that may help you in what the problem is:

www.mayoclinic.com

[RJ233]

When he had the surgery to fix the hernia and attach the stomach to the esophagus what additional meds were he given? Did they take him off any of his regular med during that time. The additional meds, were continued after the hospital? Something made them stop and I would tend to think it was due to a medication added or stopped. Keep in touch to let me know how things go. RJ