Hiccups or Singultus : Causes and Treatment
Hiccups or Singultus
Hiccups most of the time are only benign phenomena and only last for a transient period. Seldom there may a serious disorder underlying the cause of hiccups. It may range from, Idiopathic cause to AMI and acute pancreatitis. Several differential diagnoses of cause of Hiccup are:
Common Causes:
- Idiopathic
- Excessive smoking
- Excess of alcohol
- Air swallowing
- Anxiety
- Esophagitis
- Uremia
- Diaphragmatic Spasm ( Cyclical) after laughing, coughing, crying etc
- Intake of large bolus of food with inadequate liquid.
Less common Causes:
- Acute Myocardial Infarction
- Gastric irritation or distension
- Pancreatitis
- Subphrenic abscess
- Cholecystitis
- Perforated intrabdominal viscus wih air under diaphragm
- Phrenic nerve tumors
Treatment:
- For simple hiccups, Home remedies : Distraction of attention, fright, painful or unpleasant stimuli, breathholding and sipping iced water are helpful.
Medical Measures:
- Sedation
- Nasopharyngeal stimulation with soft catheter
- Gargling and swallowing viscous lidocaine
- Antispasmodics
- Rebreathing CO2
- Antacids, Bacfen. Phenothiazines.
- Bilateral phrenectomy- for intractable hiccups
Source: Manual Of Emergency Medicine, Wikipedia
