Florida teen hiccups for nearly a month
Man oh man, I feel sorry for them
A Florida teenager is desperate for help. She cannot stop hiccupping. Jennifer Mee started to hiccup on January 23. She appeared on the Today Show on Friday morning, hoping someone - anyone - can come up with a solution.
She's tried several home remedies and several doctors, but nothing has helped. She hiccups close to 50 times a minute.
"There's really no way to put it," Mee said on the Today Show. "I can't do what a normal teenager would do. I can't go to the movies like I would like to do every Friday. I can't go out in public without somebody starring or saying something as asking if I was drinking or if I'm pregnant. I'm 15 years old and I know there are young girls who are like that these days but that is not like me."
10,000 viewers emailed the Today Show with suggestions ranging from message therapy to acupuncture.
And if you thought that was bad, a woman from Silverton, Idaho has been hiccupping for 6 months straight!
"They started on August 28, 2006," said Mary 44-year-old Mary Keener.
"From that day on, they were an endless occurrence, and they wouldn't stop unless I was sleeping at night."
Keener has tried everything to make them go away, from drinking water upside down to drinking through a straw, breathing in a bag and even lemon juice. She went to several doctors and has taken drugs like Thorazine, Baclaphin, Regalin and Protonix. The medication seems to keep the hiccups under control, but caused extreme fatigue.
"But I was tired all the time," Keener said. "I would pretty much come home from work and go to bed, and fortunately I have a very understanding boss.
Keener said she's tired of being on medications and is hoping someone somewhere has a fix that doesn't require popping a pill.
According to the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute for Information Center, chronic hiccupping is rare, however, there have been cases where people have simply learned to live with the condition.
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