Why do hiccups hurt my chest

Holding your breath and counting to 10 is one way some people can get rid of their hiccups. Other people say that drinking from the "wrong" side of a glass of water is the way to become hiccup-free. Putting sugar under your tongue might work, too. And maybe the most famous treatment — having someone jump out and scare you when you're not expecting it — helps some people wave goodbye to their hiccups. The patient also had underlying non-small cell lung cancer and it is unclear if lung cancer was the source of the hiccups.

All of our patients had CT-documented PE and 2 had the risk factor of recent surgery. Patient 1 had a low Wells score of 1. The revised Geneva score placed him in a moderate risk group based on tachycardia alone. In patient 3 Wells score was 1. Different scoring systems put patients in different risk categories highlighting the difficulty in relying only on one scoring system.

Intractable hiccups in 2 patients raised our level of suspicion after our experience with patient 1, although both of these patients had recent surgery. Our series of 3 patients with PE who had hiccups as a presenting symptom highlights the importance of including hiccups in the constellation of symptoms and signs associated with PE. If pretest probability testing is also taken into account, it will help us decide which patients need more advanced imaging and testing to confirm or exclude the diagnosis.

Hiccups are common and often idiopathic, but persistent hiccups should be taken seriously. They may be manifestations of immediately life-threatening conditions like myocardial infarction or even pulmonary embolism. Including hiccups in the pantheon of symptoms associated with PE will raise awareness as demonstrated by our small series. The authors would like to thank Drs.

Mariadason and Zehtabchi for reviewing and proofreading the manuscript. Conflicts of Interest: By the West JEM article submission agreement, all authors are required to disclose all affiliations, funding sources and financial or management relationships that could be perceived as potential sources of bias. The authors disclosed none. National Center for Biotechnology Information , U.

West J Emerg Med. Author information Article notes Copyright and License information Disclaimer. Email: moc. This article has been cited by other articles in PMC. Abstract Pulmonary embolism PE is a life-threatening condition that may present as dyspnea, chest pain, cough or hemoptysis, but often occurs without symptoms.

Patient 1 A year-old African-American male without significant prior medical or surgical history presented to the emergency department ED with a 3-day history of hiccups. Open in a separate window. Figure 1.

Figure 2. Patient 2 A year-old Hispanic female came for her follow-up gynecology appointment after undergoing total abdominal hysterectomy for fibroids under general anesthesia 12 days earlier. ROS and past medical history were unremarkable Physical examination revealed a young female with hiccups and mild lower abdominal tenderness, but no signs of rhonchi, rales or crepitations in the chest. Figure 3. Patient 3 A year old African-American male presented to the ED with persistent hiccups 2 days after having left inguinal herniorrhaphy under general anesthesia.

Acknowledgments The authors would like to thank Drs. Footnotes Conflicts of Interest: By the West JEM article submission agreement, all authors are required to disclose all affiliations, funding sources and financial or management relationships that could be perceived as potential sources of bias. Tapson VF. Acute pulmonary embolism.

N Engl J Med. Prospective study of the clinical features and outcomes of emergency department patients with delayed diagnosis of pulmonary embolism. Acad Emerg Med. Clinical criteria to prevent unnecessary diagnostic testing in emergency department patients with suspected pulmonary embolism. J Thromb Haemost. Prediction of pulmonary embolism in the emergency department: the revised Geneva score.

Ann Intern Med. Autopsy proven pulmonary embolism in hospital patients: are we detecting enough deep vein thrombosis? J R Soc Med. Treatment of hiccups. J Am Med Assoc. This does not work for everyone. Page last reviewed: 13 July Next review due: 13 July Things you can do yourself to stop or prevent hiccups Although many people find these things helpful, there's no evidence that they work for everyone.

The vagus and phrenic nerves control the movement of your diaphragm. These nerves may be affected by:. Other causes of hiccups may involve the central nervous system CNS. The CNS consists of the brain and spinal cord. If the CNS is damaged, your body may lose the ability to control hiccups. Sometimes, a medical procedure can accidentally cause you to develop long-term hiccups. These procedures are used to treat or diagnose other conditions and include:.

Hiccups can occur at any age. However, there are several factors that can increase your likelihood of developing hiccups. However, a prolonged episode can be uncomfortable and disruptive to daily life.

Contact a doctor if you have hiccups that last longer than two days. They can determine the severity of your hiccups in relation to your overall health and other conditions. There are numerous options for treating hiccups. Typically, a short-term case of hiccups will take care of itself.

However, the discomfort may make waiting out hiccups unbearable if they last longer than a few minutes. Although none of these have been proven to stop hiccups, the following potential treatments for hiccups can be tried at home:. If you still have hiccups after 48 hours, talk to your doctor. Your doctor may attempt gastric lavage stomach pumping or carotid sinus massage rubbing the main carotid artery in the neck.

If the cause of your hiccups is unclear, your doctor may recommend tests. These can help detect any underlying disease or condition.