Have you ever had hiccups with or after chemotherapy?

We all know what hiccups are, right? They are involuntary contractions of the diaphragm — the muscle that separates your chest from your abdomen and plays an important role in breathing. Each contraction is followed by a sudden closure of your vocal cords, which produces the characteristic "hic" sound.

Mayo Clinic investigators want to learn more about hiccups in people who are receiving cancer treatment and, if you have experienced hiccups, how they may have affected your quality of life.

So, whether you’ve had hiccups or not, we asked Connect members to take part in a survey. Responses in the survey remain anonymous and are kept completely confidential. The survey is now closed. I will share the results of survey after analysis.
In the meantime, feel free to take part in this discussion about hiccups, if you want to share.

Have you had hiccups after chemotherapy? If yes, were they different than you’ve experienced before? Did they bother you or affect your daily living?

+++Study Results+++
Frequency and Symptomatology of Hiccups in Patients With Cancer: Using an On-Line Medical Community to Better Understand the Patient Experience
By C Ehret, C Young, C Ellefson, L Aase, A Jatoi
Published April 1, 2021
https://doi.org/10.1177/10499091211006923

Interested in more discussions like this? Go to the Cancer: Managing Symptoms Support Group.

@mdcjb

Thank goodness I'm not crazy!
I've never been much of a hiccup person so I've been baffled at the numerous times I've been getting them in the last few months. Alas! This could be the answer. I ended chemo at the end of August and I still have bad hiccups. Sometimes multiple times a day. One of my boys mentioned it the other day, and I told him I have no idea where they're coming from, that I guess it's just my new normal. Like so many other things.

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Look up myoclonus movement in Mayo. The first item it mentions is hiccups.

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Drug Induced Hiccups are difficult to control, regular hiccups can be viewed as a shortness of breath. Hyperventilate for 30 sec then hold the last breath for as long as you can. This will relax diaphragm and help you get rid of them.

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@anacreon

yes after 5-chop

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5-chop?? What is that?

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@anacreon

yes after 5-chop

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Hi @anacreon, did you have R-CHOP chemotherapy for a type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL)?

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@dax

Drug Induced Hiccups are difficult to control, regular hiccups can be viewed as a shortness of breath. Hyperventilate for 30 sec then hold the last breath for as long as you can. This will relax diaphragm and help you get rid of them.

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dax, check into a deficiency of magnesium as a cause of hiccups. The chemotherapy possibly is causing a magnesium deficiency as does stress..

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@merpreb

@auntieoakley- Good morning. You've been hiccuping for 14 years without any relief? I don't know how you do it. Have you had your frentic nerve checked out? There seems to be some connection between. Have you read this?
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/hiccups/symptoms-causes/syc-20352613

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My bf started to hiccup in 2009. As the years have pasted they have gotten worse. Now they can last up to 13 hours a day. He has had a fundoplication, followed by 2 additional tightening. He use to foam at the mouth. He was diagnosis with Barrett’s. But kept it under control. We have been everywhere Mayo, went to OR, Banner. I know Mayo has given him shots of Botox, numerous things. Nothing worked. He goes to nee with the hiccups every single day. Once in a great while he gets a day off.
He has been taking XYrems so he has have a good nights sleep. This is what I’ve been told. People with intractable hiccups, there is no cure. Most people die of a heart attack or commit suicide. If he drinks to much or to little, he’s to much or no at all he gets the hiccups.
He came down with cancer last March. Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, hpv 16. Mothership was back of his throat on his tongue and went to left side of his neck.
He took cisplatin and proton radiation for 6 weeks. Was told 98%cure rate. 3 months later had pet scan, should up in a lymph node at end of his windpipe. Inoperable. He started Keytruda last September. He was told he can only have Keytruda for 2 yrs.
So what then? Is he cured? Is that all they can do? They don’t tell him a thing. He has all the worst side effects and top it off with intractable hiccups.
When they say you’ll be around for 2 more years. What does that mean? He thought it meant he’d be cured. To me it’s saying he’s on a timeline.
That frustrates me, cause he can make better decisions with if quality of life he has left. He has no balance, chemo brain, drops things, shortness of breath, diarrhea going on 4 months, the list is long er than that. The anxiety is terrible for him.
He just had another pet scan an there was a little flicker on hos neck but not attached to a lymph node. So they will be checking him again.
To me tell it like it is, as I would want to know. You could be traveling or seeing family more often, you’d take that time to get your ducks in order. And if a different out comes along praise the lord. But to say we don’t know everyone is different. Well we know studies are done, they know. I guess I’m frustrated for him.

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@onamission

dax, check into a deficiency of magnesium as a cause of hiccups. The chemotherapy possibly is causing a magnesium deficiency as does stress..

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He has been treated by Mayo for hiccups. He was told the doctor that rested patients with hiccups no longer does. As none of the outcomes of these patients turned out well. He takes magnesium everyday along with his other Multi’s.
We have been to many clinics fir the hiccups. I try to avoid anything with citric acid too.
He was a deep sea driver for 10 years. And that most likely is the cause of his hiccups.

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@onamission

dax, check into a deficiency of magnesium as a cause of hiccups. The chemotherapy possibly is causing a magnesium deficiency as does stress..

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Honestly, the hiccups have been devastating. However, the cancer with the Keytruda is life debilitating. The side effects and quality of life has changed him forever. He told me if he would have known this, he would not have taken Keytruda. The side effect I doubt will ever go away. That’s if he is cancer free after 2 yrs of Keytruda. That’s as long as he can be on it. No one tells him anything. No one answers his questions. The only answer he gets is everyone is different. That’s a ridiculous answer when Mayo is basically a research hospital

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