Cisplatin or Decadron? hiccups won't give up...

Hi Roger
Sorry I never had problems with hiccups during any of my treatments. I seen other post here with people who did and hope they log on and give you some advice.

Take care
Hondo

hiccups
This info came from wikipedia. Sugar seems to be the best. You choose treatment
Phylogenetic hypothesisResearchers at the Respiratory Research Group, University of Calgary, Canada, propose that the hiccup is an evolutionary remnant of earlier amphibian respiration; amphibians such as tadpoles gulp air and water across their gills via a rather simple motor reflex akin to mammalian hiccuping.[2] In support of this idea, they observe that the motor pathways that enable hiccuping form early during fetal development, before the motor pathways that enable normal lung ventilation form. Thus, according to recapitulation theory (a theory that has lost much of the support it once had) the hiccup is evolutionarily antecedent to modern lung respiration. Additionally, they point out that hiccups and amphibian gulping are inhibited by elevated CO2 and can be completely stopped by the drug Baclofen (a GABAB receptor agonist), illustrating a shared physiology and evolutionary heritage. These proposals explain why premature infants spend 2.5% of their time hiccuping, indeed they are gulping just like amphibians, as their lungs are not yet fully formed. Fetal intrauterine hiccups are of two types. The physiological type occurs prior to twenty-eight weeks after conception and tend to last five to ten minutes. These hiccups are part of fetal development and are associated with the myelination of the Phrenic nerve (which drives the diaphragm).

[edit] Signs & symptomsA single or a series of breathing diaphragm spasms, of variable spacing and duration.
Might show as a brief (less than one half second), unexpected, shoulder, abdomen, throat, or full body tremor.
Might be easily heard as a chirp, squeak, "hupp", or if properly controlled, a quick inhaling gasp, sigh, or sniff.
Victim might complain of brief but distracting or painful, frequent or occasional interruptions in normal breath, with sudden momentary pain of the throat, chest, or abdomen.
If the hiccups are properly controlled there is no discomfort except for the mild distraction of the occasional uncontrollable gasp.
[edit] Symptomatic treatmentThere has been a tradition of folk remedies, usually consisting of odd behaviors to interrupt the hiccups. Because the hiccup is an effect (sign) of a wide variety of neuro-respiratory and vestibular causes, initial treatment should be to mitigate patient distress, by eliminating the pain of tracheal (windpipe) 'stoppering', and if still needed, the anxiety of the diaphragm spasms.
1. Use a "Prevent stoppering" technique for the trachea (windpipe) by vocal cord closure or epiglottis, or the mouth by the lips. (several sources of instruction).
2. Use the "deeply held breath" technique to minimize or prevent the spasm reflex of the diaphragm. Both of these treatments tend to be definitive, by breaking the hiccup cycle.
If after this initial treatment, episodes are persistent, or prolonged, or otherwise cause discomfort, further investigation and assessment can be done.

[edit] FactorsOvereating
Alcohol
Sudden temperature changes
Carbonated beverages, alcohol, dry breads, and some spicy foods.[3]
Laughing
Tobacco use (nicotine)
[edit] Causes of persistent hiccupsMetabolic diseases
Diabetes
Kidney failure
Electrolyte imbalance
Deviated septum
[edit] InfectionsPneumonia
CLD
[edit] CNS disordersStroke
Multiple sclerosis
Tumors
Meningitis
Encephalitis
Traumatic brain injury
[edit] Nerve damage/irritationVagus and phrenic nerve involvement
Laryngitis
Cysts
Goiter
Gastroesophageal reflux
[edit] TreatmentNumerous medical remedies exist but no particular treatment is known to be especially effective.[4] Many drugs have been used, such as baclofen, chlorpromazine, metoclopramide, gabapentin, and various proton-pump inhibitors. Hiccups that are secondary to some other cause like gastroesophageal reflux disease or esophageal webs are dealt with by treating the underlying disorder. A simple treatment involves increasing the partial pressure of CO2 and inhibiting diaphragm activity by holding one’s breath or rebreathing into a paper bag. Vagus nerve stimulation can improve hiccups, done at home by irritating the pharynx through swallowing dry bread or crushed ice, or by applying traction to the tongue, or by stimulating the gag reflex. The phrenic nerve can be blocked temporarily with injection of 0.5% procaine, or permanently with bilateral phrenicotomy or other forms of surgical destruction. Even this rather drastic treatment does not cure some cases, however.

In Plato's Symposium, Aristophanes has a case of the hiccups and is advised by Eryximachus, a physician, to cure them by holding his breath, or, failing that, by gargling or provoking sneezing. Compare this ancient recommendation with the vagal nerve stimulation techniques mentioned previously.

An anecdotal medical approach is to install lidocaine liniment 3% or gel 2% in the external ear. Somehow this creates a vagus nerve-triggering reflex through its extensions to the external ear and tympanus (ear drum). The effect can be immediate, and also have lasting effect after the lidocaine effect expires after about two hours.[5]

A solution involving sugar placed on or under the tongue was cited in the December 23, 1971 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.[6]

Hiccups are treated medically only in severe and persistent (termed "intractable") cases, such as in the case of Jennifer Mee, a 19-year-old girl who, in 2007, hiccuped continuously for five weeks.[7] Haloperidol (Haldol, an anti-psychotic and sedative), metoclopramide (Reglan, a gastrointestinal stimulant), and chlorpromazine (Thorazine, an anti-psychotic with strong sedative effects) are used in cases of intractable hiccups. Effective treatment with sedatives often requires a dose that renders the person either unconscious or highly lethargic. Hence, medicating with sedatives is only appropriate short-term, as the affected individual cannot continue with normal life activities while under their effect.

Persistent and intractable hiccups due to electrolyte imbalance (hypokalemia, hyponatremia) may benefit from drinking a carbonated beverage containing salt to normalize the potassium-sodium balance in the nervous system.[citation needed] The carbonation promotes quicker absorption. Carbonated beverages, including beer, by themselves may provoke hiccups in some people.[citation needed]

The administration of intranasal vinegar was found to ease the chronic and severe hiccups of a three-year old Japanese girl. Vinegar may stimulate the dorsal wall of the nasopharynx, where the pharyngeal branch of the glossopharyngeal nerve (the afferent of the hiccup reflex arc) is located.[8]

Dr. Bryan R. Payne, a neurosurgeon at the Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center in New Orleans, has had some success with an experimental procedure in which a vagus nerve stimulator is implanted in the upper chest of patients with an intractable case of hiccups. "It sends rhythmic bursts of electricity to the brain by way of the vagus nerve, which passes through the neck. The Food and Drug Administration approved the vagus nerve stimulator in 1997 as a way to control seizures in some patients with epilepsy."[9]

WOW....
Those are some long explanations...LOL.

I had hiccups as well...more than likely as you mentioned, Cisplatin induced.

My MD gave me some meds for them, never had then again after the first time.

Best,
John

RogerRN43 said:

Just like clockwork
Hiccups are gone after decadron wore off. That was terrible, it was like my stomach was in lockdown, couldn't eat anything.
Hope I get some proper meds next time.
Starting to sip feed cans and eat yogurt.

Thanks all.

variable effect
There is hope. Just had my second course of carboplatin/taxotere three days ago. Prophylactic treatment the same as the first time. No hiccups at all.