According to clinical studies, hiccups – to put it simply – are involuntary contractions that serve no physiologic purpose.
But this was not the information that was relayed to me.
During my early years of existence, hiccups were the bane of my sanity. All because I lived in an Asian household where hiccups were a sign of fatal “oxygen deficiency”.
Little did I know that the mental preparation that went behind the thought of impending death at a tender age of five, would be my saving grace in my early 20s.
The verdict remains that hiccups are pretty much innocuous. But this doesn’t rid it for being the cause of death of an elderly man in Taiwan.
We see what you did there, hiccups.
Elderly Man Diagnosed With a Heart Attack
According to Apple Daily Taiwan, the victim, a 77-year-old man, was diagnosed with a heart attack following a two-week chain of persistent hiccuping. The man was admitted to Tapei Veteran’s General Hospital due to his continuous hiccuping and a poor appetite.
Initial findings made by a doctor named, Gao Zhijun, assumed that the elderly man was suffering from a case of indigestion.
Unfortunately, this was not the case. It was beyond the norm.
The elderly man told Gao that food and water intake would only worsen his hiccups. He rarely ate at all and felt weak.
It was then that Gao pointed out that the patient might be suffering from a heart condition. His suspicions were later on confirmed by an electrocardiography test that showed that the elderly man had an acute heart attack.
The elderly man was scheduled to undergo surgery. Unfortunately, he succumbed to his condition.
According to Gao, it was the delay in treatment that had nulled his chances of survival.
Don’t Panic; It’s Rare
If that isn’t enough to scare the living daylights off chronic hiccup machines out there, well, relax.
Before you go about on your Google diagnosis, Gao did also say that hiccups are rarely an indication of heart disease.
However, after the incident, two elderly men, aged 64 and 70, were also diagnosed with an acute attack after a fit of hiccups that went on for two days. Fortunately, they were given treatment on time.
Hold your horses, you are not about to convulse in a ranging fit of fatal contractions. Just breathe into your eco-bags and drink some water – you’ll be fine! After all, in most cases, hiccups are as harmless as harmless gets.
However, if it persists… You know what to do.
Here’s a simplified summary of the South Korea martial law that even a 5-year-old would understand:
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