Woman Who's Had Hiccups For Eight Years Appears On ITV's 'This Morning' To Try And Find A Cure

Woman Has Persistent Hiccups For Eight Years And Still Can't Find A Cure
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We all know how incredibly annoying it is to have hiccups. But for one woman, who hiccups anywhere between 20-150 times per day, it is a living nightmare.

Lisa Graves has suffered from chronic hiccups since she fell pregnant with her first child eight years ago.

It is estimated that the 27-year-old from Lincoln has hiccuped 3.4 million times since she first developed the unusual health condition.

However doctors are completely baffled it and, so far, have been unable to find a cure.

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The mum-of-two, who appeared on ITV's This Morning on 12 November, says her perpetual hiccups stop her from going out and enjoying her life.

"I went to bingo and let out a hiccup. They thought I shouted ‘Bingo!’."

Sometimes Graves' hiccups can be so loud that she wakes up her husband in the night. She said: "They’re almost like a scream. Some people say I sound like a dinosaur."

Doctors are unsure of what is wrong with Graves, who has tried all of the tricks in the book to try and stop them including: holding her breath, getting people to scare her and drinking water "the wrong way".

She's also undergone a brain scan, X-rays and numerous other tests to try and determine what's wrong. But to no avail.

Graves has now issued a plea asking for anyone with advice, or a similar problem, to get in touch.

She also appeared on ITV's This Morning to discuss her unusual health problem and get a second opinion from Dr Dawn Harper and Dr Ranj Singh.

According to Dr Harper, persistent hiccups (anything that lasts longer than 48 hours) can be linked to irritation of the diaphragm and can sometimes signal serious health problems.

However in Graves' case, because she has had so many tests, this has been ruled out.

So it's "simply a case of managing them".

Dr Singh suggested trying medications such as baclofen or gabapentin to try and ease persistent hiccups. While Dr Harper added that there's some evidence that acupuncture or hypnotherapy might help.