AN EPIDEMIC

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 1, Issue 109, 30 December 1931, Page 2

AN EPIDEMIC

STRANGE CASES OF CONTINUED HICCOUGHING IN U.S.A. OPERATIONS PERFORMED SAN FRANCISCO. HiccotigMng has afflicted many people in various parts of the country during the pesent winter, giving medical experts considerable anxiety. Dr. Ingo Galdston, chief of the bureau of Information of the- New York Academy of Medicine, made several pertinent assertions in commenting on the present "hiccough epidemic," stating fhat persistent hiccoughing is always a symptom of another' ailment, usiially serious. Thus treatments effective for intermittent hiccoughs, usually caused merely by an overladen stomach, are of no use in the persistent type of hiccoughs. Only an operation to remove the primary cause, or a sedative strong enough to partially paralyse the irritated nerves of the diaphragm is effective in these pei'sistent cases. Physiologically, a hiccough is a spasm of the diaphragm that causes air to rush into the lungs, but before it gets there the vocal apparatus closes, causing the characteristic "hiceup." Dr. Galdston referred to the strange case in San Francisco of Henry Hall, who had spent 11 days of torture at a h'ospital. His condition, however, was -allayed by the ' administration of sodium amytol, a powerful sedative drug that partially paralyses the diaphragm nerves. ■All types of intermittent hiccoughs can be cured in many ways. Dr. Galdston listed the following as equally effective with different types of persons: "Painful gouging of the eyeballs; pulling out of the tongue; drinking from the wrong side of a glass; gargling with plain water; tickling the nose to produce sneezes ; and any sort of sharp surprise." Wracking Spasms The case of Henry Hall was that of a 68-year-old San Francisco night watchman, who had been wracked by spasms of hiccoughing since November 11, when he fell and suffered a small fracture of the 12th vertebrae, and was removed to the French Hospital in San Francisco. After every possible medicinal measure had been used to give him relief, fears were felt for his life. Slight relief came after injections of sodium amytol, : physicians said, and Hall oceasionally slept. The doctor in charge of the case declared the hiccoughing was due to some nerve reflex. Another case was reported from Mansfield, Ohio, where Ira A. King, aged 55, was the victim; but he at last stopped hiccoughing when his gall bladder was removed. It was hoped a permanent cure had been effected. Phs'sieians decided on an operation after every medical remedy had been exhausted without bringing King any ; relief. The sufferer was prepared for an operation five days before, the first time he had been able to take nourishment after his ailment reachpd the serious stage. For 14 days he had been seized by the hiccoughing I s^asm at the rate of seven a minute. Sxx Thousand Messages .The plight of King attracted na-tion-wide attention, to the extent J that 6,000 letters and telegrams I were received at his home and the I hospital. King has promised to anJ swo" everybody when he recovers : sufhciently. j In Aurora, Illino's, phys;cians said ! they might be compelled to perform j a second operation on John Weber, | 60. who had suffered with an atI tack of hiccoughing for eight days. ' One operation failed to stop the j s^asm, which subsequently occurred | at three-second intervals. I Percy B. Lowe, 65, claimed the J world's long-time hiccough record, ! and, with tears in his eyes, prayed that Ira Kinv and Henry Hall would not equal :'t. Lowe had been hiccoughing 16 months, according to phys>c;ons. In August, 1930, he was sticken with paralysis. Hiccoughs fopowed, and have continually raek- , ed his body, with only temporary relief afforded by narcotics. "Physic'ans have tr:ed everything in the world to stop these dreadful hiccoughs and nothing has helped," , Lowo said. "There have been only j a few hours when the cloclc-like regularity of the spasm ceased."