Medical Must-See: Hiccups were the single clue to this condition
Forget drinking water upside down or holding your breath, this case called for IV antibiotics
Singultus was the only symptom doctors had to go on to diagnose an elderly man’s serious underlying condition.
The 73-year-old presented to an ED in the Caribbean with persistent hiccups for the past five days. He had a history of diabetes, hypertension and rate-controlled AF.
Two weeks earlier, he had experienced a subacute ischaemic infarct of the right medial occipital lobe, confirmed on brain CT.
His family reported one bout of postprandial vomiting while upright five days prior, with the hiccups beginning eight hours later. He had no other symptoms.
