One of the most well-known and successful sports campaigns in history was about Hall-of-Famer Bo Jackson. The slogan "Bo Knows" by Nike was everywhere as it talked about how super-athlete Bo Jackson not only played professional football for the NFL, but he also played major league baseball.
Now it seems the only thing Bo doesn't know about is hiccups. Yes, hiccups.
The former Kansas City Royals and Los Angeles Raiders star, 60, says he has had the hiccups for nearly a year. The ailment caused him to miss a recent ceremony honoring fellow Auburn University star Frank Thomas, he said May 10 on “McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning” on WJOX-FM in Birmingham, Alabama.
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“I’ve had the hiccups since last July and I’m getting a medical procedure done the end of this week, I think, to try to remedy it,” he said.
“But I’m busy at the hospital sitting up with doctors poking me and shining lights down my throat, and probing me every way they can to find out why I’ve got these hiccups, so that’s the only reason that I wasn’t there.”
Jackson was emphatic when asked if anyone has come up with a reason why he has the hiccups or if there’s any cure.
“Hell, no,” he said.
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“I have done everything: scare me, drink water upside down, smell the a-- of a porcupine. It doesn’t work,” he said, as the hosts laughed.
What are hiccups?
According to the Cleveland Clinic, hiccups are repeated spasms of your diaphragm paired with a ‘hic’ sound from your vocal cords closing. Your diaphragm is a muscle under your ribcage, separating your chest and stomach area. This muscle is an important part of the breathing process. It moves downward when you breathe in and upward when you breathe out.
Two things happen when you hiccup:
- Your diaphragm pulls down between breaths, making you suck in air.
- The glottis (space between the vocal cords) closes to stop more air coming in.
These actions make the ‘hic’ sound of the hiccup. The process of the hiccup happens very quickly and you’ll usually return to normal within minutes to a couple of hours without treatment.
Who commonly gets hiccups?
Hiccups are more common in men. They can also have hiccups for a longer period.
What causes hiccups?
It’s not clear why people get hiccups. There are several reasons hiccups might happen, including low levels of carbon dioxide in the blood and irritated nerves. The phrenic nerve (which connects the neck to the diaphragm) and vagus nerve (which connects the brain to the stomach) are important parts of the breathing process.
Mild hiccups (those that go away in a short time) can happen when you:
- Eat and drink too quickly.
- Drink carbonated beverages or alcohol.
- Eat too much.
- Experience stress – including fear and excitement.
- Over-stretch your neck.
- Take drugs (particularly those for anxiety – benzodiazepines).
- Drink a very hot or very cold drink.
- Go through chemotherapy.
- Are anesthetized for a procedure.
- Inhale toxic fumes.
What does it mean if the hiccups last for more than two days?
If your hiccups don’t go away within a few days, they are called ‘persistent.’ If they last for a few months they are called ‘intractable’ (long-lasting hiccups). Long-lasting hiccups are rare. They can be stressful and exhausting. Intractable hiccups can be part of a larger, underlying medical problem and might not go away until that issue is corrected.
Some of these larger, underlying conditions include:
- Cancer and tumors.
- Stroke.
- Disorders of the stomach or esophagus, including GERD (a gastrointestinal and abdominal disorder).
- Pleurisy of the diaphragm.
- Uremia.
- Pneumonia.
- Bowel diseases.
- Pancreatitis and bladder irritation.
- Hepatitis and liver cancer.
- Tumors and lesions.
Hiccups can also happen after surgery and during the recovery process from a procedure. See a healthcare provider if your hiccups last for a long period of time.
