Make Hic Stop! Emily, 13, Has Had Hiccups Every Two Seconds For 10 Weeks

Make Hic Stop! Emily, 13, Has Had Hiccups Every Two Seconds For 10 Weeks

She's tried blowing into a brown paper bag, drinking water upside down, holding her breath for minutes on end - in fact, everything.

But nothing Emily Marsh has done and stopped her hiccups – which she has had for more than 10 weeks.

The 13-year-old hiccups every two seconds and even gets them when she is asleep. She is so exhausted she has to take afternoons off school to rest.

And her condition has baffled doctors. Emily has had a series of tests including an MRI and ultrasound scan.

She has tried every old wives' tale remedy from a spoonful of vinegar to holding her breath.

Her mum Cathy Barrett, 45, said: "We are willing to try anything. It's been 10 weeks now, and a very long 10 weeks at that. Emily is exhausted by it all but she's taking it in her stride.

"It makes her throat very sore but she deals with it very well. The thing that frustrates her is this constant tired feeling. Strangers are forever offering her a glass of water. But school have been very understanding."

Emily, from Wallington, Surrey, is one of only a handful of young people known to have had sustained chronic hiccups.

She can only manage half a day at Stanley Park High School, Carshalton, because the constant movement is painful and exhausting.

The hiccups - an involuntary contraction of the diaphragm - become minimal when Emily is in a deep sleep, but return at full force as soon as she enters a lighter sleep.

Charity worker Cathy said: "Absolutely nothing has worked. We have tried hypnotherapy and osteopathy but we are now completely running out of ideas."

Do you have a cure to help Emily stop hiccuping?

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