Jason Kraft of Farmington Hills (Credit: myFOXDetroit.com)
FARMINGTON HILLS, Mich. (myFOXDetroit.com) -
You get the hiccups, maybe drink a little water upside down, hold your breath and they go away eventually. That has not been the case for a Farmington Hills teen who has been hiccuping for a year and a half and there is no sign of them stopping.
Jason Kraft has got a problem he can't ignore and neither can anyone else. The 18-year-old can't stop hiccuping.
"150 a day," he said.
An avid tennis player and good student, Kraft was cruising through his senior year of high school, then for no apparent reason the hiccups began in March of 2011.
He has tried holding his breath, eating sugar, drinking water upside down and just about every other home remedy you could suggest to halt the hiccups. Even doctors can't figure it out.
"He's had MRI, endoscopy, colonoscopy," said his mother, Shelly Kraft. "Nothing. Everything's negative for all his tests."
"I've tried a lot of medication," her son explained.
Yet the contractions continue. A hiccup is actually a complex involuntary spasm of the diaphragm, which is a muscle that separates the lungs from your stomach. It spasms and forces the air out of the lungs, creating a hiccup.
Causes range from eating or drinking too much, stress or even something like a hair touching your eardrum can trigger the nerve.
What may have started out as a mild nuisance has turned into a pretty major medical concern. Kraft is now a freshman at Michigan State and is hoping his hiccups will not follow him through college.
"Hopefully they'll be gone soon," he said. "Always hoping."
Most recently Kraft has tried taking a low dose of Xanex. Doctors thought the anti-anxiety medication would help relax his diaphragm, but that didn't work.
He is open to medical advice. If you have some, click here to contact him through Facebook.
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Jason Kraft of Farmington Hills (Credit: myFOXDetroit.com)
