http://www.wlky.com/health/17950157/detail.html
LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Almost everyone has had hiccups at some point in their lives.
But a man living in Louisville contacted WLKY because, as of the end of November, it will be one year he's been suffering with hiccups -- and the situation is getting worse.
Milton Betts started having the hiccups last November.
"It just came on and it wouldn't stop," he said.
Except for a break only a few days a month, his hiccups have not gone away in a year.
"I've lost about 35, 40 pounds," he said. "I'm off of work right now because when I go to work, I lose my breath. I had a couple episodes at work they sent me home because I couldn't breathe."
"It sounds like he's almost dying," said Patricia Betts, Milton's wife. "You can't imagine the sounds he's making. So to have someone you love and to hear them suffer the way I hear him suffer. It seems nobody can help."
Patricia has scoured the Internet for answers while Milton has tried just about every folk remedy there is.
"And all them home remedies don't seem to work," he said.
Doctors said we get the hiccups when what's called the vagus nerve, which runs from the brain to the abdomen, gets irritated.
Milton showed us the dozens of medications doctors have prescribed to him that have not helped. He even went to the Mayo Clinic for nerve block surgery.
"I thought I was good driving back from Cleveland back to Louisville, but by the time we got to Cincinnati, the hiccups came back," he said. "I believe in God and I trust God, but I tell my wife sometimes if I got to be like this the rest of my life I'd just rather go on 'cause it's very frustrating."
This is why Milton wanted to get his story out.
"I want to get this story out because I felt like that somebody would take a chance and try to help me maybe there's something that they haven't done," he said.
If a medical professional thinks he or she can help, e-mail WLKY here.
Milton said he's willing to be part of experimental research.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Almost everyone has had hiccups at some point in their lives.
But a man living in Louisville contacted WLKY because, as of the end of November, it will be one year he's been suffering with hiccups -- and the situation is getting worse.
Milton Betts started having the hiccups last November.
"It just came on and it wouldn't stop," he said.
Except for a break only a few days a month, his hiccups have not gone away in a year.
"I've lost about 35, 40 pounds," he said. "I'm off of work right now because when I go to work, I lose my breath. I had a couple episodes at work they sent me home because I couldn't breathe."
"It sounds like he's almost dying," said Patricia Betts, Milton's wife. "You can't imagine the sounds he's making. So to have someone you love and to hear them suffer the way I hear him suffer. It seems nobody can help."
Patricia has scoured the Internet for answers while Milton has tried just about every folk remedy there is.
"And all them home remedies don't seem to work," he said.
Doctors said we get the hiccups when what's called the vagus nerve, which runs from the brain to the abdomen, gets irritated.
Milton showed us the dozens of medications doctors have prescribed to him that have not helped. He even went to the Mayo Clinic for nerve block surgery.
"I thought I was good driving back from Cleveland back to Louisville, but by the time we got to Cincinnati, the hiccups came back," he said. "I believe in God and I trust God, but I tell my wife sometimes if I got to be like this the rest of my life I'd just rather go on 'cause it's very frustrating."
This is why Milton wanted to get his story out.
"I want to get this story out because I felt like that somebody would take a chance and try to help me maybe there's something that they haven't done," he said.
If a medical professional thinks he or she can help, e-mail WLKY here.
Milton said he's willing to be part of experimental research.
