Transcription:
Abstract. A 60-year-old man with acute pancreatitis developed persistent hiccups after insertion of a nasogastric tube. Removal of the latter did not terminate the hiccups which had also been treated with different drugs, and several manoeuvres were attempted, but with no success. Digital rectal massage was then performed resulting in abrupt cessation of the hiccups. Recurrence of the hiccups occurred several hours later, and again, they were terminated immediately with digital rectal massage. No other recurrences were observed. This is the second reported case associating cessation of intractable hiccups with digital rectal massage. We suggest that this manoeuvre should be considered in cases of intractable hiccups before proceeding with pharmacological agents.
Thanks. That makes sense now. The only thing I struggled with was vascular tone, which I now understand to mean the blood vessels can have excessive vasodilation causing the drop in BP.
Interestingly I’ve had a poor or two like this where I thought I was about to pass out. Is this something explicitly brought on by the action of popping? As both times it happened to me I was normal and then all of a sudden I started to sweat profusely and the urge to empty my bowels came on in mere seconds.
Never thought I’d be discussing bowel movements online.
It’s actually very common to experience that a few times. And it’s related to what’s physically happening to the nerves. It’s just very rare for people to die from it. It’s considered to be generally safe. The whole point of the treatment in the paper is to cause that exact feeling.
But yeah, look up the symptoms of vasovagal reflex and you’ll find they match up to that to a T.
Thank you. This was an interesting chat and it makes understanding the original post a little easier for me.
Have a nice day!