hiccups?!

    • September 15, 2010 at 5:08 am

      Ever since getting hit with this, I get hiccups easily. It can be from having a drink, eating, breathing wrong. They are hard and deep hiccups, painful, and hard to get rid of most of the time. Last night I got em twice and somehow managed to relax my way out of them. Sometimes they are worse than others and I will get them several times a day. Others, they disappear for a period of time only to suddenly reappear. Am I the only one that deals with this??

      I have also noticed when I drink from a cup or glass, my upper lip quivers. If I try to smile, just starting to, the corners of my mouth shake and quiver, mostly the left side. This is new. Could it be from that attack when the woman punched me and stuff?? I have had numbness (that tight, I washed my face with a crummy soap feeling) on the right side of my face almost all over since the beginning. But still have facial movements. I also get facial twitching often. Sometimes it lasts a couple of minutes, sometimes longer. Again, am I alone in this? Should I have brought it up with the doctor? Any ideas about this new development? I thought I would be getting better, but I swear it seems some things have gotten worse. A walk with my daughter leaves me sore and in bed and shuffling the next day or two—I took a slow pace, took my time, and it was flat even terrain that was well paved. A walk on uneven terrain leaves my legs shaking like jello and so sore I can barely move. Hubby says it is due to me being out of shape. Thanks. But last night I was sitting at the computer with my head on my hand and my arm started jerking and spasming. I wasn’t sure what was happening! It came on so suddenly. Maybe I just need more walking on a treadmill or outside. I thought our stairs would be counted as exercise and therapy.

      Any ideas on any of this would be most helpful. I am 4 years and a couple of months post onset.

      Thanks and God Bless
      Lori

    • September 15, 2010 at 11:43 am

      Hi Lori,
      I have that smiling face issue too. Since I do not have gbs/cidp (Kevie) it most be something else. I also have the facial twitching. I noticed when I am stressed it gets worse. I am suspecting it could be a pinched nerve in the neck?????? Kevie used to get the hiccups as well, they have stopped. I suspect it is from the esophogus, not opening and closing properly from damage and air getting in and out improperly. He also used to have a problem with air and burping, that too has stopped.

      About the feeling worse in general and recovery after a walk, are you sick? Kevies symptoms intensify after doing things when he is sick. He currently is fighting a cold and is so wiped.

    • Anonymous
      September 15, 2010 at 1:55 pm

      Lori,

      I have to agree with Dawn about the twitching, etc. Stress can cause a lot of these things, facial twitching, etc. and I had issues with some of this before I had my current illness. I have seen some people with such severe eye twitching and I don’t think that they have any illness so it is definitely stress-induced. Maybe that is related to the line of work I am in….;)

      As for the muscle soreness, that sounds a lot to me like fibro and chronic fatigue syndrome. There is exercise intolerance to where you do something and then really feel it a day or 2 later. I feel constantly sore like I have worked out. If I really overdo it, then I have trouble moving around and the energy level is lower. Maybe you are not getting enough sleep? Sleep is very important for muscle restoration and if the sleep is an issue, then they never get recover completely or get better.

      Try not to fixate on it too much or you will drive yourself crazy. I know that when I got the muscle twiches in the beginning, I thought I would go nuts. I still have them constantly, but try to ignore it as much as I can and distract myself. That helps.

      If you notice things getting worse, then go to the doctor, but really what are they going to do? Hmmm, hem, haw, don’t know, do you want some meds that can cause some terrible side effects? I am little down on the docs now.

      Good luck!!

      Jessica

    • September 17, 2010 at 1:18 am

      The leg, foot and body twitches were my ‘friend’ when I was first sick. I got so used to them that when they finally eased up, I found I missed the nightly ‘ritual’. But, yes I do know it is worse with stress or if i over do things. Sometimes they are so bad you can watch the muscles move and crawl. Creepy. The facial, smiling thing I noticed by chance recently while drinking a glass of juice. I noticed my upper lip quivering and thought it was odd because I had not had a problem with it before. Then I did a half smile at my daughter and the corners of my mouth were quivering. I also had a strange shaking, spasm, twitch happen with my left arm when i held it up to cradle my head while sitting at the computer. It was as if I had no control over it…freaked me out! BUT changing positions made it stop. Same thing happens with fingers too. Just more to add to the list I suppose. I do know my throat and soft palette are still numb, I have to often tilt my head a bit to swallow properly. Annoying, but something I have come to terms with and no one seems to notice the slight movement or at least are nice enough not to say anything. Wonder if that could be part of the cause of the hiccups?
      Haven’t been sick (except for allergies and going off Singulair and onto two new meds. A nasal antihistamine and an inhaler), getting over some major stress (possible cause), and also a few months back yes the dr did give me a “guess what, you have a cross over of Fibro caused by the original GBS, surprise”. So now I don’t know what is GBS residuals or possible cause for alarms to go off, or just a bad fibro day. Have to do more research on that one since they are do darn similar. Ugh.
      Thank you for the advice and support. Everyone is so helpful and I find solace here.

      ~Lori:)

    • Anonymous
      September 17, 2010 at 10:23 am

      Lori,

      One other thought…you mentioned getting over bad stress. I get visual aura migraines. When I am under extreme stress, I actually get the migraines when the stress is over. It is almost like your body is in a fight and flight mode, on high adrenaline. Then when you start to relax, it is when you have the reaction. Maybe that is a little bit of what is going on. Just a thought.

    • Anonymous
      September 18, 2010 at 12:47 pm

      During the onset of my GBS experience, among a lot of other symptoms, I had facial numbness and drooping, blurred vision, and loss of feeling in my throat with inability to swallow. I still have a slight blurring of vision in my left eye and as the day wears on, my throat feels more and more like it has a coating on it. I have increased difficulty with swallowing, my speach becomes noticebly taxed, and i get singular hiccups. Gradually improving in all areas but still, after 8 months, i am still affected by it. What is strange is that when I wake up in the morning, all of these symptoms, with the exception of the blurred left eye, are non-existant. :confused:

    • Anonymous
      October 20, 2010 at 4:08 am

      Lori / Jessica

      You are definitely not alone. So far besides me, I met 4/5 patients of GBS in our city, I feel the symptoms mentioned by you do exist in all of us. Even I will say ‘easily or rather unnecessarily coming under stress’ is also one of the peculiarities of the GBS patients. Still after five years now, I too experience the same from time to time. I feel, such things emerge all of sudden in our body and it vanishes after sometime. We do not know when what would happen. Even If sometimes I talk on mobile for 2/3 minutes, my hand would twitch and I have to change the posture, sometimes if I talk more than 10/15 minutes, nothing happens.

      I feel hiccups, spasm in the legs are also very common

hiccups

    • November 27, 2007 at 1:23 pm

      Anyone else get hiccups more than they used to and more easily?

    • November 27, 2007 at 10:53 pm

      Not hiccups, but sneezing. I don’t sneeze more often, but when I do, it can go on for 5 minutes sometimes.

    • Anonymous
      November 27, 2007 at 11:25 pm

      Hello,
      YES, I get hiccups and it was uncommon for me to get them before, but since the hiccups come after I eat, I think the ulcers I have now are the cause.

    • Anonymous
      November 28, 2007 at 12:17 am

      Yes, I have noticed this recently. Evey time I eat a moderately hot pepper I get the hiccups. Never had this problem before. However, the solution was very simple. I just don’t eat hot pepper anymore. I just chalking that one up to old age.

    • November 28, 2007 at 1:43 am

      I get them no matter what I eat. I have to chew things more now because I still have swallowing issues (nothing too awful just annoying at times) but if I dont chew properly I get hiccups. Never had the problem before GBS (other than occassional hiccups of course). Glad it isnt caused by hot foods because I love them and would miss them 🙂

      Just thought maybe this is another odd quirk to add to the long list of “after GBS”.

    • Anonymous
      November 29, 2007 at 11:35 am

      Hiccup [B]IS[/B] another odd quirk to add to the long list of “after GBS”. I just laugh now when I get on the phone and talk or after I eat I do get the hiccups even now after two years. They only last for a short time, but it is like a infant or a puppy that gets them often. I just start to giggle at them. You can take a drink of water and they might go away but a few minutes later they are back. So you hold your breath and they go away. One thing you might try is to look at the clock and count the seconds between your hiccups. Just that amount of concentration will make them stop. Besides I can not giggle when I am watching the clock!

      Did you get bouts of yawning too? I would lay down and turn out the lights to go to bed at night and I would start to yawn one after another till my jaw hurt. I might yawn 300 times before I fell asleep, I guess they stopped or like counting sheep I fell asleep counting hiccups! When that started in the hospital the staff would leave the room. If they stayed with me they would all start yawning for the rest of their shift and I would be sleeping soundly. We did check and there is no medication for hiccups. My cousin had them once for weeks! He was hospitiallized with them. He was not able to go to work or drive. He become exhausted. Oh great something else to zap our energy!

      Next time just giggle or laugh at them it is the best medicine!