London, Aug 10 (ANI): A woman from Lincoln, UK, has been hiccupping up to 100 times a day for almost five years, since she became pregnant with her first child.
When Lisa Doherty began hiccuping in January 2008 while pregnant with her daughter Emily, she visited the doctors and was told hiccups were common in pregnant women, and dismissed it from her mind.
But although she gave birth to Emily in June 2008 and went on to have a second daughter, Sophie, in May this year, the pesky gulps have shown no sign of stopping, the Daily Mail reported.
"I started hiccuping when I was around four months pregnant with Emily. I went to the doctor and I was told it was a part of pregnancy and a hiccup could be a way of getting air to your baby quickly," she said.
"So I thought nothing of it, until three months after having Emily I still had hiccups. It's not usually fits of hiccups but just one very loud hiccup every hour. At worst I've had up to 100 hiccups a day, I've even started hiccuping in my sleep occasionally.
"I can hiccup really loud, so it can be a bit embarrassing, some people say I sound like a dinosaur. I get some very funny looks, especially from old ladies because if I'm quite close to them when I hiccup I can often make them jump," she added.
Doherty, 24, who runs her own mobile casino company, has tried all the known hiccup remedies from holding her breath to drinking water upside down but to no avail.
"I've tried everything to cure the hiccups, all the old wives' tales from holding my breath to drinking water upside down, to asking people to scare me.
"My partner Matthew still jumps out at me every now and again to try and help but nothing works," she said.
Doherty has continued to visit the doctor in a bid to find a cure but medics are baffled as to the cause for her unusual ailment.
She is currently waiting to have a gastroscopy, a procedure where doctors use a fibre-optic camera to examine the inside of the gullet and stomach.
With luck, the procedure may finally shed some light on the cause of her unusual condition.
"I've been passed from pillar to post. One doctor even told me I had the hiccups because I talked to much and that I should try talking less.
"I'm waiting for a referral for a gastroscopy which will hopefully find out what's causing the hiccups and put a stop to them.
"The hiccups have become a regular part of my day-to day life, I often don't notice them anymore. But I wouldn't like to have them for another four years," she said. (ANI)