we have been going thru a few weeks of hiccups, off and on.. during the day and all thru the night??? since i saw someone mention them, i did a quick search here and noticed other have mentioned them, too??!! wondering, is this normal?? any suggestions on how to manage them and what causes them??

for some reason, hubby doesn't even realize hes doing it.. even tho they are noisy and i would think uncomfortable, after awhile..

any help would be appreciated!!!

thank you, cindi

Hiccups are a form of myoclonus. Myoclonus can occur in parkinsonism.

I suggest speaking with the neurologist. He/She may consider prescribing Klonopin. Not sure if he/she would do that if they aren't troubling to your husband.

My husband had a brainstem encephalopathy in the 1980's, the cause of which was never determined. Hiccups that went on for hours was one of his early symptoms. Later, inability to swallow and severe spikes in BP. He was in the ICU for weeks and had a feeding tube and tracheostomy for months. I often wonder if that episode--or all the MRI/CT scans he had--were somehow connected to his Lewy. We'll never know.

Wow, Thorazine [chlorpromazine]! Didn't even know they used it any more. Used to be the primary antipsychotic. Anticholinergic, of course, but at Dale's stage I'm sure it didn't matter. I don't think I would be advisable for Lewys in general though.

Coy had hiccups nonstop for weeks after a fall on his head. For a while after that (a few years) hiccups always accompanied a fever. For several years after that it was an early-warning that he was coming down with something. They seem to have gone away in the last year or so.

He was definitely aware of them and they did bother him. In the beginning baclofen was fairly effective, but it was less so the last time we tried it.

thank you all so much..i have so much to learn. .his hiccups go on for hours and hours at a time.. day after day!! just started a few weeks ago. i will mention them to the doc, the next time we are in... i'm not sure he feels things sometimes?? or is it that he forgets before the next one comes, that he just had one...?? so even tho they dont seem to bother him..ill get prepared, in case they start to bother him....

when he isnt feeling well and tells me.. ill do what i can.. and a few minutes later will say.. hows your leg?? and he'll look at me, like im goofy.. nothing is wrong with my leg!!! hard to diagnose what is happening at times... sometimes beginning to think its me..LOL

thank you again!!

cindi

No, Cindi--it isn't you. We've all been through those same situations and start to doubt our own sanity after a while.

At our visit this week Dr. Boeve noticed I had marked Coy's med sheet to say Baclofen was no longer very effective for hiccups. He commented that about the only thing Thorazine is used for anymore is hiccups and he wanted to make sure we knew that Coy shouldn't take that. Yup, I knew -- but didn't realize it is used for hiccups, so that was useful information. In case Coy is ever in the hospital or other situation where a medical professional notices him hiccupping and wants to be helpful I'll know to question carefully what they have in mind!

Jeanne,
That was given to my Dad for Hiccups about 18 yrs ago, but of course he didn't have LBD either but I do think it is good information to pass along to people dealing with this with their LO's with LBD