u/Ok_Sector1704

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Hello friends and fellow Redditors,

It's been a long time since I posted something. Partly because I am visiting my daughter in Canada and partly because I am busy completing my half-finished articles on my personal website and Medium.

Now, the elderly person in concern, the one with persistent hiccups, visited my clinic in early days of July. He is 86 tears old and was accompanied by his daughter. An elderly person with persistent hiccups - I remember having attended a similar case in early post-Covid days. He was also an elderly gent undergoing treatment for high BP. I had to admit him to correct the hiccups, because his serum electrolytes reports revealed he has low sodium levels, which is called Hyponatremia in our medical circle.

Suspecting the same, I referred this new patient for serum electrolytes, which fortunately, came out to be normal. I was literally searching for clues that may nail the diagnosis when the patient said " I am also constipated - no motions for past 2 days". There it was, I thought. I should have thought of it earlier. Period. I referred him to a hospital close by for an enema.

Enema helped him get rid of constipation, but the hiccups persisted which resulted in fatigue and weakness.

Considering his age, I referred him to a bigger hospital to a gastroenterologist who did a thorough investigation that revealed a growth in the colorectal region (? Cancer).

The last time I was in touch with the patient, he was still admitted in the hospital, undergone laproscopic biopsy and colostomy..

During this period, I thought I should help elderly people ( even young people for that matter) by writing articles regarding this condition. Here's the link for the article -

7 Reasons Why Aging Increases Your Colorectal Cancer Risk

Do read and share your thoughts and experience regarding 'Hiccups '- I am all eyes and ears.

Adios.