Medical Help Desk

Hiccups are repeated spasms of your diaphragm paired with a ‘hic’ sound from your vocal cords closing. Your diaphragm is a muscle under your ribcage, separating your chest and stomach area. This muscle is an important part of the breathing process. It moves downward when you breathe in and upward when you breathe out. Two things happen when you hiccup: Your diaphragm pulls down between breaths, making you suck in air. The glottis (space between the vocal cords) closes to stop more air coming in. These actions make the ‘hic’ sound of the hiccup. The process of the hiccup happens very quickly and you’ll usually return to normal within minutes to a couple of hours without treatment.   Can hiccups happen to anyone? Yes. Hiccups can happen to adults, children and babies. Who commonly gets hiccups? Hiccups are more common in men. They can also have hiccups for a longer period. Symptoms and Causes It’s not clear why people get hiccups. There are several reasons hiccups might happen, inclu...

  Disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) is a rare blood clotting disorder. It may happen if you have illnesses like sepsis, cancer or pancreatitis. What is disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC)? Disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) is a rare blood clotting disorder that can cause organ damage and uncontrollable bleeding. DIC is a complication of different serious medical conditions that can be life-threatening if you don’t receive treatment. Symptoms and Causes DIC symptoms may include: Uncontrollable bleeding from several areas of your body. Bruising. Confusion, memory loss or change of behavior. Difficulty breathing (dyspnea). Fever that’s more than 103 degrees Fahrenheit (39.4 degrees Celsius). What causes DIC? To understand what causes DIC, it may help to understand how your body makes blood clots. Your liver makes clotting factors (proteins) that stick to platelets in your blood to form a blood clot. Normally, blood...