My Hiccups Caused by Wisdom Tooth Removal at the Dentist

If you have read my previous posts you know that I suffered from an extended case of persistent hiccups as a result of having my Wisdom Teeth removed.

The ironic thing is that during my whole ordeal both my fiancée and I contacted the Oral Surgeon a total of four times to let them know what was going on. It wasn’t that we were looking to blame anyone for what was happening. We just needed suggestions on how to resolve the problem.

The general response I got from the Oral Surgeon’s office was “This is not our fault, and has nothing to do with your Wisdom Tooth Removal.” The ironic thing is if you have looked online (which you have since you are on my site.) you would realize this is just not true.

There are multiple posts and threads out on the net with people relating their story of getting the hiccups from having their Wisdom Teeth removed.

Now I understand that in the litigious world we live in people are not likely to own up to something. But I feel that as a medical professional it is your sworn duty to help someone with any medical knowledge you may have about their condition.

Placing blame is not the issue. The issue is helping a person get their life back to normal. I refuse to believe the Oral Surgeon had never received a call about this before. The fact is that they kept repeating “This is unrelated to your oral surgery. We are not responsible.” Instead they should have been offering suggestions about how to deal with the issue.

Now “Persistent Hiccups” may be unusual as a result of Oral Surgery. Many of the posts I have read online are people sharing stories about short bouts of hiccups after their surgery.

The bottom line is that people do in fact get the hiccups from a having Oral Surgery performed. So why is this?

Instances of Hiccups After Having Wisdom Teeth Removed & Oral Surgery

In a post on the Mac Rumors forum someone was discussing their concerns about getting their Wisdom Teeth removed. Someone followed up with the comment:

• … However I apparently am in the 5% of people who get hiccups from the pain medicine I was prescribed. It was fun to watch my coworkers go insane for two days as I kept hiccuping…

Were my hiccups caused by Pain Medication? They still persisted for four days after the medication was gone.

In another post on the Dental Problems message board a user writes:

• … I just had my wisdom teeth removed Friday afternoon, and ever since that night, I have had constant hiccups. I do mean constant. It happens every 5 seconds whenever I am up and walking around…literally. The only time it isn’t happening is for about 10 minutes after I wake up from a short, vicodin-induced nap. I usually hiccup myself to sleep. This is so annoying. Has it happened to anyone else? I’ve done internet searches and can’t find hiccups as a side effect from the surgery. Help!!…

This experience seems to run contrary to the assumption above that the hiccups are related to the pain medication since this person states the only time their hiccups go away is when they take their pain medication and go to sleep.

Now in all fairness I have read other experiences stating that when a person falls asleep (whether its natural sleep or drug induced sleep) that their hiccups go away until they wake up.

This bit of information makes the condition seem neurological in a way as the symptoms subside when the brain is basically “turned off”. Yet they come back as soon as a person is conscious again.

Side Notes on Hiccups Related to Oral Surgery & Wisdom Tooth Removal

Another point to note is that my hiccups started immediately upon coming out of Surgery. At this point I had not yet taken pain medication except for what was administered through the IV.

I have also spoken with several doctors who attend and assist with surgeries at the hospital when they are not working at the clinic. When I asked these doctors about the possibility of hiccups as a result of general anesthesia they all mentioned they have never seen a patient come out of a hospital surgery with the hiccups.

This might be a similar case like with the Oral Surgeon where this does happen and maybe these doctors were just not aware of it.

In any case, if you are on this site you know that Hiccups DO occur as a result of Oral Surgery. There’s no point in convincing ourselves of something we have experienced firsthand. What we need to do is find out why they occur and how to stop them once this has happened.

I will try to share more information as I find it, and any theories I come up with through online research.

Finally Cured After 7 Days of Persistent Hiccups

When I woke up I felt up I felt sleepy and disoriented.

The Chlorpromazine had really zonked me out, in combination with the fact that I had not slept well for the past few nights. I sat up in bed and took a sip of water and the first thing I noticed was… my hiccups were gone.

Now this may seem like I am jumping the gun, but I could tell something was different. You see my hiccups had been so bad that every morning when I woke up I was already hiccupping. In fact sometimes it was the sound of my own hiccups that would wake me up in the morning.

I was so happy, I was actually in disbelief. I just laid there in bed expecting them to come back. I tried not to think about it too much because of how much power the mind seems to have over health related conditions, but it was hard not to think about it.

After 7 days of extreme agony, discomfort, lack or sleep and food, and several trips to the hospital and Urgent Care my hiccups had finally been cured.

Treatment and Medication to Cure Persistent Hiccups

I went to Radiology and met with the technician who was going to give me my X-Ray. She asked how long I had been experiencing my Hiccups for. I told her I was almost at day seven and she mentioned that was the longest duration of anyone she had X-Rayed in our city.

Apparently she had worked with several people who had experienced persistent hiccups but none of them had lasted as long as mine. This was somewhat reassuring and nerve racking at the same time.

The X-Ray didn’t show anything out of the norm. The technician and the doctor checked them out but didn’t see anything that had them concerned.

At this point the doctor decided he was going to put me on an Acid Blocker (Pantoprazole) to help with the gagging, and he would prescribe Chlorpromazine (Thorazine) in an attempt to cure my hiccups.

Thorazine is an Anti-Psychotic medication that is also well know for curing hiccups. He prescribed it in a pill form at a low dosage as Chlorpromazine.

7 Days of Persistent Hiccups Lead to a Nervous Breakdown

Tuesday finally came and I was going out of my mind. I was unable to eat, because if I did I would start to choke and gag. Not to mention the severe chest pains from the Acid Reflux food was causing. I was unable to sit still or relax because a side effect from the medicine I was taking is restlessness. I couldn’t lie down because if I did the Acid would run up my throat and make me vomit. I was so stressed out and worn down the best I could manage was to throw a fit.

After seeing me have a nervous breakdown my fiancée decided it was best to go back to Urgent Care for another shot at solving this problem. This was the key visit in my search for a Cure to my Hiccups.

ER Checkup from Persistent Hiccups Causing Gagging & Choking

At about 9pm on Friday night I started gagging, and wrenching. An entire day of hiccups and now almost constant Acid Reflux had caused me to start dry heaving, and trying to throw up. At points I would actually vomit stomach acid, but no food. It was pretty much like I was just throwing up small amounts of water, although it tasted like stomach acid.

After about 3 hours or gagging my fiancée decided it was time for me to go to the emergency room. It was 12am and the hospital was the only medical office open. I agreed and we went to the ER to get my checked out for my hiccups.

I was checked out very promptly because of the chest pains I was experiencing. Medical offices seem pretty good about addressing chest pains in an expedited manner. This is because they need to rule out whether a person is suffering from gastro intestine problems or cardiac problems.

Persistent Hiccups Causing Symptoms of Acid Reflux

By the third day I was starting to become more aware of the discomfort being caused by my constant hiccups. Not only that but I was starting to notice that because of the constant contraction in my chest I was starting to suffer from Acid Reflux whenever I would hiccup.

Two years before I had some stomach problems and needed to change my diet in order to relieve an Acid Reflux reaction I was having due to things I had been eating. (Mainly fast food and junk food type meals.)

I changed over to a very healthy diet and started eating low fat foods with very little grease, along with a nightly salad. This made a huge difference in my health.

It was very disturbing to see this Acid Reflux returning as a result of these non-stop hiccups. Especially because there was nothing I could change in my diet at this point to correct the problem. I feel the underlying cause of the Acid Reflux was the constant barrage of hiccups my body was dealing with which was not upsetting my stomach and gastro track.

Experiencing 7 Days of Persistent Hiccups

Hi, my name is Paul. I am 28 years old and have put off getting my Wisdom Teeth out for almost 10 years. I always made up a bunch of excuses for why I didn’t want to get my Wisdom Teeth out. Whether it was the cost, or the potential pain, or even the fear of oral surgery, I made a poor decision in waiting ten years to have it done.

After several years of procrastination I finally made the decision one painful night to have my Wisdom Teeth removed. They were coming in more than normal and it was quite painful so it motivated me to follow through and finally have them removed.

I went in for a consultation and was told by the doctor that every single Wisdom Tooth I had was impacted, but that the surgery should be relatively straight forward.