November 20, 2000
Insulin
Question from Manchester, England:
My 74 year old father has had type�1 for about 10 years. Recently, he was put on insulin because a long term course of steroids for a blood problem has sent his blood sugar levels very high. After injecting insulin and then eating, he has started hiccuping during the meal to the extreme where he is sick. This is causing problems at meal times. He has tried several ways to prevent this from happening with no luck. Do you think the insulin is causing this?
Answer:
Although the hiccup may have been temporally associated with initiating insulin therapy, it would seem unlikely that insulin therapy is causing the hiccups. Rather, you probably need to talk with your father’s physician about other causes. Some include irritation of the diaphragm or the lining of the lungs. I’m not familiar with his medical history enough to make further recommendations.
JTL
