MicroFactzzz#0025 · 🧬 Human Glitch
One Man Had the Hiccups Nonstop for 68 Years
The longest documented case of hiccups lasted nearly seven decades — and it started over something completely trivial.
Hiccups usually pass in a few minutes — reflexive diaphragm spasms everyone knows and ignores.
American Charles Osborne started hiccupping in 1922 while weighing a hog before slaughter. The hiccups never stopped. They continued, without a break, until 1990 — 68 years.
By some estimates he hiccupped tens of millions of times during that stretch, yet still lived a fairly normal life — he worked, married twice, and had children.
Long-term hiccups can have various causes — sometimes an irritated vagus nerve, sometimes a neurological trigger — but in this particular record-holding case, the underlying cause was never really pinned down.
Sources
- General knowledge / encyclopedic sources
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Krulicza Nora
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