CARE YOUR HEALTH

A musician who has been hiccupping for 15 months is hoping an operation will solve his problem.

Chris Sands, 24, from Lincoln, hiccups as often as every two seconds - and sometimes even when he is asleep.

He has tried a variety of cures, including hypnosis and yoga, but nothing has worked.

Doctors at Nottingham's Queen's Medical Centre will put a tube into his stomach to monitor acid levels and decide if keyhole surgery is possible.

Brain scan

Mr Sands thinks his problem stems from an acid reflux condition caused by a damaged valve in his stomach.

"If the acid levels are severe enough they are going to do keyhole surgery and grab part of my stomach and wrap it around the valve to tighten it," he said.

Mr Sands, who is a backing singer in the group Ebullient, said the condition has hampered his career as he has only been able to perform four times.

He said brain and chest scans have not revealed what causes the hiccups.

The hiccups first started in September 2006 but disappeared before returning in February 2007.

"When you've had them this long it really drains you, because you can't eat properly and can't sleep properly and it is a proper bane on your life," he said.

He said he has tried about 100 different ways of drinking water to try to stop the condition.

Mr Sands said a fellow hiccup sufferer who has been plagued for four years has had the same operation - and it helped with heartburn but did not cure the hiccups.

American Charles Osborne, of Anthon, Iowa, holds the record for the longest ever bout of hiccups, which lasted for 68 years from 1922 until 1990.