Degenerative bloating and hiccups

21 years old male here. 130 pounds weight, 6’ height. Ectomorphic type who doesn’t gain weight, healthy, and from Canada.

I’ve had a weird problem for quite some time now and it’s just really starting to ruin some aspects of my life. Before explaining the actual problem, I will briefly write about some related problems I have / had.

When I was young, I always had problems with stomach cramps while running. In fact, every time I ran for more than 2-3 minutes, I would always develop a cramp. At school, they really tried everything to help me out, and nothing have ever really helped me (respiration, food, hydration, etc.). That being said, I never had this problem for other types of activity. It was only while running / jumping. Nowadays, the problem is still there, but it happens less frequently and the cramps usually go away faster (probably because my body has changed / developed during my teenager years).

Now, hiccups. I don’t remember exactly where it all started, but I can’t get rid of hiccups. Here are the different stages I experience, from the moment I get the first hiccup:

- Stage 1 (0 - 15 min.): standard hiccup

- Stage 2 (15 - 45 min.): I’m starting to feel irritated in my stomach

- Stage 3 (45 - 60 min.): I have to stop what I’m doing and lie down because I’m getting too much irritated

- Stage 4 (1h+): I get acid reflux and I usually vomit air at this point. That’s usually the point where I have to go to sleep.

The durations might not be exactly accurate, but this is what usually happens. Note that sometimes I’m able to stop it at stage 2 if I lay down on my back and relax. However, the hiccup usually comes back an hour later and I have to repeat the same procedure. Also, drinking water seems to make things worst. In fact, drinking too much makes my stomach bloat and sometimes I get hiccup from it because I feel too full. On the other hand, I always feel thirsty because the more I get irritated and the more I feel dehydrated (dry mouth and throat). So, it’s really paradoxal and I can’t find my way out of it. The only way I found to completely get rid of a hiccup is to fall asleep. In fact, when I still have a hiccup at night, I usually go to sleep and when I wake up the next day I feel perfectly fine. They usually won’t go fully away until I sleep. Weed seems to help me relax too.

That being said, I always had a problem with this while moving after eating or drinking too fast. For instance, if I drink a beer or a cola (carbonated drinks) too fast, I will get an instant hiccup. Same if I eat something a bit too spicy. As for food, if I eat and start moving a lot, I will experience bloating and as a result I will usually get a hiccup. However, since I now try to avoid these situations, I’m not getting hiccups more frequently than a normal person. In my early drinking days, this caused me a lot of problems and I almost couldn’t drink beer. In fact, most of my nights out were wasted by a simple hiccup. Now that I’m more used to beer and that I know my body better, I’m able to prevent hiccups more easily, but once they start I’m still f****d.

Lastly, bloating. Now that I talked about hiccups, there are some moments where I do get the exact same stages but without any hiccups. These symptoms seem inevitable in some circumstances and that’s the main subject of this post. For the last few years, I went to a lot of festivals and shows, and these have always been a big part of my social life. However, I have had this problem which has been ruining my experience every time. After an afternoon of moving, jumping and drinking water, it seems like I always get bloated and I’m starting to feel stage 2, but without any hiccup. Every time, I must ask my friends to lay down. If I don’t rest for an extended period, it’s usually too late and I will be reaching stage 4 eventually (which is ruining my whole night obviously). I have tried to eat different things, but every time eating makes things worst. I would even say that eating makes the bloating starts quicker most of the time. What’s weird is that I don’t get these symptoms while doing sports, even for extended periods of time. That makes it really hard for me to figure out what’s wrong with festivals in particular. 

In a few weeks, I will be headlining EDC, which is an all-night electronic music festival. I’m really scared, because I don’t want my experience to be ruin by this, especially for such an expensive and special event for me. Do any of you have a clue about what my problem is? If not, do you think that some medications could toss the symptoms away temporarily, like Tums? Thanks for you help.

P.S. I have had a chest X-ray a year ago for my lungs (unrelated problem) and my doctor discovered that my diaphragm was higher than average, but nothing to worry about.

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