What
do holding your breath and swallowing seven times, taking a spoonful of sugar,
and saying “pineapple” have in common?
According
to the Farmers Almanac they are all supposed cures for hiccups.
I’ll
withhold judgement as to their effectiveness at curing mild cases of those
rapid spasms of the diaphragm. But what
about those stubborn cases that seem to elude solution even by the medical
profession? Hiccups can be a lingering
condition after brain surgery, for example.
And there have been people who suffered for decades of continuous
hiccupping.
Known
technically as idiopathic persistent singultus, hiccups seems to be one of
those orphan medical conditions that has captured little attention from professionals. But The Atlantic magazine recently
highlighted this situation and told the delightful story of Ali Seifi, a
neurointensivist at the University of Texas in San Antonio. Challenged by a patient who questioned why
human hearts can be transplanted successfully but there’s no solution for
hiccups, Seifi set out to do some research.
I
won’t belabor you with the details, but Dr. Seifi developed a simple device
called the HiccAway and sold the first one in 2020 for $13.42. A fairly modest price for a modern medical
device, no? He even appeared last year
on Shark Tank and enticed Mark Cuban to invest a quarter million dollars
into his venture. To date, HiccAway has
grossed over $1 million.
But
lost in this medical/business success story is Dr. Luc Morris, a surgeon at the
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center who specializes in tumors of the head
and neck. Almost twenty years ago, as a
medical student, he described a cure for idiopathic persistent singultus he
named supra-supramaximal inspiration”, or SSMI.
He even conducted a small-scale clinical trial and had a 100% success
rate among those who were able to complete the SSMI method.
But
aside from being published in a couple of obscure medical journals, Dr.
Morris’s discovery didn’t receive much, if any, publicity; and the good doctor
never explored further or conducted more extensive trials of SSMI. Asked by a reporter why he didn’t do more
with his discovery, he answered, “Well, you know, we got busy. But also, how would we do a clinical trial? Who would pay for it? There’s no drug we can sell. Nobody will invest the money and hire all the
people and do all the regulatory paperwork, because there’s no money to be
made.” (emphasis added)
So
the availability of an effective cure for hiccups turned on whether the
discoverer could make money from it?
Capitalism has its detractors, and I get that. But this economic system rewards innovators
monetarily, and like it or not we humans generally are motivated by greed and
the desire for more money and what it can purchase. It’s the “fallen” human condition. Capitalism takes that and uses it to spur creativity
and innovation, hopefully for the good of all. If someone were to discover a cure for, say,
Parkinson’s disease, the person likely would—and should—be handsomely
rewarded. I have no problem with
that. Maybe hiccups just doesn’t rate
very highly as an affliction in the public’s mind. Yet one doctor did monetize his cure for
hiccups while another did not or could not.
Does
money make that much difference in the world?
Does society miss out on some very good things because no one could make
money from them? What if YOU were in a
situation where you could benefit the world in a very tangible way but it would
actually cost you a modest amount of capital, and you knew you’d never be fully
reimbursed for your effort and expense?
I’ll leave you to ponder that question.
Just know that money in and of itself is not bad; it is how we relate to
it and let it impact our lives and relationships that tells the story for each
person.
[Okay,
you want the cure, right? Here’s the
SSMI method; it’s free, requires no accessories, and can be performed anywhere. First, exhale completely, then inhale a deep
breath. Wait ten seconds, then—without
exhaling—inhale a little more. Wait
another five seconds, then top up the breath again. Finally, exhale. Farewell idiopathic persistent
singultus. Wait a minute…didn’t I start
this post by stating that holding your breath is an old folk remedy for curing
hiccups?]
Until
next time,
Roger
“For
the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.” I Timothy 6:10 NIV*
*Scripture quotations taken from the Holy Bible, New
International Version® NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica,
Inc.™ Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
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