Philadelphia radio host's on-air hiccups leads to AFib diagnosis

For one sports radio host, a recent bout of hiccups turned from a joke into serious diagnosis.

Big Daddy Graham, a host on SportsRadio 94WIP, talked about his hiccups on air, fielding thousands of suggestions from fans on a cure, but nothing worked.

“I started hiccupping like a fool, and it just wouldn’t stop,” he told CBS Philly.

The hiccups got so bad that he went to the emergency room this week, where he was diagnosed with atrial fibrillation (AFib), an irregular heartbeat that can lead to blood clots, stroke, heart failure and other heart-related complications. He spent three days in the hospital.

“It was affecting my breathing, and yes, it did get scary,” he told the news channel.

Hiccups aren’t typical of AFib, his cardiologist, Dr. Philip Nimoityn, said of the case. Common symptoms are fatigue, shortness of breath and chest pain.

“Hiccups can be precipitated by a lot of factors, including various stresses, and so can atrial fibrillation. It’s possible that whatever set off one set off the other, but they are not necessarily directly related,” Nimoityn told CBS Philly.

Big Daddy’s hiccups are improving, but not gone, and he’s returned to work.