Jennifer Mee, 15, held her breath, breathed into a bag, drank pickle juice, tried an infectious disease specialist, a neurologist, a hypnotist, a chiropractor, even a acupuncturist, all to no avail.

    She tried a patented device designed to stop hiccups, plus all the old remedies. Her mother called the media two weeks ago to try to find more help for her daughter, who ended up on NBC's "Today" show.

    But around 5 p.m. Wednesday the hiccups stopped and no one knows why.

    "Right now, my nose is burning and my throat hurts," she told the St. Petersburg Times, but she said she felt a lot better than she has in weeks.

    Jennifer had started hiccupping Jan. 23 close to 50 times a minute and said it only stopped when she was sleeping.

    According to the National Institutes of Health, hiccups can be triggered by anything from spicy foods to stress, and they can start for no reason at all. They're caused by involuntary contractions of the diaphragm, which causes the vocal cords to close briefly, making that distinctive sound.

2007-03-02