By LUCY BALLINGER

Last updated at 23:34 27 December 2007

For most of us a bout of the hiccups is no more than a nuisance.

However, for a singer they must be doubly annoying, especially if they go on more than the usual half-hour or so.

Band member Chris Sands has been battling the hiccups for 11 months, despite trying every remedy available.

Mr Sands, 24, started hiccupping in February and has not stopped since.

He says he has tried everything from a teaspoon of peanut butter to oxygen chambers in an attempt to end his ordeal.

Doctors are baffled by his condition, and say there is no physical reason why he keeps hiccupping.

It has left the musician from Lincoln unable to perform and sometimes stops him breathing.

"It originally started in September of last year, I got them for two weeks and went to the doctor's who couldn't tell what was causing it," Mr Sands said.

"Then in February they came back. I have tried everything to get rid of them - drinking water in thousands of different ways, hypnotheraphy, yoga.

"The one thing that worked for an hour was eating a teaspoon of peanut butter. I got really excited that they had gone, but then they came back again."

During the most intense bouts Mr Sands cannot sleep or eat because he cannot keep food down.

"Last week I had a horrible couple of days where it was really bad. I was so tired and down because I couldn't sleep. I became so desperate that I made myself sick in an attempt to make them stop.

"I can't eat if they are bad because if I eat something I just bring it back up again."

Mr Sands has had a brain scan, chest scan, abdomen scan and CT scan to try to find out what is causing the hiccups, but there has so far been no diagnosis.

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He said: "Last time I went to the doctor's they said there was no point in seeing me again as they have tested me for everything it could be.

"Instead, they are sending me to a psychologist because they think my body is just used to doing it now.

"The last thing I tried was an oxygen chamber where they put you in a big metal tank and put an oxygen mask on you.

"But I have got serious claustrophobia so as soon as they closed the big metal door of the tank I was shaking and my hands were sweating. I had to make them get me out quickly."

The musician, who is single and lives with his parents, says the constant hiccups have taken their toll on his family.

"They have been really supportive, but just feel helpless," said Mr Sands.

"I can't do things like learn to drive because I just don't trust myself driving because I'm so tired all the time and can't help hiccupping.

"Sometimes it stops me breathing for ten seconds.

"I have learnt to talk in between hiccups, but it is really frustrating sometimes.

"I'm in a band and play the guitar and sing backing vocals, but we haven't done any gigs for a long time.

"We are going to start playing again at the start of January because we can't wait for the hiccups to stop."

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.