How do you get rid of hiccups... for real?!

[Pessor]

I'm posting this one in IMHO because I firmly believe that it's probably more of an opinion question (as much as I would like there to be a straight answer) and less of a cut/dry get to the bottom answer.

I mean... there's gotta be a medical answer beyond the holding of the breath and the drinking of a glass of water while holding one's nose. What the hell is it?

Typically (for me) the most obnoxious hiccups show their ugly face after a long bout of alcoholic bevvies, but two nights ago I had a vodka tonic at work, another when I got home and then I was done for. Hiccups for 25 minutes after two lousy drinks, AND I didn't even drink them quickly.

I've heard:
-hold breath
-teaspoon of sugar
-breathe into a paper bag
-hold nose while drinking water
-ask someone to "scare" you
-bitters and lemon soaked w/sugar
-drink glass of water upside-down

Isn't there some darn thing in the average medicine cabinet or spice rack that will absolutely CRACK them?

P.S. Here's the litmus test to see if your method really works (but you have to be a loser cigarette smoker):

Try smoking a cigarette after the hiccups are "gone". Getting a hiccup into a cigarette about ten minutes after you thought they were gone is about as annoying as people that don't use their directionals.

Sorry if I'm wasting your time... bad me... I didn't check the archives first.

Thanks dopers, (or drinkers, in this instance!)

[ssj_man2k]

I usually just eat something, or wait it out. The hiccups are a complicated thing.

[Pessor]

okay, so I ran a few searches and didn't find much... So let's get to the bottom of this, shall we PLEEEEEASE?!?!?!?!?


*hic*

click of the Bic... *dragHICC**

ERRRRR annoying!!!!!!

[Pessor]

Yes... eating tends to help, but I want someone to say something like:

"1 teaspoon of metamucil stirred into 6 ozs. room-temperature Yoohoo... you won't hiccup for a month." ...Or the like.

I'd have both products on hand forever!

[VitrolicBump]

Hmmm...I eat peanut butter. My mom drinks water upside down. Don't ask me how she does it. Sometimes my hiccups get so bad I would most likely spill any water I was drinking. I have never had hiccups hurt, though. Just thought I would throw that piece of info at you. Oh, and I don't get hiccups much. Maybe twice a year. Of course, I don't drink...

[Steve Wright]

A friend of mine told me the following method, which seems to work, at least for me.

Hold your breath for 15-30 seconds, while at the same time tensing your diaphragm, as if trying to exhale. When I do this, I generally get a sort of pressure-releasing feeling about the 20-second mark, and, once I let go... no hiccups.

NB: if some medical type wanders through this thread, and realises that this method does irreparable harm to the fragile membranes of the paraboloid exocardium, or something, I don't want to know...

[Dignan]

BOO!

[blur]

Cause I did the first time I heard this. When someone in our family gets the hiccups, we cure it by asking them their middle name. The hiccups stop. I swear.

[Chas.E]

The infallible cure, which I have read in advice from many doctors, is to swallow a spoonfull of coarse sand. Since many people find this unpalatable, the usual suggestion is to swallow a large spoonful of granular sugar. But it has to be swallowed DRY. It has to be irritating to the throat, there's a nerve that is stimulated by the action of the grainy particles, this shuts down the hiccupping. I have tried this with many people and it has never failed yet (although one person actually puked.. on ME!)

[Cabbage]

Luckily I rarely get the hiccups anymore, so I've never tried this:

Take a spoon (or similar object) in your mouth and bite it lengthwise with your back teeth, then drink some water with the spoon in your mouth. Any time someone around me gets the hiccups I tell them to do this, and so far it's always seemed to work.

[Mangetout]

For me, an infallible cure for hiccups is:

[wince]
A tablespoonfull of strong malt vinegar
[/wince]

I think this might be because of the irritant effect that Chas.E mentioned.

[Typo Negative]

Swallowing 10 times without taking a breath. This is easier if you're drinking water(swallowing 10 times in a row without the aid of liquid is difficult).

[DoperChic]

According to this website: http://www.tipsofallsorts.com/hiccup.html

"A hiccup, also known as singultus & diaphragmatic spasm, occurs when a stimulus triggers the nerves which makes the diaphragm (the muscle that separates the lungs from the abdomen) contract involuntary causing the person to take in a quick breath of air into the lungs. The nerves involved here are linked to the diaphragm.

The air then causes a brief closure of the glottis (located in the voice box, its the opening between the vocal cords) to produce the "hic" sound."

Armed with this knowledge, I figure that if what's causing hiccups is the spasming of the diaphragm, then what would cure it would be to regulate the diaphragm. You do this by taking very deep regulated breaths.

Inhale...1...2...3...4...5...

Exhale...1...2...3...4...5...

It's important to fill your lungs with as much air as you can possibly take in, then exhale all the air you've just taken in.

I might take a few breaths, but it always works. You can't be distracted as every single breath must be steady.

[Rue DeDay]

The only way to get rid of hiccups is to wait it out. Everything else you do is just killing time till they stop. (Granular sugar- nope didn't take. Drinking water- hiccupped it up my nose. Didn't try the vinegar, but there's the whole vomitting thing to consider.) Like tapping the top of a shaken-up soda can. It doesn't do anything, but it's better than just standing there waiting.

Oh, wait... this might help... Sex.
[pathetic, whiney voice]
"But Honey, I have the hiccups, and it's making my tummy hurt..."
[/pathetic, whiney voice]


-Rue.

[scr4]

Here's an old Japanese method that has worked for me. Fill a small bowl (like a rice bowl) with water. Take a pair of chopstics, and place it on top of the bowl in a cross so that the chopsticks divide the bowl into 4 quadrants. Take a sip of water from each quadrant, being careful not to spill any water. To do this you have to lift the bowl+chopsticks and rotate them, not just move the chopsticks.

It takes a fair amount of concentration to do this, which I think is the point.

[Czarcasm]

Guaranteed cure for hiccups, in two easy steps.

Step #1. Take a deep breath and hold it.

I will post step #2 when I get home tonight.

[bryanmaguire]

Its not just holding your breath thats the answer. It has to be controlled. Heres what you do (you need somebody else to help)

Take a deep breath.
Get the other person to count to 20
Exhale slowly
Get the other person to count to 10
exhale slowly

Hiccups are now gone. This always works for me (and anybody else I've tried it with). Doesnt work if your on your own and do the counting yourself.

[HeyHomie]

A surefire method that I found works like this: bow your head, as if in prayer. Breathe normally. Keep your head bowed and think of absolutely nothing. [Master Yoda]Clear your mind[/Master Yoda]. After about 30 seconds or so of meditating, your hiccups will be gone.

I think it's the concentration factor, just like the Japanese bowl of water method, that does the trick.

[Mangetout]

Originally posted by Rue DeDay
The only way to get rid of hiccups is to wait it out. Everything else you do is just killing time till they stop. (Granular sugar- nope didn't take. Drinking water- hiccupped it up my nose. Didn't try the vinegar, but there's the whole vomitting thing to consider.) Like tapping the top of a shaken-up soda can. It doesn't do anything, but it's better than just standing there waiting.

Hmmmm, not sure about this, I can't see that, say, dropping a cold key down someone's back is going to take very long at all, but then I have my doubts about it's efficacy as a cure too.

The vinegar thing really works (for me anyway) every time and it's not actually all that bad.

[False_God]

Or you can try my method, which boasts a 98% success rate-

* breathe quickly in & out for about 15 seconds with one hand pressing in on your diaphraghm

* bend over as far as you can with a mouthful of water, count to five, and swallow

* straighten up and breathe in & out slowly feeling your diapraghm for a count of five.

At this point, you'll likely let loose with a huge belch, but your hiccups will be gone.

Oh, and to whoever suggested sex as a cure, let me just say that once I GOT hiccups during the act and it wasn't pretty.
It throws off your rhythm somethin' fierce, and gives rise to dialogue like:

"Oh God, baby, you're so-HIC!"

"Faster now, fast-HIC!"

"I'm going to c-HIC!"

Just think if you got hiccups during oral.....

[Many Crows]

I know that Uncle Cece doesn't believe in homeopathy, but a remedy called Ignatia always seems to work for me.

[heembo]

"Cures" mentioned previous to mine are simple variations on the snake oil sold to many a fool throughout history.

If you really want to cure those hiccups, here's what you do: Drink 12 oz of water through a paper towel. Place a paper towel over the mouth of a glass of water and drink the entire glass without taking it away from your lips. Try to do this in less than a minute.

If it doesn't work, then my name isn't P.T. Barnum...

You can all thank me when you finally come to your senses and use this no fail cure.

[anenquiringmind]

Hic-cups, wherever did they get that name from?

Anyway... Once in elementary school, many eons ago, I had the hiccups while standing in line for something and the teacher looked at me and said. " ------ , that was so neat!!" "Do it again for us! "Everyone!,----- is going to hiccup for us!!" I couldn't........ It was a wonderful little cure............ I've tried it on people and it works everytime.

However, while in the middle of a hiccup hell session it's hard to ask someone to do that to you.

The only thing I ever found to work while alone was just a few licks on one of those little candy fireballs. (Hopefully you have them in your area..)
I guess it's the sweet and the hot and the tonque sticking out licking that works. All I know is, it does.
I keep several around at all times.
And no dear people, I dont want to hear any snide remarks about the hot sweet licking... This is a serious,serious matter..

[girlwithwings]

That reminds me of a cure my father used to do all the time. When someone hiccupped, Dad just said, "Betcha a dollar you won't hiccup again..," and nobody ever did.

[BobbySuezQ]

Think that your next hiccup is going to be the biggest, loudest, grandest hiccup of your life.

[Ringo]

A method I've used. Remember those Fremen of Arakis moving arhythmically across the sand to avoid drawing spice worms?

Do the same thing with your breathing for ~30 seconds. Take a deep breath, then three shallow ones, then two medium, a shallow, two deep, etc., and try to vary the rate as well.

Works for me.

[Mauvaise]

I read this someone where years ago, and it seems to work for me:

Take two ice cubes and rub them on your both sides of your throat, just next to your adam's apple (or where your adam's apple would be if your a woman) for about 20-30 seconds.

[CalMeacham]

Bullet through the heart. Works instantly...every time.

[Dolores Reborn]

All right CalMeacham - you owe me for the cleaning of my monitor and keyboard. Wait a minute... my hiccups are gone! It's a miracle cure!

Thank you, oh wise one...

[bdgr]

The dry sugar method works for me, always had. Picked it up from my High school health class textbook(they had some kinda lengthy explantion of how it worked, but I don't remember what it was. I take two tablespoons though, with no water.

[VitrolicBump]

This thread reminds me of my senior year in high school. I had just entered the English room. A classmate(Melanie) of mine came in after me. She had really bad hiccups. Our teacher was sitting at her desk. She was a really nice woman(about 60 years old)who didn't correct her students much. Everyone had great respect for her. Well, she didn't say anything. I was giving Melanie ideas to get rid of her hiccups. Nothing helped. All of a sudden our teacher starts yelling at Melanie for no good reason. Scared the s*** out of Melanie.<<<She looked like this smiley. Then we all started laughing. She didn't have the hiccups anymore, though. That was the teacher's goal, of course.

That was one of the most memorable classes in my high school career.

[Triskadecamus]

I can cure hiccups. I can cure my own, every time. I can cure other peoples if they believe me. If they would rather argue, or discuss other, better cures, it won't work. While doing the steps, you might hiccup one or more times. If so, you should just continue, without interrupting the process.

Do this slowly: (It may help if you have someone read it to you) Sit down. Sit up straight. Roll your shoulders back, lift up your chin until it is just horizontal. Relax the muscles in your cheeks. Relax your jaw. Relax the muscles in your jaw. Relax the muscles in your neck. Let your shoulders drop. Relax your chest muscles. Think about swallowing, but don't swallow. You will feel a tight place in your throat. That tight place will slowly slip downward. When it gets below your heart, you will not have the hiccups.

Tris
--------------------
" It is when I struggle to be brief that I become obscure." ~ Horace ~

[dcrusaderx]

Originally posted by heembo
"Cures" mentioned previous to mine are simple variations on the snake oil sold to many a fool throughout history.

If you really want to cure those hiccups, here's what you do: Drink 12 oz of water through a paper towel. Place a paper towel over the mouth of a glass of water and drink the entire glass without taking it away from your lips. Try to do this in less than a minute.

If it doesn't work, then my name isn't P.T. Barnum...

You can all thank me when you finally come to your senses and use this no fail cure.

ex-girlfriend introduced me to this cure, it has worked everytime for me -- thank goodness! I typically have the hiccups the entire afternoon.

-dc

[Rilchiam]

I used to put my hand over my mouth and try to hyperventilate. Didn't work, but it took up some time, during which the hiccups might abate.

Simplest and most effective method is, get a big tumbler of cold water. Take a deeeeep breath and hold it. Then chug the water. You have to chug it, not just drink it, and it should be as cold as you can get it. Never fails.

Having someone scare you always works, but if you have to ask someone to scare you, it will have no effect. Once I had the hiccups, and someone who'd been observing me walked by and said something mundane, then turned back and said, "Clinton's dead."

"What?!"

"Yeah, he had a heart attack. Guess it was all that McDonald's."

"You're kidding! I didn't hear anything on the news!"

"I am kidding. See, your hiccups are gone!"