# hiccup cure **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 14, 2005, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hiccup-cure/289934 "2005-02-14T00:00:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Arwin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/51bf81/32.png) [@Arwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arwin)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2005, 10:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hiccup-cure/289934/21 "2005-02-14T10:24:41Z")
More interestingly, does anyone know yet what causes it? I haven’t had one for years, can’t remember the last time. I used to get them more when I was younger, and to get rid of them I generally pressed my fingers in my ears, that was often enough, or holding my breath. I read something about it being partly growth related, your heart growing and stuff, but I couldn’t see the connection really. Later I’ve been thinking that you get hiccups when you have blockages in your intestines. The motion your body makes shakes them up a bit and could realign them to deal with the blockage or the passage of whatever is causing trouble run a little bit more smooth. I was thinking of this because if you shake a tube (a waterhose or something shorter) during which water runs, then that sometimes seems to help allow air pass up more easily and helps straighten out folds that could block. Now I reckon there are probably a lot of different things that stimulate whatever starts off a hiccup session, but it would be nice to read an SD on it. Is the truth out there? ---
**Author:** ![Cyros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a698b9/32.png) [@Cyros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cyros)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2005, 10:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hiccup-cure/289934/22 "2005-02-14T10:33:29Z")
> [@Cunctator](#): > > Drinking water from the opposite side of the glass usually does the trick for me. This is the only thing that has ever worked for me. It’s hard to explain how to do it without actually showing someone how to do it, but I’ll try… Get a tall glass of water, about 3/4 full. Stand up, bend forward at the waist as far as you can. You’re going to drink the water by basically using your top lip as you would regularly use your bottom lip (remember, your head is pretty much upside down). So, your top lip is over the far rim of the glass of water, but since you are bent over, it doesn’t spill. Drink the water while breathing regularly through your nose. Clear as mud? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2005, 11:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hiccup-cure/289934/23 "2005-02-14T11:45:29Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > I have noticed that some of the breath holding and hyperventilation techiques sometimes aren’t strong enough. In those case, you can get someone to hold your head underwater until you stop fighting, wait a few seconds, and then pick up and give you mouth-to-mouth. The combination of oxygen deprivation and extra carbon dioxide emissions from the other person’s exhalation seems to stop even the most stubborn cases of hiccups. Am I being whooshed here? You’re suggesting that you cure hiccups by _ **getting someone to drown you** _? 😕 WTF? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![clayton\_e](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c57346/32.png) [@clayton\_e](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clayton_e)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2005, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hiccup-cure/289934/24 "2005-02-14T12:49:32Z")
It _would_ work… I guess… Though maybe too well. The only way I can think of seeing them cured is by yelling ‘BOO!’ to someone sitting across the table from me in a quiet few seconds over an intense card game. She immediately was shocked and yelled at me for scaring her. Her hiccups were cured, though. Funny thing is I’d never seen it tried before… only heard of it. Man I would’ve looked odd if that hadn’t worked… ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2005, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hiccup-cure/289934/25 "2005-02-14T13:00:22Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > I have noticed that some of the breath holding and hyperventilation techiques sometimes aren’t strong enough. In those case, you can get someone to hold your head underwater until you stop fighting, wait a few seconds, and then pick up and give you mouth-to-mouth. The combination of oxygen deprivation and extra carbon dioxide emissions from the other person’s exhalation seems to stop even the most stubborn cases of hiccups. I’m sorry, but did you mean to post this in the "_How Can I Win The Darwin Award This Year?_ thread?😕 Advice on how to kill yourself is not wanted, not needed, highly dangerous and very very stupid. Do NOT do this again. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2005, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hiccup-cure/289934/26 "2005-02-14T13:19:53Z")
Lime and Bitters. Works every time. Even for the painful, convulsive hiccups that stay forever. ---
**Author:** ![NutMagnet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ea5d25/32.png) [@NutMagnet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NutMagnet)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2005, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hiccup-cure/289934/27 "2005-02-14T14:18:05Z")
A spoonful of peanut butter. It’s the only thing that works on a stubborn case for me. ---
**Author:** ![GrizzRich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/7ba0ec/32.png) [@GrizzRich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrizzRich)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2005, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hiccup-cure/289934/28 "2005-02-14T14:41:32Z")
I’ve always wondered why people bother with a “cure” when hiccups go away on their own anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Scoundrel\_Swanswater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dfb087/32.png) [@Scoundrel\_Swanswater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scoundrel_Swanswater)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2005, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hiccup-cure/289934/29 "2005-02-14T14:55:46Z")
I have learned the sugar-trick as a kid, but we used a sugar-cube. Just suck on it till it dissolves. Works like a charm. ---
**Author:** ![cantara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6f9a4e/32.png) [@cantara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cantara)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2005, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hiccup-cure/289934/30 "2005-02-14T15:21:31Z")
Allow yourself to inhale as the hicupp occurs. I’ve tried describing this to others, but no-one can seem to time it right. I learned this from my Dad. He didn’t seem to make a concious effort to do this, but I noticed he was making funny little ‘meep’ sounds when he had them. He was making these sounds rather than the ‘hic’ noises. After learning to imitate him I realized that I only ever had 3 hiccups at a time. It seems that the trick is to allow yourself to inhale, rather than trying to time a breath with the hiccups. I can recognize (but not control) the hiccup coming on and relax my chest and make sure that I have room in my lungs for a big inhale. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2005, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hiccup-cure/289934/31 "2005-02-14T15:24:04Z")
> [@Nunavut Boy](#): > > I usually hold my breath as long as I can. This is supposed to ‘reset’ the autonomic nerves involved in hiccups. Try it next time! Works for me too. Works on everyone I have made do it. Unfortunately people seem averse to holding their breath for some reason. The trick here is to take a DEEP breath (really feel that diaphragm stretch) and hold it as long as you can. Often people take a shallow breath, hold it for 3 seconds and then say it did not work for them. Occasionally you have to do this more than once but I have never seen it fail after two or three honest tries. Best part…you cna do it anywhere. No looking for water or sugar or anything. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hiccup-cure/289934.md?page=1)