Cue a deluge of tips for how to actually stop hiccups I think!
When I get them from eating too fast I find that attempting to exhale against a closed glottis will often do the trick - I suspect that this is because it pushes whatever is in the oesophagus down into the stomach.
To do this take a breath, close your mouth and hold your nose, then attempt to exhale (like you might to re-equilibriate the pressure in your middle ear when diving or flying). Hold it for five seconds or so.
My grandmother taught me to disolve a teaspoon of sugar in my mouth, and drink it once it’s melted. Maybe it’s power of suggestion, but it works for me.
What my father taught me—and it has worked for me for 60 years except when the hiccups are caused by a bolus, which sometimes takes more work—is to swallow nine or ten gulps of water on one breath.
As a teacher of many years I sometimes had students hiccuping in class, distracting the whole room of kids. Somewhere along the line, can’t remember where, I somehow found a cure that worked every time:
I’d ask the kid if they were wearing contacts. If the answer was “no,” I’d have the kid close his/her eyes and, using two fingers, I’d press, rather forcefully, on the eyelids for about ten seconds. Nine times out of ten, it worked. Don’t know why, but it did.
If it didn’t work, or the kid was wearing contacts, I’d tell them to take a deep breath and hold it until I said “breathe,” stressing that they had to hold it until I said the word. And then I’d go on with the class, never saying the word. until the kid couldn’t hold their breath any longer and exploded with a great gulp of air. :eek:
Using these methods I don’t think there was ever a time where they didn’t stop the hiccups.
Patrick
Santa Cruz
As a teacher of many years I sometimes had students hiccuping in class, distracting the whole room of kids. Somewhere along the line, can’t remember where, I somehow found a cure that worked every time:
I’d ask the kid if they were wearing contacts. If the answer was “no,” I’d have the kid close his/her eyes and, using two fingers, I’d press, rather forcefully, on the eyelids for about ten seconds. Nine times out of ten, it worked. Don’t know why, but it did.
If it didn’t work, or the kid was wearing contacts, I’d tell them to take a deep breath and hold it until I said “breathe,” stressing that they had to hold it until I said the word. And then I’d go on with the class, never saying the word. until, to the amusment of the class, the kid couldn’t hold their breath any longer and exploded with a great gulp of air. :eek:
Using these methods I don’t think there was ever a time where they didn’t stop the hiccups.
Patrick
Santa Cruz
[Duplicate
All the cures for hiccups I’ve read seemed to amount to “take a deep breath and hold it for a while, while you do something goofy to distract yourself.” I read somewhere that hiccups are your autonomic breathing system spazzing out, and holding a breath for a long time resets the system.
So, my cure is: Take a deep breath and hold it for a while.
In my twenties, I came to the conclusion that hiccups are an event of irregular breathing.
Since then, whenever I begin to hiccup, I force myself to take deep controlled breaths until they stop.
Don’t hold your breath, that’s just perpetuating the irregular breathing pattern that caused your hiccups.
Usually within a minute or so they go away. I have not had an out of control hiccuping fit since I was a teenager. Give it a try! 
A spoonful of peanut butter always works for me - it cures the hiccups, plus you get to eat a spoonful of peanut butter.
The spoonful of sugar cure (spoon of granulated sugar) is speculated to work by stimulating the pharynx, which stimulates the vagus nerve. The vagus nerve is somehow involved in hiccups, as cited in Cecil’s article.
Other forms of pharyngeal stimulation work, too. (Granular) salt (yuck!) is used by some. Cat Whisperer’s peanut butter must work the same way.
I believe that a lot of hiccupping in modern times is related to esophageal irritation from gastroesophageal reflux. (I have GER and my incidence of hiccupping seems to be related to my severity of symptoms.) This ties in well with the gastric distention theory Cecil mentioned. It also may explain the alcohol connection, as alcohol promotes GER. In addition, strong drinks may directly irritate the esophagus, and weak drinks contribute to gastric distention.
Which brings me to my (patented) Barnacle Cure:):
It’s a 1-2 punch! The granular pharyngeal stimulation usually stops hiccups on the first try, almost always with a second try. Then the antacid soothes the esophagus and helps prevent a short term relapse.
Is it possible that hiccups caused by eating could have something to do with the Hiatus? Perhaps swallowing a bit too much of something dry or sticky could cause a “logjam” at the point where the esophagus passes through the diaphragm, initiating a reflex reaction consisting of a diaphragmatic spasm (hiccuping) in order to loosen the blockage? this would explain why simply drinking a glass of water would cure them…
Here’s a fix I learned from one of my professor’s in college. Take a really deep breath. Now tilt your head back a bit and take in more air. You should feel a pull on a muscle in your neck/throat. Now, anytime you get hiccups, press hard on the muscle. Hold until you are sure they’re gone. This works for me 100% of the time (literally). I’m assuming it’s somehow stimulating the vagus nerve. I’ve also seen a method where they stimulate the vagus nerve in the forehead. I’ve never tried this, seeing as the other method works for me.
Please note I’m female - not sure how the Adam’s Apple would factor into this working (my professor was a male and it worked for him).
I don’t think there is a fix that works for everyone. But once you find a fix that works for you, you’ll never forget it.
Hiccups may be a vestige from tadpoles and gill-breathing:
Fish Out Of Water (page 2 of an interesting article)
I find a jigger or two of a good whiskey does the trick. I may still be hiccuping, but for some reason, it no longer bothers me.
I occasionally have a severe problem with that kind of hiccups. Drinking a glass of water works, but only if I can do it. If the esophagus is thoroughly jammed, I may have to make half a dozen or more attempts to get the water down without spewing it all up again.
Ordinary hiccups—nine swallows on a breath takes care of them at once.
Exhale slowly… everything you can force out. Then hold the “absence” as long as you can. When you need to breath in… do it slowly and controlled. Maybe more than once.It works for me. I read something a long time ago that some doctor thought it may be excess oxygenation in the lungs or blood? I don’t recall, but seriously, it works for me! Maybe it’s an oxygen thing… maybe just a tension reliever for the diaphragm, but try it. You may have the cure that works for YOU.
Similar, I had the idea that hiccups were just another muscle twitch with the muscle being the diaphram. Generally only a relaxed muscle can twitch so a deep breath combined with tensing the abdominal muscles keeps the diaphram from being relaxed and stops the twitch cycle.
I find this highly effective if used as soon as the hiccups start, not so much if they’ve gotten going. It seems to coincide with a lot of the other cures in that many seems to have the side effect of keeping the diaphram busy.
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woodwork, welcome to the Straight Dope Message Boards, we’re glad you’ve found us!
Since there was already a thread on this topic, I’ve merged your comment into that thread. Hope that’s OK with you, just sort of tidying up the housecleaning to keep similar comments together.
A hiccup is a muscle contraction.
If I were to test your reflexes with a rubber mallet on your knee, it would cause a muscle contraction, wouldn’t it?
Okay, what it you had already contracted that muscle, and lifted your leg? There’s nothing to contract now. No “reflex” if I strike your knee with the rubber mallet.
Your hiccup is a reflex.
Which muscles contract when you hiccup?
The same muscles you use when you swallow and hold your breath.
Why do most hiccup cures involve eating, drinking, holding your breath, or swallowing?
Because sometimes doing those things works, because you contract your swallowing muscles at the right time.
But why do they not always work?
Because if you relax those muscles, the reflex can still happen.
So here’s the tricky part:
Swallowing, but holding those muscles, not relaxing them. It takes a bit of concentration and conscious effort.
Swallow, but don’t complete the motion fully. Concentrate and hold those muscles tight as long as you can.
When the reflex comes, your muscles will already be contracted, releasing you from the cycle of hiccups.
It may take some practice- most people don’t know how to swallow and hold it. It’s not something you normally do. I’m not talking about swallowing and then holding your breath. I’m talking about holding your throat at mid-swallow. That’s tough. I won’t lie, it can be difficult.
However, you physically cannot hiccup if you do it correctly.
Learn how to do this and you will never have the hiccups again. I never have more than 1 or 2 hiccups before I self-correct. I have taught many folks about this and it works, but some people it takes longer because they have trouble mid-swallowing.