Hiccups are one of the most irritating short term health complaints that can befall a person. Caused by a spasmodic contraction of the diaphragm (the sheet of flesh beneath the lungs) it causes us to do irregular but frequent tiny burps that cause the whole body to jolt each time. While this is just a naissance in most cases, it can also cause a fair amount of stress, or even prevent the completion of tasks requiring fine motor control. In some cases hiccups can even become chronic requiring medical intervention. Fortunately however there is more than one hiccup remedy that can cure the problem in most cases.

If you have hiccups there are a range of home remedies that you can try to use to alleviate the problem. The first and most well-known of these is to frighten the afflicted or to startle them by jumping out/creating a loud unexpected noise. This is both psychosomatic – distracting them temporarily from their hiccups, and physical – causing them to gasp inwards suddenly moving the diaphragm and filling the lungs once again with oxygen.

Another popular hiccup remedy is to hold your breath for ten seconds. This leaves the lungs with no air in them and so theoretically leaves them with nothing to ‘hiccup out’. Controlling the breathing is also suggested as a method and so sufferers should try inhaling and exhaling more fully and slowly for a while to regain normal controlled function.

The method my Mum taught me however is to drink out of the back end of a glass over a sink. This forces you to lean further over the glass and usually results in some of the water escaping from your nose. This seems to somehow force a different breathing pattern that can again end the hiccups. While none of these home remedies have any scientific backing, they are all based on circumstantial evidence and have survived many generations suggesting at least some kind of benefit.

For those who have hiccups that just won’t go away however, a hiccup remedy actually recommended by doctors involves massaging the rectum. In cases where hiccups have persisted for over a week leading to medical intervention, this is the solution recommended before turning to drugs and usually leads to immediate cessation of the hiccupping.

In other chronic cases, balcofen – an antispasmodic – can be used to end the spasms of the diaphragm. Similarly sedatives and other drugs that induce extreme lethargy can be used to relax the muscles involved. In the case of a fifteen year old girl who had hiccups for seven consecutive weeks a combination of haloperidol (sedative and anti-psychotic), metoclopramide (a gastrointestinal stimulant) and chlorpromazine (an anti-psychotic and sedative effects) were used to good effect.

However if you have hiccups, 90% of the time it is just a matter of letting them run their course. The spasm of the diaphragm is like any other twitch and will eventually cease and is best ignored through distraction as focussing on it will likely only cause stress that will worsen the case.

Mack LeMouse

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