I’ve had the fuckin’ hiccups for the last hour. I hate the hiccups. I hiccup big, and I can’t talk while I’m hiccupping because I make the BIG noises when I do. Luckily, I don’t have to talk right now. But they last a day or two, off and on, when I get them, about twice a year.
OHMIGOD. They just stopped.
This is after:
*drinking water upside down over the sink
*a spoonful of sugar
*two matches dropped in water, water sipped
(I made big waitress tips off that one, back in the day)
The winning method:
*Mom’s tried and true fingertips-to-fingertips over the head, breath-held trick. Trust the little mama.
What’s your trick?
Good to hear they’re gone. I hate the big hiccups that *hurt*.
I’m a fan of drinking water upside down. But I make sure to have a few gulps while still having my head upside down. But how do you do it over the sink? I have to stand up and bend forward at the waist until my head is hanging straight down.
Hmmm… I try to hold my breath, but the hiccups always escape through that one. Once I tried eating a spoonful of peanut butter, and not only did it work, but it was really delicious. I think next time I’ll try it with nutella instead 🙂
When you are My Woman, I will make you breathe into a paper bag, while I eat nutella.
I dread hiccups, when I get ’em, I GET ’em. For hours. And they hurt me, and I whine. For some reason what works for me is to press lightly on my neck right above the collarbone. Can you tell that by the time I discovered that, I’d tried everything?
I am a firm believer in the drinking from the opposite rim of a glass, which forces one to drink upside down. I learned one had to drink the whole glass, or as close to that as possible, with a single breath. I have never had it fail in over 40 years of using it.
When I was a kid, my dad would offer $20 if I could hiccup again. That often worked to cure them, unfortunately.
When we were little, my dad had us look at his nose and concentrate. Worked on my mom too. He’s gone now, but my kids can stop me now, just by telling me to look at their nose. Hiccups suck!
I get those big huge loud painful embarrassing hicups. They’re awful! The sugar thing has worked for me but thankfully I don’t get those very often. Of course it’s usually in a very big quiet place like libraries or museums with big tall ceilings or something where it sounds even louder. heh Anyway, yeah, the sugar. 🙂
Remember that Simpson’s episode with the guy who had hicupped for, like, 4 years and just kept saying “HIC – kill me, HIC – kill me”.
Thinking of that makes me laugh, which then cures the hiccups. Either that or holding your breath, but you have to inhale as far as you absolutely can for it to work the best. Feel better!
Painful hiccups suck. My Dad would get them for hours. The upside-down would work, when we could convince him to be so undignified as to bend over to drink a glass of water upside down.
I would always pinch the skin and muscle in front of my throat. I used to swear by it as a kid/teen but it stopped working. I tend to do more of the holding my breath thing.
I get horrible hiccups that last for a few days off and on. My son is the same and had horrible hiccups in utero. He still gets them like i do.
I hold my breath and swallow as many times as I can. It always works. Somebody said to swallow a gulp of jam… There are many weird ways I guess…
BOO!
Scared ya, didn’t I?
(That never works for me, btw)
I drink water from the wrong side of the glass. That often works.
Hold my breath and get someone to count to 10 veeeeerrrry slowly. Counting for myself, obviously, doesn’t work. But if I get someone suitably sadistic to do the job, that’s a charm.
The matches in water, though, that’s bizarre. Am I picturing this right? Just drop two matches in and sip from the glass? I don’t get it.
You’re going to love this. I take small, short, fast breaths while mentally stroking my esophagus and telling it to relax.
Yes, it works.
Spoonful of peanut butter. Seriously, it works!
I hate the hiccups, too — mine are very loud and *painful*, and last for what seems like forever.
wow! I get the same thing…I have to excuse myself from meetings if I get them…
I put bendover and hold my breath and try to swallow. *repeat and look like a complete loon in the hallway outside the conference room*
I’ll have to try your way!
I have Mr. Celia, who crosses my arms just under my diaphragm and picks me up from behind while I hold my breath. Works every time.
Can’t believe my “cure” isn’t listed here.
Works. Every time.
Glass of water. Plug ears with thumbs, plug nose with pointer fingers. Pick up glass with remaining fingers and drink.
As long as no one makes you laugh and drop the glass while you’re doing this hic ups should be gone.
Anticipate the next hiccup, while breathing slow and shallow.
Usually works.
Holding my nose closed and drinking water until it feels like I’m going to die from lack of air. Changes the pressure in your body and often does the trick.
The cat’s been getting hiccups lately, which is very interesting to see. He appears to believe I am responsible…
I concentrate on breathing slowly and deeply. While doing this I relax and rub circles over my stomach. This helps relax your diaphragm, which is spasming causing the hiccups. Works every time.
Big spoonful of sugar (usually works for me, this method came from my husband but I don’t like it I’m a crabby adult now, I don’t wanna big frickin’ mouthful of refined simple carbs.)
When sugar fails though, I slam two or three pints of water as fast as possible, just open the throat and pour breathing deeply through the nose. Sounds kind of like instructions on “how to drown on dry land” but it works for me.
I like folk remedies, hate the hiccoughs. Did you hear about the woman who had them almost the whole time she was pregnant? Exhausting.
I get really bad hiccups, they actually hurt after a few minutes! My buddy Scott taught me this trick about 10 years ago and I swear by it.
The reason why the “drink a whole glass of water” only works sometimes is because you have to time it just right. Otherwise you’re just drinking water in between hiccups.
So look at a watch or clock with a second-hand and you will be AMAZED at the consistent time interval between hics. It’s freaky. So say your hiccups are coming every 9 seconds without fail. Start drinking that (big) glass of water at about second #8 and keep going til it’s done. Then sit quietly for a few seconds (so you don’t drink in more air), and voila! I’d say this works for me 99 times out of 100.
You gotta starting drinking RIGHT before the next hiccup. It if comes out, start counting again.
Drinking water upside down always works for me. Something about having to suck the water from the glass in that position relaxing the diaphragm…
The reason that the hiccoughs come evenely is because they are caused by a mis-alignment of the diaphragm. THe drinking water thing, all the remedies, relate to changing your breathing pattern to re-regulate the diaphragm.
I’m a deep breather, inhale for 10, exhale for 10.
My husband’s grandfather died from the hiccoughs. He had them continually for a period of several years after a stranger performed the Heimlich manouever on him. His health deteriorated afterwards as the mighty hiccoughs took their deadly toll.
My roommate told me one time I will give you $20.00 bucks if you stop. It didn’t work but I was $20.00 richer! I guess that wasn’t really a solution but she said that it was worked in the past!
I always sit down and cup my hands over my mouth and nose. Then I breath slowly and deeply in through my nose and out through my mouth. It usually takes a couple of breaths, but always works…and as a bonus, I always feel really calm afterwards (hmmm..this is your brain on carbon monoxide….).
I got mad tips bartending with this one.
Take a lemon wedge and empty hald of a sugar packet on it. Then Saturate the sugar with several drops of bitters (Angostura Bitters- used in the making of Old Fashioneds as well as other olde timey drinks). Then, eat the lemon, sugar and bitters. It really works. There are quite a few medicinal uses for bitters. Pretty amazing. No idea what’s in it though.
Drape one arm over your head and then drink something. Repeat as necessary. It sometimes takes two or three sips for me but it does work.
If something goes down the wrong way and you find yourself starting to choke, put that one arm up (don’t drink this time) and it helps you catch your breath.
Holding my breath usually works for me. If they’re really bad, I hold my breath until it hurts, then suck in a bit more air, then let it all out slowly. If that doesn’t work, I’m generally screwed and I just have to wait them out.
I find the paper bag best, usually, but someone also told me that touching the tip of a spoon to your uvula would do it.
That was one of things I hated most about childhood: Whenever I cried, I’d wind up with the hiccups.
Y’know what works for me? Drinkin’ a glass o’ milk. I dunno why, but that does the trick every time!
The only thing that’s worked for me is drinking a glass of water with a spoon in it. It has never failed. (Although I do enjoy the excuse to eat sugar straight.)
I suspect the reason any of these (water with spoon, drinking upside-down) work is that it forces you to focus on something tricky while drinking the water.
Plug your nose and guzzle a glass of water. I think it has more to do with holding your breath, but it works for me.
Did you know a Pope died from the hickups?
I have to do some serious deep relaxation of the diaphragm and entire breathing apparatus within. And try not to think about them.
Once when I had a particularly bad case, someone said to me “what color are your hiccups?” As in find a color and name it out loud – I did and they went away – Strange, but true! Hope yours go away soon!
Blessings,
The matches thing used to get me big tips as well. Although, I usually put in about 5 and chug the water.
The most valuable thing I learned in Spanish 1 class in 9th grade was a hiccup cure.
Have someone put their hands over your ears to cover them while you drink. Or to avoid the weird looks you get asking people to cover your ears, use a straw and cover your own. Take several gulps, and the hiccups will be no-more.
This has worked everytime. And when done for a crowd is quite the party trick.
Holding my breath and drinking backwards over a glass usually works for me. I’d like to try the fingertips thing though! (not that I want hiccups, no sir.)
R, hiccoughs are what kill my DD, literally. The moment they start, she chugs a can of carbonated soda which makes her burp and re-sets the balance with her diaphragm. The school nurse keeps a 6-pack for her in the office, she has some in her locker, and we carry them with us! That new stuff, Sierra Mist, is super-carbonated and very effective. A&W rootbeer is next best.
Best of luck! Would love to see you…
To be honest I never get them bad enough to worry about. I am surprised you get them for so long! I am thinking though a few glasses of wine would help? Just my ‘professional’ opinion 😉
I open my mouth as wide as I can and wait for the next hick and try to make it as loud as possible. 9 out of 10 it never comes.
I suffer from frequent bouts of hiccups. Not so much painful as irritating. Although they seemed to disappear when I was having acupuncture.
When I was a young ‘un, a friend of my parents told me to open my mouth while he pulled the hiccups out. So I did, and put his fingers just near the opening of my moutn and ‘pulled’ them out as if they were attached to an imaginary string. Worked like a charm, and for years, I could ‘pull’ them out myself — hasn’t worked well in recent years, though. It’s really a derivation of the ‘concentrate on my nose’ trick. The other method that works well for me is being scared, whether that’s a startle (like a loud boo or something), or someone telling me something that really worries me. But I can’t ask them to scare me, it just has to happen.
These days, I usually try the drinking water from the opposite side of the glass/holding my breath routine, which works sometimes. I’ll definitely try a couple of the other methods listed here, though.
I HATE the hiccups, too — and I get them more often than anyone I know. I know one infalliable for me cure, thought it is annoying to have to go through with: drip angostura bitters on a slice of lime and bite into it several times. It will taste weird, sour, bitter, and kinda nasty, but it makes you salivate and cures all my hiccups.
Um, I’m useless on the cure thing. I use combinations of the holding my breath, deep slow breathing, and drinking out of the wrong side of the glass pretty much all at once coz I’m too impatient if the first one I try doesn’t get me immediate results.
But DUDE!! Today’s the day, isn’t it? Please have good news for us early so I don’t explode. (what? it could happen)
Suck on a spoon full of peanut butter. It has never failed (me).
I too get frequent and painful hiccups, not much seems to work for me… but this one does:
Breathe out as much air as you can and then drink a whole glass of water without breathing again (until you finish the water!) It also works well with beer. If the hiccups still remain at least you’ll be a bit drunker and may not notice them as much! This tip was given to me by a drunk guy in a bar, and it works.
My grade 6 teacher made me stand up in the middle of class and asked me to hiccup… I was so embarassed that I couldn’t…
hi,
I’ve turned a hiccup cure into a web application and I need to see if it actually works. I invite anyone to try it out when they get the hiccups. It’s free by the way. You can use it by going to http://www.curemyhiccups.com. Thanks in advance to anyone who helps me test it. It’s worked for me, but that’s not a very good statistical sampling.
peace,
dave
David T. Kaplan
hicapp@optonline.net