What is a hiccup
A hiccup is a kind of forced intake of breath, caused by muscle spasms in your chest and throat. There are over 100 causes for hiccups, but the most common is irritation of the stomach or the oesophagus - the food tube that leads to it. The "hic" noise comes when the breath is cut off by the snapping shut of your glottis - which is like a fleshy lid or trapdoor that separates the food and air tubes in your throat.
What about getting a friend to scare you?
That usually only works if the hiccups are psychosomatic - when you're setting off the jerky contraction in the breathing muscles yourself, but you're not aware that you're doing it. Kind of like imagining each hiccup into existence. It's not always easy to tell when this is happening, but getting someone to distract you can snap you out of it long enough for them to stop. Of course, none of these are likely to work on acute or intractable hiccups. As they’re usually started by drugs or nerve damage, they're often only treatable with more drugs. That said, some researchers have claimed successes treating hiccups with needles, radiation, or even digital rectal massage.
When I get hiccups, I really get it for a long time. Today I had a take a presentation for a larger audience and my hiccup was really worrying. Found some steps in google on stopping it quickly. Here are the steps to prevent hiccups,
How to stop hiccups?
- Hold your breath for 30 seconds and then release it.
- Sip 10 consecutive gulps slowly from a glass of water without stopping to take a breath.
- Swallow a teaspoon of dry white granulated sugar.
- Breathe into a paper bag five times in a row.
- Immerse your face in ice-cold water for 30 seconds.
- If you began to hiccup after taking a medication, seek medical help. Also see a doctor if the hiccups don't stop after 24 hours (3 hours for young children) of if they are extremely painful.
Note that these are not guaranteed ways to stop hiccups.
