Talk:Hiccup

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Created while having a particually painful bout of hiccups. In fact, in the middle of making this stub, I stopped having them. Heh. I'll try elaborating more on this after I get a good night of sleep. --d8uv (t) 11:27, 2004 Mar 25 (UTC)

A Chinese herbalist insists I shouldn't take a cold drink with a hot meal. This does seem to bring them on with me. What more can one say? Well there's plenty about this subject on the Web, so no doubt there is room for expansion. They are not always so bad: my own proneness to them often breaks the ice at dinner parties. Shantavira 10:55, 17 Apr 2004 (UTC)

Contents 1 Revert 2 Moo 3 A Personal Cure 4 Beer 5 Function 6 Plagiarism 7 Solution? 8 Infallible remedy 9 Excercise Hiccups 10 Not everyone gets them 11 Remedies 12 I'm curious... 13 Curiouser and curiouser about hiccups in animals 14 Pronunciation symbols 15 Review anonymous user's claims 16 Vinegar 17 An ironic cure for hiccups 18 Implausible remedies 19 Swallowing while holding breath 20 Inhalation of amniotic fluid 21 Thanks a bundle! 22 device 23 Plain and Simple 24 kissing 25 Tickling 26 Quick Vandalism 27 Contradiction 28 Possible vandalism 29 It's all in our heads.

[edit] Revert

As I was reading the talk page someone changed the original article. I reverted it back because I think that the "household remedies" were worded better before the were put into a bulleted list. If the person who did that disagrees I or they could edit it so it is grammatically correct and sounds professional. Plus±Minus 01:32, 1 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Moo

• Gulping down a glass of water while holding one's breath (ever tried breathing and drinking simultaneously?).

Yeah. You get water in your lungs and cough for half an hour. And who came up with the "eating five tablespoons of salt while looking at a picture of a cow"? That seems like BJAODN fodder t'me. :P --Jack (Cuervo) 05:26, 14 Jun 2005 (UTC)

By the way, I've found that taking a drag off a cigarette while one has the hiccups invariably produces a hiccup. --Jack (Cuervo)

[edit] A Personal Cure

I can invariably cure my hiccups by working my throat muscles to induce a small regurgitation; after I spit out the viscous, mucous-laden goo, I am all better. This technique has never failed me since it's discovery when I was a lad.

Interesting, personaly I can force some sort of "air bubble" out of my esophogus and the hiccup stops...--Kultz 19:53, 27 August 2005 (UTC)

Something similar works for me... burping. This may not work for anyone else, but I recently found that sucking in air, thus causing a rather loud burp, took care of my hiccups ASAP. I had to do it constantly for a minute or so, but they were gone in no time flat. Before that I had tried holding my breath, eating a packet of sugar, and drinking water while plugging my nose and plugging my ears. Whatever works I guess. --TDIGuy 21:10, 19 October 2005 (UTC)

I've found that a pure "mind-over-matter" approach works best for me. When I get the hiccups, I wait until about the 3rd or 4th one, then tell myself that they are done. It's kind of hard to explain but I guess you could say I'm sort of "willing" them away--and if I do a good enough job of convincing myself I won't have another hiccup, I usually don't. Zen Jeff 03:24, 23 October 2005 (UTC)

I can most certainly back up your claim. I knew a few years back that I should swallow an amount of air or liquid...saliva, water, anything...force out one or more burps and the hiccups is gone for good. I used to drink cups of water (sometimes to no avail), and I now believed that this too may had a connection to starting burps. ╫ 25 ^ring-a-ding 09:33, 30 November 2005 (UTC) ╫

You mean the idea of something getting stuck in the esophagus and is unable to be brought down by the contractions? --Kultz 23:20, 3 February 2006 (UTC)

I drink and walk backwards at the same time for three seconds and it works all the time.

"Additionally, another respiratory remedy, while having no sound scientific principle behind it, is paradoxically one of the most effective in treating persistent hiccups. One breathes out all the air that they are able to in one long exhalation then breathes in all the air they feel they possibly can in one continuous inhalation. The person then attempts to breathe in even more air in a series of short powerful puffs, until their lungs cannot hold any more. The person remains in this state for as long as they feel they can hold that breath in. Although the success rate is not 100%, many people find this method consistently works." - This was an exercise we used to do at choir practise in high school to help expand and stretch your lungs so you could take larger breaths. I also found it has the tendency to stretch your diaphragm muscles. Other muscles spasms are often cured by stretching the muscle, so it's really no surprise that this technique works. I had figured it out in high school (graduated '99), and I've been using it ever since!! - Azalie, 10:52 09 February 2006

[edit] Beer

I find I only get hiccups after drinking a lot of beer, and this happens consistantly. It doesn't seem to occur with other fizzy drinks either. I'm curious as to how this can be explained, it's really annoying. Should I add drinking beer to the list of causes, or is it just me who has encountered this? -Altima

It's not just you. It doesn't happen to me, but hiccups are definitely associated with drinking and inebriation, this is seen in many comics i.e. Asterix. NTK 18:55, 11 Dec 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Function

Is anything known about the function of hiccups? It seems every bodily reaction has a function, and I am curious about why we get the hiccups. Although asking for a function is perhaps a bit optimistic since we aren't even sure about the cause of them (which is quite amazing to me). Haakon 02:44, 23 Jan 2005 (UTC)

-- My personal theory, which comes from thinking about the matter while my wife was pregnant, is that hiccoughs in the womb are for diaphram exercise. Hiccoughs after birth are just annoying onsets of the same excercise reflex. (anon user)

It may have something to do with gills. [1] 68.124.31.233 00:10, 25 December 2005 (UTC)

I don't know why anyone else doesn't talk about this, but I think that it is simply an air bubble in your stomach that is trying to escape, and is not big enough for the pressure to build and escape in the usual burp.

[edit] Plagiarism

I have removed the section "Longest Attack of Hiccups" because it is a direct copy from the Guiness World Records article. This section was added by 67.51.13.92. I don't mean to be insulting, but it amazes me that so many people don't know that you can't copy someone else's writing word for word without putting it in quotes and citing the source--not even a single sentence. If someone would care to paraphrase this, I think it would be a useful addition to the article.

rather than deleting, why didn't you simply quote as you suggest? Themindset 16:28, 13 Jun 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Solution?

I'm a bit new, but I just came across and article on something similar and made it a page. i cited it, but I don't exactly know how to correctly do it on here. Hopefully someone will edit it. But the page's name is "Charles Osborne" and I rephrased it so it wouldn't be plagarism, but it's quiet similar, so who knows. Maybe you can link that to this page?

[edit] Infallible remedy

The "Swallowing three times while holding one's breath"-cure have never failed me since I discovered it. If it is'nt working for you, try swallowing four times instead. MattiaX 13:05, 23 Jan 2005 (UTC)

-- All you need to do to releive a hiccup is to force a small burp and it is gone! At least this is what I have always done to successfully and immediatly relieve the hiccups.

[edit] Excercise Hiccups

I get the hiccups when I bench press. Does anyone know why? M@$+@ Ju 13:46, 5 September 2005 (UTC)

This is the best @#$%ing page ever.

Kalisphoenix 04:10, 6 September 2005 (UTC)

-- It's probably because you are breathing irregularly, and are actually swallowing small amounts of air, so when you are done you hiccup until you burp. Just a theory...

[edit] Not everyone gets them

I, for instance, have never had a hiccup in 27 years.

You lucky bunny. JFW | T@lk 08:22, 12 September 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Remedies

Before you delete "blowing up a balloon", think: what major muscle is used both during hiccups and pushing air out of one's lungs? There you go! And it works for me.

That's a pretty poor indicator of notability. Although it makes sense, you have not stated whether there are 1000s of other people using this or considering it a remedy for hiccups. If the list was not completely full of similar ideas, it would have met my personal criteria for removal :-). JFW | T@lk 23:54, 1 October 2005 (UTC)

[edit] I'm curious...

Since mental approaches can end a bout of hiccups (e.g. I've been using the "watch alertly for the next hiccup" approach with good success), I wonder how many of these other cures actually work by placebo effect. DanielCristofani 07:50, 24 October 2005 (UTC)

I've basically forced myself to stop hiccuping entirely, because I've got a messed up esophagus.. even one is extremely painful now (I also have trouble swallowing if I'm not sitting with my back perfectly straight). It's not a matter of 'mind over matter' though, as much as holding perfectly still and trying not to let any muscular action happen.

Of course, before my esophagus broke, I used to stop hiccups effectively by taking a deep breath and forcing it down, so to speak.. putting vague pressure on the lower chest area.. I assumed it pushed the diaphragm back into place.

I have been showing people the "Mental" approach for 20 years now. A friend learned it from a college professor, showed me, and it worked immediately; haven't had hiccups since. This method has worked for EVERYONE I have shown, in fact, it cured my 5 year old son just this week. The exercise is meant to have the person concentrate on the hiccups as much as possible. Have them rest their hand on a table and lift up their index finger. Tell them to attempt to tap the table with their index finger just BEFORE they hiccup again. It takes about 2 minutes, and they will hiccup a few more times, but don't give up. It helps to keep them focused by telling them: "Get ready, your going to hiccup again..." Just remember, the way this works is to focus on the hiccup itself. If you think about it, you tend to hiccup again after you have relaxed a bit from the last one. Hope this helps!

[edit] Curiouser and curiouser about hiccups in animals

Believe it, please, we'd really like to know. Watching our cat hiccup, we remembered we'd seen a dog hiccup. It occurred to us to wonder, what other animals hiccup? Do horses? Do cows? Does a giraffe, or does the length of its neck prevent it; conversely, how would its hiccup sound? Then, for similar reasons, does a whale hiccup? (And of course, one might wonder, whales being intelligent critters as they are, if one hiccups, do the others giggle? But then, that's a topic for somewhere else...) Seriously, does anyone know the answers here? Please share: we'd be grateful to hear your knowledge!

You probably know this already, but I've seen my dogs hiccup before (particularly when they were puppies). I think a fair few mammals must hiccup if distantly related animals like humans and Dogs hiccup. --Burbster 02:30, 23 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Pronunciation symbols

For those who know how to parse them, toward the top, (I didn't presume to edit): pronunciation symbols may be shown as hǐc-cŭp

Just a little note FYI, the system has a name "International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)" KX36 00:14, 16 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Review anonymous user's claims

67.71.60.123 added this, without citing sources:

When you eat, somtimes your tummy is working so hard at digesting that it contracts out of sync with your inhaling/exhaling pattern. This causes the diaphragm that lines the bottom of the respiratory cavity to detach from the top of the abdomen (they're attached by water surface tension - like wetting a piece of paper and sticking it to the wall). Since the muscle contractions in the stomach help with the expansion of the lungs during inhalation the two kind want to stay stuck together. Hiccups are your body's way of trying to realign the two (so that muscle contractions and inhalation occur at the same time).

Disregarding the need for an encyclopedic rewrite, are these claims worth anything? I have removed it for now; someone with some knowledge (and perhaps some sources) should review it and add it back in a proper form, if appropriate. Haakon 21:50, 28 November 2005 (UTC)

It sounds very clever, but it's unsourced and prone to be a pet theory. JFW | T@lk 22:47, 28 November 2005 (UTC)

The diaphragm is not attatched to your lungs by surface tension. There is connective tissue connecting it. But I guess it is not impossible to get a 'bubble'. aussietiger 14:34, 26 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Vinegar

Here is one that works for me everytime, and it works instantly. Though sometimes, say half-an-hour later, the hiccups return and I have to use it again.

Warm water mixed with about 3 teaspoons of vinegar. Works great for me. Be warned, if you eat or drink afterwards, the hiccups may return. Just repeat the treatment, and don't eat or drink until your body is over the hiccups.

Yeah, but this is an encyclopedia. "Works for me" is original research, unless you can prove a significant portion of mankind turns to your remedy, however effective. Sorry. JFW | T@lk 13:36, 29 November 2005 (UTC)

Hrmm... I originally found it on a website one day when I was looking for a cure for my persistant hiccups. So the idea is not original to me. I just did a google and found it is already quiet well known - so I don't think it is classed as "original research". Just google for "vinegar hiccups" (no quotes). I get 59,700 hits.... It would be a shame if something that works so well is not publicised as much as possible.

Now that's a better approach. I say just pick the most reliable one (e.g. a medical journal or professional hiccupper) and stick it in the article! JFW | T@lk 20:41, 30 November 2005 (UTC)

Hrmm... I just looked on the main page, and it _already_ mentions vinegar as a cure (though it is a single word...). Not sure how I missed it the first time around. From Googling it seems there are just as many causes of hiccups as there are home "remedies". It all seems idiosyncratic. I will put here a couple of the better links I found, but frankly, I am not sure anything needs to be added to the main article. http://www.med.ucla.edu/modules/wfsection/article.php?articleid=9 http://www.madsci.org/posts/archives/jan2001/980206939.Me.r.html

As long as it is sourced and appears to be reasonably significant, it can be mentioned. Try this for background, and this if you feel brave. JFW | T@lk 14:45, 1 December 2005 (UTC)

[edit] An ironic cure for hiccups

While this doesn't really have anything to do with discussing the content of the article, I thought it was worth sharing. I had been suffering from hiccups for about two hours the other night, and was trying to get rid of them. I decided to check out Wikipedia, to see if they had any good cures. After focusing on the article for about five minutes, I noticed my hiccups were miraculously gone. Just another reason to love Wikipedia, I guess.

Thats real cute

[edit] Implausible remedies

Home remedies by 199.111.199.253 seem highly implausible.

"Drinking a glass of water than spitting it back up and drinking that again, repeat until hiccups stop." "Spin in circles with your fingers up your nose until you bump into a wall, while holding your breath"

Opinion on removal? Dhp1080 06:36, 26 February 2006 (UTC)

Might be a good idea to remove at least the latter, people could probably do some serious damage by hitting a wall elbow first or falling down and landing on their elbow while having their finger up their nose. KX36 00:03, 16 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Swallowing while holding breath

Isn't that the only way to swallow; unless you have a deformed larynx or no epiglotis, isn't it impossible to swallow and breath at the same time? in which case, should all the references to that be shortened to just "swallowing"

Personally, I just hold my breath for as long as i can, it seems to do the trick. i always thought it was something to do with holding the spastic diaphragm still for long enough so that it stops the spasms. KX36 00:09, 16 March 2006 (UTC)

Actually babies can swallow and breathe simultaneously, as the epiglottis has a different configuration until the age of about 1 year. However, in general you're right, you can't swallow without a short pause in the breath. Graham 07:07, 24 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Inhalation of amniotic fluid

I removed the sentence that stated "other hypotheses hold that...[hiccupping]...prevents inhalation of amniotic fluid by the foetus". If this is a real hypothesis, please cite its source. It sounds like an utterly ridiculous notion because anyone who thinks about this for one microsecond will realise that foetuses don't breathe. The entire respiratory system is shut down during gestation and only starts working after birth. Babies receive oxygen via the placenta. They do, however, swallow amniotic fluid which is quite normal. Sounds to me like someone's pet theory, based on complete ignorance, presented as fact. Graham 07:04, 24 March 2006 (UTC)

I added that line and the preceding one about four months ago. It wasn't something that was made up as I got it from the BBC News article found in the External Links section. In retrospect, my wording was bad as I used "theories" instead of "hypotheses". Perhaps I'll resubmit it with better wording. Graham, perhaps you could look over that BBC article and ascertain as to whether the sentence should remain. But I must say that it wasn't some "utterly ridiculous notion" I made up! =P At any rate, I'll add a source to the end of it; although, I've never done so before. Therefore if it appears to come out wrong or isn't to Wikipedia standards, please make the necessary corrections. Thank you. Here, too, is another article that states the same thing as the BBC one. --Emperorchaos 16:36, 10 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Thanks a bundle!

Hey, I know some people think that wp shouldn't have any medical advice, but there was none here, I would still have hiccups. So thanks! --Snargle 05:33, 25 April 2006 (UTC)

I just hope you didn't eat a spoonful of salt while looking at a picture of an elephant. Some of the advice added here ranges from useless to harmful. Haakon 08:35, 25 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] device

The text about the new device reads rather like an advertisement. Has the machine been scientifically tested at all? I think the unproven claims sound rather exorbitant. Bart 11:15, 10 July 2006 (UTC)

I obliterated it.--Planetary 04:47, 16 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Plain and Simple

It's nothing more complicated than trapped air in the belly. Simply apply a pressure with a "baby" Heimlich move and VOILA!! If done correctly you can actually feel the air (no matter how small of an amount) being forced out. No need to give yourself a headache by holding your breath, drinking ridiculous amounts of water or swallowing, buying or taking ANY products to remedy, or belching...although I do enjoy a good belch after my meals, LOL. adisalee

except that I'm reasonably sure there is, more or less, always some amount of air trapped in the stomach. I have met people who are able to burp on command, repeatedly, without any other preparation. While air in the stomach and hiccuping may be related, to claim that the former definitely causes the latter (without some kind of controlled experiment) is premature.--Leperflesh 01:02, 3 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] kissing

No, really, don't laugh. I heard years ago, somewhere, that having a good (open-mouth or french) kiss does very well as a cure. Maintain until breathless. My GF and I tried it (she gets hiccups a lot) and it works well... although in many public settings it's not an appropriate thing to do. A quick google search turns up one or two references ([[2]], but they are not good enough to serve as reference sources for wikipedia. --Leperflesh 01:10, 3 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Tickling

Vigourously tickling the person suffering from hiccups appears to work. There are two problems with this theory:

• It's original research
• While researching it, my wife decided she preferred the hiccups to the tickling.

--61.214.155.14 04:45, 22 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Quick Vandalism

Someone removed the record holder's name and replaced it with penis monger. I deleted that and replaced it with a question mark. Does anyone know what the guys name was? Also I did not know how to put the vandalism template up.--Mullon 01:22, 17 September 2006 (UTC)

You can find any information deleted by vandalism by going to an earlier edit of the page (click the history tab to do this). I've restored the name now. – Autodidact 20:07, 17 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Contradiction

In Hiccup article:

“

The Guinness World Record for the longest continuous bout of hiccups (1922–1990) goes to Charles Osborne (1894–1991) from Anthon, Iowa. The hiccups started in 1922 at a rate of 40 times per minute, slowing to 20 and eventually stopping in February 1990 – a total of 68 years.

”

In Charles Osborne article:

“

Osborne, from Anthon, Iowa, USA, was entered in Guinness World Records as the man with the Longest Attack of Hiccups. The hiccups started in 1922 at a rate of 40 times per minute, slowing to 20 and eventually stopping on June 5, 1990...

”

We need verification of which is correct. Also, external link on Hiccup article is broken. // >|< Shablog 19:44, 31 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Possible vandalism

And then the hiccup explodes. You may or may not get diarrhea. If the diarrhea is watery, report to a doctor before hiccups turn into dangerous chemical reactions. Side affects of these chemical reactions include, hard lumpy poop, and abnormaly long bowl movements.

This looks like nonsense to me; I can't extract any useful message from it. I will temporarily remove it, and in the meantime can anyone verify if this action is appropriate? 石川 02:27, 27 January 2007 (UTC)

Thats definately vandalism. Its okay to remove it. --ISeeDeadPixels 22:34, 29 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] It's all in our heads.

The solution appears to be a physcological, and that is too simply reconise that you have the hiccups, and to attempt to either reproduce it, or tell your mind to stop it.

All these quick solutions from standing on your head to holding your breath under a blue moon is simply to tell your mind to reconise the problem, and to solve it.Daemondevel 16:20, 16 March 2007 (UTC)