from wikiHow - The How to Manual That You Can EditSo how can you cure a hiccup? While a
doctor might claim that all hiccup "cures" are really just old wives tales that have zero effect, other people claim that their favorite pet cure works every time. This is most likely due to a placebo effect and resignation to the universal yet underrated condition of problem hiccups (singultus). Interestingly, some of these folk remedies are on the correct path by having at least some basis in the science of the hiccup and singultus. With home remedies, the methods that attempt to relax or stimulate the diaphragm tend to be the most effective. Whether the chosen "remedy" is a miracle cure or placebo effect is for you to decide. Here are some proposed methods that some people believe work. Your results may vary.
Contents
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Steps
Easy method
- take 7 big breaths between hiccups
- if you get a hiccup while doing this start all over
The Slow Release Method
- Take in A Really Big Breath, as much air as you can
- Hold it for 10 seconds than let a little go, not taking any more in
- Hold it for 5 more and do it again
- Carrying on until you run out of air
- Repeat 2 or 3 times
- Then NO hiccups!!!
The Native-American Indian Method
- Sit in a chair.
- Close your eyes.
- Have a friend press their pointer and middle fingers on both of your eyes simultaneously. Apply pressure until you see "white specs".
- Then slowly release pressure.
- Your hiccups should be gone!
The Indian Method
- Close your eyes.
- Think of a popular Indian character (Gandhi, Apu from The Simpsons, etc) and envision him in your mind very clearly.
- Attempt to channel their voices through yours.
- Speak gently and quietly.
- Bob your head very slightly, side by side, making sure your eyes are still squeezed shut.
- Lick your lips and say, "Did you order the chicken tikka masala?"
- Slowly open your eyes and count to ten in Hindi (Google this beforehand if you don't know how.)
- Your hiccups are gone!
The Gag Method
- Go into your bathroom, and open the lid on the toilet.
- Stick your finger down your throat and make yourself gag.
- Continue until you REALLY gag, even throwing up if you have to.
- After you throw up, or have a REALLY good gag, no more hiccups! Works EVERY time!
Water and Knife Method
- Fill up a glass of water and get a butter knife.
- Put the knife, blade up, into the glass.
- Drink the water with the blade pressing on your forehead until it is all
gone.
Holding your breath
- Take a deep breath.
- Hold for as long as you can.
- Exhale slowly.
Open your mouth
- Open your mouth and keep it open for a couple of minutes.
- If you feel the need to swallow, do so, but try to keep your lips apart when you do.
Water Method
- Fill a glass full with water.
- Drink all the water without stopping.
- Hold your breath and close your nose with your fingers.
Gulp
- Make sure you are not wearing anything tight around your chest. If you are, loosen it.
- Keep gulping every few seconds, especially when you feel a hiccup might be coming. A couple of hiccups might escape, but with continuous gulping, hiccups should be gone within 3 minutes.
Water Cure
- Fill a glass with water.
- Bend over until you are as upside down as possible, then drink the water.
- Don't stop to breathe! That should cure your hiccups.
Looking at an object
- Divert your attention towards any object.
- Keep concentrating on the object.
- While concentrating, think hiccups are okay. Hiccups are not harmful. You can overcome them soon.
The Drinking Method
- Get a 12 ounce glass of water
- Plug your ears with your fingers
- Plug your nose with other fingers at the same time
- Now pick up the glass with the remaining fingers
- Drink as much as you can as fast as you can
- Repeat the steps, if necessary.
The 30 Seconds Cure
[1]- Start by inhaling through your mouth until your lungs feel full (when it feels like you cannot inhale any more). For overall best results, try to do this as quickly as you can. Try to not let any air out before you have completed the steps below.
- Swallow. You are not really swallowing anything but it seems that without this act, it doesn’t work.
- Now inhale some more. You don’t need to inhale a lot, but do get some more air in. It will start to get difficult to do this as you go, but keep trying. You obviously can’t suck in as much air as you did initially, but just a little will do (think of it as taking a “sip” of air).
- Swallow again. This too will become more difficult as you go.
- Repeat steps 3 and 4 until you cannot swallow again. While it seems you can almost always suck in just a little more and the swallowing that gets to be impossible. When you feel like you cannot swallow again, swallow again anyway. It will be hard to do, your face will probably turn red, and you may make squeaking sounds. But you can swallow one last time. By this time, your lungs should also be quite full and it should be difficult to get much more air in as well. While you should try not to let any air out, if you have really repeated steps 3 and 4 as many times as you can, you probably will end up letting a little out before you can take that last swallow. If you find that air keeps escaping out of your nose even early in the process, try squeezing it shut with your fingers.
- Exhale.
The Temple Method
- Hold in a very big breath.
- Have someone else hold your temples until you feel as though you cannot hold your breath anymore (If you do it to yourself then it does not work as well.)
Burping method
- Drink lots of water.
- Burp.
- Repeat until the hiccups stop.
Bartender's Remedy
- Place 4 or 5 drops of Angostora Bitters on a lemon wedge and bite into the wedge, sucking in the juice. Sugar may be added to the lemon to ease the taste.
- Repeat until the hiccups stop.
Straw Method
- Get a glass of water and two straws.
- Put one straw inside the glass as usual and the other straw pressed up against the side of the glass on the outside.
- Put both straws in your mouth at once, drink the water like you would normally, taking as big of gulps as possible.
- Drink a couple of gulps and then your hiccups should be gone!
Stretch Method
- Stand upright with your feet hip-width apart, lock one thumb in the palm of your other hand with fingertips outstretched, lift your chin, look up and stretch your arms over your head (reach for the sky), pull your abs in as if trying to let your pants fall off your hips, and breathe deeply several times.
Sugar Method
- Take a spoon and fill it with sugar
- Hold the spoon in your mouth for five seconds.
- Swallow.
- Take a sip of water.
- Repeat until hiccups are gone.
Alternate Sugar Method
- Fill a tablespoon of sugar.
- Put the spoon in your mouth and slide the sugar off into it.
- Let the sugar dissolve, do not chew or swallow.
- When it all has pretty much dissolved (should take 15 or so seconds) you can swallow it.
- Hiccups should be gone.
Airline Steward Method (Not recommend if you have back problems!)
- Find a straight back chair and sit down with your back fully pressed to the back of the chair.
- Slowly bend over in the tuck position with your arms crossed over your body - the same way you would when instructed by an airline stewardess to "get in the crash position". Do this until you feel slightly uncomfortable.
- Slowly squeeze your arms and try to squeeze your body and hold your breath for 5-10 seconds and release.
- Stay in the same position but relax then repeat this procedure again for at least 2 to 3 times. Then slowly sit back up.
Balanced Body Method
- Stand with feet shoulder-width apart, knees bent, arms relaxed.
- Close your eyes, and become aware of subtle forces on your body.
- Allow your body to sway with the forces, arms floating and drifting.
- Do this for 5-10 seconds, which is usually enough. Watching someone else do it also works.
Breathing Method 1
- Hiccups happens at certain intervals (in rhythm) like ...1...2...3...hhic!!...1...2...3...hhic!!...
- Try to break the rhythm like ...1...2...3...(hold your breath at this point)...1...(now breath in normally)...2...3...(hiccups gone)
Breathing Method 2
- Lean back in a chair, get comfortable.
- SLOWLY breathe in until you feel like you can't inhale any more, trying to get a feel for extending the breath down towards your abdomen. You are trying to stretch your diaphragm to interrupt the hiccups.
- Hold your breath for 30 seconds
- Exhale slowly until your lungs are empty.
- Repeat 4-5 times or until you feel better.
- Slowly bring your chair back forward as you exhale your 4th or 5th time of this exercise.
Breathing Method 3
- Inhale and exhale 1 time slowly. As you exhale, push as much air out as possible (until your body forces you to inhale again).
- Inhale deeply and stick out your tongue.
- Hold your breath and your nose for 40 seconds with your fingers in your ears.
- Exhale slowly.
- If you feel as if it is not going to work, try again, after all, 3 times is the charm.
Breathing Method 5
- Imagine breathing in a figure eight. As the out-breath reaches the end, slow the breath and twist it around so that it becomes the in-breath. Then simply create a figure eight of continuous breath.
The hiccups will subside almost immediately. It usually works within 10 cycles.
Breathing Method 6
- Hold your breath for as long as you can. If you hiccup any time during this, start over.
- When you feel like you can no longer hold your breath (CO2 is building up in your lungs, but you still have a lot of air left), let it out slowly for ten seconds, counting in your head.
- Do not inhale during these ten seconds, but if you run out of breath, just skip to 1 and finish.
Breathing Method 8
- Breathe in as much as you can.
- Keep breathing in until it is impossible to take in more air.
- Exhale.
- Breathe normally.
- This resets your diaphragm.
Breathing Method 9 (diaphragm method)
- Force your diaphragm to work with your breathing, not against it (which is what hiccups are) by doing the following:
- Take some slow, deep breaths - focus on what's going on with your torso.
- While breathing in be sure that your chest expands and that your stomach muscles relax to let the muscle wall between your chest and abdomen drop down.
- Breathe out - your chest should contract and you should tighten and pull up your stomach muscles to raise the stomach wall.
- If you get confused, just think that when you're breathing in you need to make space for the air in your chest, and when you're breathing out that space contracts.
- It'll come more naturally if you've got some experience of breath control (e.g. from singing) but it always works for everyone!
Breathing Method 10 (diaphragm method 2)
- Take a deep breath and hold it.
- Plug your nose and close your mouth.
- Now begin to move your diaphragm as if you were breathing in and out rapidly.
- Exhale once the hiccups disappear or you need more air.
- Repeat if hiccups persist.
Burping Method
- Swallow some air until you burp.
- Burp.
- Repeat until hiccups are gone.
Coughing Method
- Count the amount of time between hiccups.
- Around the time a hiccup should be coming up, or when you feel it coming up, cough loudly and/or scream!
- Repeat 3 or 4 times.
Drink Pickle Juice
- Drink about a half a teaspoon of pickle juice every 7-10 seconds until your hiccups stop.
Drink a Glass of Water
- Just drink a glass of water. It works for some and is one of the easiest methods.
Drink Water & Hold Ears Closed
- Drink a glass of water while holding your ears. You can use a straw to do it independently or have another person press your ears closed.
Drink Water Method 1
- You only need a small glass of water for this.
- Take a sip of water but do not swallow it.
- Tilt your head back as far as possible and swallow the water. Its harder then drinking normally, but your hiccups should be gone.
Drink Water Method 2
- Fill a glass of water to the brim.
- With your thumbs, plug your ears.
- With your index fingers, plug your nostrils (squeeze to close).
- With both ears and nostrils plugged, use your remaining free fingers to grasp the glass and raise it to your mouth.
- Drink the entire glass of water without releasing your ears or your nostrils.
- You must finish the entire glass of water without releasing your ears or your nostrils!
Drinking Water Method 3
- Fill two tall 12 oz. glasses with cool water and set them on a table in front of you. The second glass is for just in case you finish the first one, if you really need it.
- Close your eyes and settle yourself. Confidence and positive thinking are important here, so chill out and loosen up.
- Pick up the first glass and wait for a hiccup. Just after it hits, begin drinking slowly, steadily and continuously until the glass is empty.
- Try not to think about hiccuping as you set the empty glass down. Hopefully you will have interrupted the rhythm of the hiccups, but if not then you wll have to go to the second glass and repeat the process.
- Drink the second glass of water, slow and steadily, and do your best to remain calm and relaxed. By the time you've finished, the hiccups should be gone.
Drinking Water Method 4
- Fill a glass with cool drinking water.
- Get a clean paper towel. (If you have no paper towels, a thin cloth will work.)
- Cover the top of the glass with the paper towel. Fold down the edges of the paper towel to completely wrap the top of the glass. Hold the paper towel in place by grasping the glass in your hand.
- Drink a sip of water through the paper towel.
- One sip is often enough; if not, take a few more sips.
Drinking Water Method 5
- Fill a glass to the brim with room temperature water.
- Slowly drink the entire glass of water by taking very small quick sips. Don't chug the water and do not remove the glass from your mouth. You should be continuously swallowing small sips of water.
- Once you finish the water take long slow breaths and try to relax; your hiccups should be gone.
Drinking Water Method 6
- Fill a large glass with water.
- Keep drinking until you swallow your hiccup. (It will feel like swallowing a large lump of "air".)
- Once you have swallowed a hiccup, your hiccups will be gone.
Drinking Water Method 7
- Fill a drinking glass with room temperature water.
- With glass in hand, bend over at your waist.
- Place your lips on the side of the glass opposite that from which you would normally drink. Your bottom lip should be above the lip of the glass where your top lip would normally be, and your top lip should be against the side of the glass against the edge where your bottom lip would normally be.
- Carefully tip the glass away from you and into your mouth.
- Swallow and repeat. Your hiccups should be gone.
Drinking Water Method 8
- Get a bottle of water.
- Instead of drinking normally, drink with your bottom lip in the lower portion of the opening and your top lip over the top. You develop a "vacuum" to keep from spilling or pouring it down your shirt. It doesn't take much; just a sip or two will work.
Drinking Water Method 9
- Start with a small glass of water (about 4 ounces).
- Put in about half as much crushed ice as you have water. Make sure that the ice bits are smaller than a pea or choking may result!
- Drink the water slowly, swallowing the ice bits along with the water. If you encounter large pieces of ice, chew so that they break into pea-sized segments and swallow.
- Take deep breaths in between sips. Inhale and exhale- make sure that the air goes into your lungs, so your cheeks shouldn't "puff up" and fill with air.
- Your hiccups should be gone after you finish drinking.
- If that does not work, repeat the above method but this time put in 2 tablespoons of sugar.
Drinking Water Method 10
- Pour about medium glass of water into a cup.
- Put a metal spoon in the glass with the handle side sticking out( handle must be out of water).
- Tilt the cup toward your lips like your about to take a sip.
- Make sure the spoon handle is pressing against the area between your eye brows.
- Take a few sips of water while the spoon is pressing against the area between your eyebrows and your hiccups will be gone!
Drinking Water Method 11
- Get a small glass of water, you probably won't need much.
- Take eight sips, make sure you swallow each sip separately.
Drinking Water Method 12
- Get a glass of water.
- Take a sip standing upright, but don't swallow.
- Turn your head upside down and swallow slowly. ALL BETTER!
Drinking Water Method 13
- For this method, you only need a small amount of water.
- Take 4 sips, once every 5 seconds.
- Your hiccups should be gone!
Drinking Water Method 14
- Get a partner and a cup filled with water.
- Stand facing the partner, bent forward at the waste.
- Have the partner tilt the cup to your lips, and drink.
Ear Method 1
- Drink a normal-sized gulp of water, but don't swallow! Leave the water in your mouth.
- Pull down both your earlobes.
- Tilt your head back.
- Swallow. It works!
Ear Method 2
- Have someone cover your ears with their hands, applying pressure, but not enough to cause pain.
- Drink a glass of water normally. This works great!
Ear Method 3
Place your thumbs on the little flap in front of the ear canal (called the tragus) and press inward, closing the canal.
- Close your nose with your pinkie fingers.
- Close your eyes, then take a deep breath and hold it as long as possible.
- Try and breathe normally after coming out of the exercise. The natural reaction is to breathe hard or pant.
The Money Method
- If you are with a friend who has hiccups, wait until they hiccup.
- Then tell them you will give them $20 if they can hiccup right now. The author of this suggestion has been doing this for years and has never had to part with his money!
The Peanut Butter Method
- Get a big tablespoon of peanut butter.
- Put it in your mouth and hold it for 5 seconds. DO NOT CHEW THE PB.
- Swallow the peanut butter without chewing.
- Alternatively you can use Almond Butter or Nutella. Anything with a sticky gooey consistency similar to PB that you can eat a tablespoon of.
The Vinegar Method
- Drink a teaspoon of vinegar, this should cure hiccups unless you drink the last bit of vinegar in the bottle.
The Aneta Cure
- Say the name "Aneta" (Uh-net-uh) each time you hiccup. It will reset the way you breathe and the hiccups will vanish.
The Pressure Point Cure
- Press the indentation between your nose and upper lip, and hold for 30 seconds. This presses on a nerve ending that transports the message back to your diaphragm. It works every time, even if it makes you look stupid.
The Upside-down Drinker
- Fill up a average glass with milk or water.
- Put your feet shoulder width apart, bend over and put your head between your legs so that you are looking behind you.
- Drink your milk or water slowly.
- Bring yourself back to a standing position slowly.
Neck Cure
- Breathe inwards quickly until you cannot do so anymore.
- Look downwards so your neck is bent.
- Stay like this for 10-20 seconds.
- Return to normal position, and think of the air staying down in your lungs
- This disrupts the hiccup cycle, and you will no longer have hiccups!
The Stomach Cure
- Suck in your stomach as much as you can for about 10 seconds.
- Release the air very quickly.
- Repeat.
- All better!
The Fish Cure
- Have someone ask you "what swims in the ocean?"
- Answer "fish" and your hiccups are gone
The Styx Cure
- Listen to "Renegade" by Styx
- Repeat until hiccups are gone.
Lie Down
- Very simple, find a large, flat, level surface (preferably a bed or couch)and lie (flat; facing up) on it (for 2-5 minutes).
Flower famliy
- Stick out your pointer fingers straight in front of you, try to get them as close as possible, but not touching each-other. Note: Don't become distracted.
- Count silently.
- Hold your breath. DO NOT let out until you have reached 30 or 40, or it will get worse or stay the same. Between intervals, make sure to breathe evenly.
Pencil drinker
- Get a pencil and bit down on it.
- Drink a glass of water with the pencil still in your mouth.
- Drink as much of the water as you can without the pencil falling out. You do not have to drink the whole glass, just a couple sips will do.
- This method works every time.
The Tongue Method
- Stick your tongue out.
- Hold it with your hand if you need to.
- Keep your tongue stuck out for several minutes.
The Tongue Roll-Back Method
- Point your tongue back towards your throat.
- Hold it for as long as required.
- Maintain the position throughout.
The Tickle Method
- Tickle the person.
- Continue for 30 seconds or longer if you desire a tickle fight.
The Sugar Cube Method
- Eat a sugar cube.
- Wait.
The Toothpick Method
- Break a toothpick in half.
- Place half in a glass of water.
- Drink water slowly while watching the half toothpick.
Penny Method
- Lean your head back
- Place a penny on your forehead
- Wait and they will go away within 1-3 hiccups
Post Op Hiccup Method
- Sit straight up and arch your back to lengthen your torso.
- Take a in a very deep breath and hold it for as long as possible and then slowly let it out.
- Do this a couple times and you'll burp afterward. Its the only thing that has worked for me on these post op hiccups.
The Gag Method
- Go into your bathroom, and open the lid on the toilet.
- Stick your finger down your throat and make yourself gag.
- Continue until you REALLY gag, even throwing up if you have to.
- After you throw up, or have a REALLY good gag, no more hiccups! Works EVERY time!
The Awoga Method
- Take a deep breath until it almost hurts
- Shout AWOOOOOOGA as loud as you possibly can
- Repeat until hiccups are cured
The Rotation Method
- Pinch your nose together
- Spin around in a clockwise direction while singing "Row row row your boat"
- Continue this until you've sang the song 5 times
- Immediately begin spinning around in a counterclockwise direction while singing "Mary had a little lamb"
- Continue this until you've sang the song 5 times
- Repeat until hiccups subside
- Singing the songs is for timing as well as inhaling as well as exhaling in a powerful manner.
The Ear Mehtod 2
- Get a glass of water
- Drink it with your fingers in your ears
- Repeat untill hiccups are gone
Them Lemon Method
Get a lemon then cut it in half.The get one half of the lemon and cut that in half, finally get one piece of the lemon and suck the juice out of it. It's hard at the begining but then it will get easier.
The hand-Palm Method
Pressing hard onto the palm of a friend/family member's palm for 30 + seconds works well if they are taken by surprize
The Upside-Down Method
- Fill a regular glass or plastic cup with water halfway
- Lay upside down, like over the side of your bed or couch
- Sit up straight, take a small gulp of water, then lay upside down
- Repeat steps 2 & 3 until water is gone, this method always works for me
Video
When you have the hiccups, everyone has a remedy. The truth is, there are no scientifically proven cures that do the trick every time. But here are the most common ones that work for most people, most of the time.
Tips
- Remember to relax! Hiccups can be partly psychological, so the most effective method will likely be the method that you suppose will be the most effective, as long as you believe that deeply. Keep a positive attitude and breathe deeply.
- Hiccups are caused by spasms of the diaphragm, the muscles under our lungs that control our breathing. Just like any muscle spasm it's best controlled by slow, even stretching of the muscle.
- It's all right to breathe between swallows, but structure the breaths as "inhale, gulp, exhale, gulp," and so on.
- The knife and water method works the best for most people, but the other methods work well too.
- Cooler water works better than warmer water.
- Try not to anticipate the dreaded next hiccup - you might just bring it on.
- You can substitute straight sugar with extremely sweet candy like Skittles. You can also try a small bag of Chocolate M&Ms, chew a whole handful at one time and swallow them all together. Be careful to avoid choking. You can also try honey. It tastes better to some people, and some say it's healthier since it's natural.
- Try not to laugh, usually that just tenses up the muscles that you need to loosen. Its a good idea to think of something serious, because sometimes some of the cures make you laugh.
- There is no 100% guaranteed cure for the hiccups. A good suggestion is just to wait it out.
- If the hiccups start to hurt it could be an asthma attack or some other medical reason. Go get medical attention quickly.
- Coughing is regular when doing some of these methods
- Stick your finger down your throat and make yourself gag, even throwing up if you have to, after you are done, no more hiccups! Although this is actually not very good for you since throwing up on purpose is extremely dangerous because it is a indirect form of bulemia.
Warnings
- If you swallow too much air, you might get a slight stomach ache. It will go away as you will eventually burp.
- Do not press on your eyeballs to relieve hiccups. You could damage your eye by pressing too hard and/or cause yourself to pass out through stimulation of your vagus nerve.
- Extremely prolonged hiccups could have an underlying cause and you should see your doctor. They may give you a blood test and/or an ultrasound. Causes could include bacteria or liver failure (other symptoms may appear) you could also develop hiccups when pregnant, but should always get yourself checked by your doctor.
Related wikiHows
A few Water methods
- 1.Ten Sips
*Get a big glass of Water
*Then take ten big gulps now your hicups should be gone!!!!
- 2. Upside-down Method
*Fill up a glass with water
*take a sip of it then hold it in your mouth
*Sit on a chair or couch tip your head down and swallow this method usally works for me.
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