Relieving Hiccups
Gulping glasses of water, chewing on a spoon of sugar, eating peanut butter, jam, wasabi and even hot sauce are the eating methods that you have employed just to stop yourself from making the annoying “hic” sound. The sound is still there, however. Others tried to help you by scaring or startling you, hoping that your imminent reaction would scare the “hic” sound away. To your dismay, nothing happens again. You are then told to employ a lot of other possible methods of curing your hiccup such as breathing into a paper bag, counting or reciting the alphabet in reverse, concentrating on a particularly complicated matter that might distract you or help you ignore your hiccup. To most medical professionals, however, a hiccup is an ordinary condition that usually lasts for a few minutes only. Hence, it generally resolves itself without intervention. Because truly a hiccup is bothersome, not to mention embarrassing as it calls attention when you are in a public place, we employ a lot of home remedies just to shorten the duration of hiccup.
The field of medicine explains that a hiccup is an unintentional spasm of the diaphragm. What causes then this unintentional spasm? What causes hiccups? A hiccup is usually attributed to eating or to the kind of food that you eat. Spicy foods, too hot or too cold foods, carbonated beverages and alcohol, and dry breads are said to be factors of having a hiccup. These may not be conclusive causes of a hiccup but it is advised to document or to at least remember the kinds of food that you believe might have triggered your hiccup. In such case, you will be more careful next time on what to eat and what not to eat. Under general circumstance, there is really no rule on how to stop hiccups. Rarely do extreme cases of hiccups occur, and when it does, that is the time medical attention may be required.
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