What causes Hiccups and what's the best cure?

Answer 1

if you drink a teaspoon of lemon juice, it shocks your system and rids you of hiccups. it is the only cure that works for me!

"The diaphragm almost always works perfectly. When you inhale, it pulls down to help pull air into the lungs. When you exhale, it pushes up to help push air out of the lungs. But sometimes the diaphragm becomes irritated. When this happens, it pulls down in a jerky way, which makes you suck air into your throat suddenly. When the air rushing in hits your voice box, you're left with a big hiccup."

Answer 2

Hiccups are sudden, involuntary contractions of the diaphragm muscle. As the muscle contracts repeatedly, the opening between your vocal cords snaps shut to check the inflow of air and makes the hiccup sound. Irritation of the nerves that extend from the neck to the chest can cause hiccups.

Although associated with a variety of ailments (some can be serious such as pneumonia or when harmful substances build up in the blood for example from kidney failure), hiccups are not serious and have no clear reason for occurring


Self-Care at Home
Numerous home remedies for hiccups exist. The reason that these remedies are thought to work is that carbon dioxide build-up in the blood will stop hiccups, which is what happens when you hold your breath. If the vagus nerve that runs from the brain to the stomach is stimulated, hiccups can also be alleviated (this is what is happening when you drink water or pull on your tongue).

Try these methods at home:

Hold your breath.
Drink a glass of water quickly.
Become frightened.
Use smelling salts.
Pull hard on your tongue.
Place one-half teaspoon of dry sugar on the back of your tongue. (You can repeat this process 3 times at 2-minute intervals. Use corn syrup, not sugar, in young children.)

Answer 3

Phrenic nerve irritation is what causes most hiccups. Your phrenic nerve controls your diaphragm, (the muscle that causes you to breath). Your diaphragm is caused to spasm when your phrenic nerve is irritated and you get the hiccup because your trachea is forced against your epiglottis at the same time. The best cure is to do anything that causes your mind to concentrate on a physical task much more than what is natural. That is why there are so many cures, drinking from a straw when you are upside down, drinking from the opposite side of a cup opening, and so on. Even some hard math problems can be enough concentration to end the phrenic nerve irritation.

Answer 4

Hiccups are spasms of the diaphram. To cure them, chew on a teaspoon of something granulated, like sugar (not powdered). See, a spoonful of sugar not only helps the medicine go down, but it also cures hiccups!

Answer 5

Hiccups are a muscle spasm in your diaphram.. this may sound weird but if breathing slowly into a paper bag doesnt work... take a large mouthed glass of water and drink upside down...

how you do this is you stick your chin inside the cup and drink off the opposite side by leaning forward and sucking the water up that way... i dont know why it works it just does!!!

Answer 6

hiccups are caused by an involuntary spasms of the diaphragm (which is a muscle in your lower chest that helps your lungs expand). a sudden rush of air into the lungs causes the glottis to close, creating the "hic" noise.

ive always found that eating something thick (like a spoonfull of peanut butter or a balled up slice of bread) always helps to stop hiccups.

Answer 7

all and sundry knows of that the hiccups are brought about via an abnormal spasm of the diaphram. the only therapy that works for me is to hold my breath, and on a similar time as doing so, take a extensive drink of water.

Answer 8

a change in breathing patterns cause the hiccups.

The thing that I have found that gets rid of them is actually wanting to hiccup... hence I always have them and hate them... and my husband almost never hiccups more then twice and loves them...

Answer 9

Try plugging your ears and drinking water out of a straw. That works for me.

Answer 10

hold your breath for 30 seconds.
or stand on your head and drink water through a straw???