How to Get Rid of Hiccups

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Introduction Of Hiccups:

Every person has encountered hiccups at least once in their lives: as if by the law of meanness, at the most inopportune moment, a continuous hiccup begins, which interferes with eating, talking, sleeping, and generally doing something. At such moments, good advice on how to get rid of hiccups will be completely invaluable. The main thing is that these tips really help, because hiccups are a very stubborn phenomenon.

How to Get Rid of Hiccups

How to Get Rid of Hiccups

The immediate cause of hiccups is jerky involuntary convulsive contractions of the diaphragm and intercostal muscles.

In turn, a variety of factors can lead to involuntary contractions of the diaphragm: nervous stress, overeating, intoxication, hypothermia, a sharp breath, sleep or sitting in an uncomfortable position, and so on.

Much less often, with prolonged enduring many hours of hiccups, the cause must be sought in lesions of the central nervous system, gastrointestinal or pulmonary diseases (including oncology), intervertebral hernias, myocardial infarction, etc.

Physiologists still do not quite understand why sometimes the brain wedges on such a simple movement as inhale-exhale. However, some factors that are capable of triggering hiccups have been established. Let’s say right away: sometimes hiccups are a dangerous signal.

 

Why do people hiccup

Most often, hiccups pass on their own in a few minutes. This hiccup is called short-term. However, it will be considered short-term also if it continues with interruptions or without for up to two days. But if you hiccup longer, we are talking about a long-term or persistent hiccups.

 

What can hiccup talk about?

But hiccups are far from always a harmless, albeit annoying, phenomenon. It can indicate a serious illness. For example, stubborn hiccups sometimes appear in patients with pneumonia. Perhaps this is due to the fact that the infection irritates the nerves in the chest or the diaphragm itself. Sometimes hiccups, among other symptoms, are observed with Bergmann’s syndrome – a hiatal hernia. The cause of toxic hiccups can be severe alcohol poisoning. Or also liver disease caused by excessive alcohol intake, which, as it increases, irritates the diaphragm. Hiccups can even be a sign of a cancer growing in the chest cavity. This is especially dangerous for heavy smokers. Psychophysical causes of persistent hiccups are also possible.

When is it necessary to see a doctor? In cases where the hiccups do not pass more than an hour; if hiccups torment you several times a day; if, in addition to hiccups, you feel heartburn, chest pain, or swallowing problems. The doctor will prescribe an examination, identify the cause of the constant hiccups, and prescribe the appropriate treatment for the case.

 

What Causes Hiccups ?

The movements of the diaphragm are controlled by the brain. But sometimes its signals fail, and the diaphragm begins to involuntarily contract. With every spasm, the lungs push air out of itself, it exits through the larynx and closes the glottis and epiglottis. This process is accompanied by a characteristic sound – hiccups.

Physiologists still do not quite understand why sometimes the brain wedges on such a simple movement as inhale-exhale. However, some factors that are capable of triggering hiccups have been established. Let’s say right away: sometimes hiccups are a dangerous signal.

 

Causes of Short-Term Hiccups

  • The use of carbonated drinks.
  • Bust with alcohol.
  • Overeating.
  • Sudden change in ambient temperature. For example, when you leave the house in the wind or, conversely, return from the cold to a warm office or apartment.
  • Eating too hot (optionally spicy) or cold food.
  • Excitement, agitation, fear, stress.
  • Accidental ingestion of air. This happens when you chew gum or lick candy.

 

Reasons for Persistent Hiccups

Hiccups that last more than two days can be triggered by dozens of factors. In order not to list separately, they are grouped into three categories.

 

  1. Irritation or damage to nerves

It’s about Vigus nerves or phrenic nerves – those that control the movement of the diaphragm. Damage or irritation can:

  • Hair, bits of dirt, or other objects (such as small insects) that fall into your ear and touch your eardrum.
  • Tumor, cyst, goiter in the neck.
  • So called inflammation of the mucous membranes of the larynx. Most often it is associated with colds or infectious diseases like measles, whooping cough, scarlet fever.
  • She is also gastroesophageal reflux, in which acidic gastric juice enters the esophagus and irritates its walls.

 

  1. Disorders of the central nervous system (CNS)

Infection, a tumor, damage to the central nervous system due to various injuries – all this can lead to involuntary spasms of the diaphragm. Here are just a few examples of diseases in this category:

  • Meningitis;
  • Encephalitis;
  • Traumatic brain damage;
  • Stroke;
  • Multiple sclerosis;
  • Brain tumors – both benign and malignant (cancer).

 

  1. Diseases related to metabolism, and the use of certain drugs

The following factors can provoke persistent hiccups:

  • Diabetes;
  • Kidney disease;
  • Imbalance of electrolytes;
  • Uncontrolled intake of tranquilizers, steroids, barbiturates, painkillers;
  • Alcoholism.

 

What to do with hiccups

If we are talking about short-term hiccups, then nothing. She herself will pass in 2-3 minutes. There are ways to shorten this period, Lifehacker wrote in detail about them here. Choose the one you like and act.

With persistent hiccups, consultation with a therapist is mandatory. The doctor will conduct an examination and, according to the results, will send you to a specialist, for example, an otolaryngologist, to remove an extraneous object from your ear or stop developing laryngitis. Or he will prescribe additional tests that will help to get to the bottom of the true causes of hiccups.

 

BEST WAY TO GET RID OF HICCUPS

 

Portray a ballerina

The main task in getting rid of hiccups is to remove the involuntary contraction of the diaphragm, explains Tatyana Public. “Try, bending at the back, with your hands behind your back, reach for a glass of water that the other person is holding in front of you and drink. This technique is used by ballerinas, their chest is always pulled with a corset, hiccups appear on this background and in this way, they get rid of it.”

Hold Your Breath

The same advice, and the simplest of all, to hold your breath is given by both doctors and the people. This is one of the best options to calm the diaphragm.

Squeeze under the spoon

“Press the abdominal press with your hands, to be more precise – press under the spoon, in the middle of the abdomen, where the ribs diverge. You also need to hold your breath. Press down and the diaphragm will not contract,” the gastroenterologist teaches.

Burning tongues

The essence of the method: grease the root of the tongue with burning mustard or pepper.

Evaluation of effectiveness: the fanatic method, which often causes a burn and spasm of the larynx, which only strengthens the hiccups or even makes it lingering.

Warm Your Stomach

Since hiccups can occur due to hypothermia, one of the popular recommendations is to drink warm tea to warm the stomach. At the same time, his spasm will be removed, this will affect the diaphragm and hiccups reflexively.

Remember All

They say that if a person hiccups, it means that someone remembers him. Connoisseurs from the people advise: mentally find someone who thinks about you. As soon as the hiccup calls the correct name, the hiccups will pass. Those who use this option to combat excess diaphragm contractions claim that it really helps. Sometimes.

Consult a Doctor

As Tatyana Doubt explains, the causes of hiccups are divided into organic and inorganic. “The former can occur in diseases of the abdominal and chest organs, for example, due to tumors. Or for diseases of the brain, strokes, – says the gastroenterologist. – The second reason is inorganic changes in the body (functional). So, for example, hiccups can occur on nervous grounds due to stress, due to hypothermia, the toxic effects of alcohol. Or overeating, when the stomach expands and presses on the diaphragm. ” The doctor explains that if hiccups rarely occur and lasts no more than half an hour, this is normal. But it’s worthwhile to beware if it is repeated often for a short period of time. “We all hiccup, but if hiccups happen once a week, this is an occasion to see a doctor and undergo an examination.

Tongue Twisters

The most common and probably the most useless way is to say: “Hiccup-hiccups, go to Fedot, from Fedot to Jacob, from Jacob to everyone.” Tips to scare hiccups are even harmful: there is a risk of adding stuttering to hiccups. It is also futile to try to suppress hiccups with willpower. It is caused by reasons that lie outside the competence of our consciousness, and cannot be suppressed by it. After all, when you are focused on your chest, you consciously strain your diaphragm, trying to suppress the expected hiccups. Hiccups must be “outwitted”, interrupted by its steady rhythm.

Folk remedies

“Do you know the easiest way to cure hiccups?” Try to do it in a reflexive way. Press your finger on the root of the tongue, as if you intend to induce vomiting. Esophageal spasm will help eliminate diaphragm cramps.

  • Drink a large mug of water at a measured pace in small sips. It also helps in many cases if you drink water through the back of the glass by tilting your body.
  • Swallow a little something very sour or bitter. For example, a teaspoon of diluted vinegar. Or suck a slice of lemon.
  • You can try sprinkling sugar on your tongue and swallow it. You can also dissolve a teaspoon of sugar in a couple of tablespoons of beer and drink this yummy.
  • Try eating some finely chopped ice or a slice of browned bread.
  • Grasp the tongue and gently pull it down and out.
  • A favorite remedy of some doctors is a bet on money. They say that this method has never failed. When someone starts hiccupping, get the money, put it on the table and make a bet with the person that the next minute he will not be able to hiccup. They say that hiccups pass instantly.
  • You can drink water in another unusual way. Take a glass of water and drink, but turn the glass around its axis. It doesn’t matter clockwise or against it. This method helps many.
  • Inhale several times, and then hold your breath. Exhale in a paper bag, and when you inhale, take a breath from this bag. So you increase the content of carbon dioxide in the blood, and hiccups will pass faster.
  • Push up or swing the press until the hiccups pass by itself. But this method is not suitable for everyone. According to the Guinness Book of Records, Charles Osborne from Iowa in the United States began to hiccup in 1922. At the same time, he led a normal lifestyle, was married twice and managed to become the father of eight children. But he did not know how to get rid of hiccups. Having tried all possible methods, he could not cope with it. Osborne stopped hiccupping only in 1990. Of course, he could not push up all this time.
  • Clasp your hands behind your back, lock them into a lock and, trying to stretch it, drink cold water with quick sips from a cup held by another person. So, hiccups pass quickly. After the hands are locked behind the back and locked into the lock, the diaphragm relaxes, while fast drinking squeezes it again. Two actions that occur simultaneously stop the movement of the diaphragm, and this movement causes hiccups.
  • Some sucking on candy or eating lemons helps some hiccups.

In principle, at least one of these methods should help cope with hiccups. The main thing is to calm down, not to focus on the result and not be nervous. Maybe hiccups are for this given to us from above, so that we stoically endure minor life troubles.

When you need to urgently see a doctor

Experts from a reputable research organization Mayo Clinic call Hiccups two symptoms that you need to contact your therapist as soon as possible:

  • hiccups lasting 48 hours or more;
  • Hiccups are less prolonged, but so tiring that they prevent you from eating, drinking, sleeping or breathing.

 

Final Words:

An ambulance call is not required. Even in the above situations, hiccups are not in themselves fatal. However, it can be a sign of serious diseases that are important to diagnose on time.

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