How do you get rid of a bad case of The Hics?
Brother, I don’t know about you, but in my neck of the woods it’s all about the junk science moves. Yes, when your diaphragm starts spazzing, it’s time to keep cool, keep calm, keep collected and try one of these:
1. The Backwards Sip. Tilt your neck to your chest and drink upside-down from the wrong side of a glass of water. Wet bangs, stinging eyes, and a drippy forehead means you did it right.
2. Sugar, Spice, and Everything Nice. Some people say eating a spoonful of sugar or gargling with sugar water helps. Hey, any cure that sounds delicious works for me, so I say give it a shot. While you’re at it try scarfing a couple Oh Henry’s for that bum knee and chugging a few cans of Jolt cola for that eyelash stuck in your eye.
3. The Surprise Attack. This where you think someone scaring you will frighten the hiccups away. Of course, popping a paper bag behind you or clapping in your ear isn’t going to cut it. No, this only works when somebody shoves you off an apartment building ledge onto a properly rigged-up safety net below. … Then again, maybe just skip it altogether.
4. The Deep Sea Diver. Fill your lungs up, pop your belly out, and hold your breath as long as possible. If all goes according to plan, your face will turn bright red and look hilarious to all your friends.
Now, come on, let’s face facts, people. None of these usually works so you’re stuck pulling off The Annoying Wait. You think they’re gone, but they’re not, and then you think they’re gone again, but then they’re actually not again, and then you think they’re really gone for sure this time.
And then they actually are.
And in that beautiful moment you just stare up at everybody around you with a sweaty face, tired eyes, and a slow smile curling onto your face. Because when the hiccups finally stop it’s a giant sensation of sweet relief and a big ol’ moment of
AWESOME!
t
I find that if I take a drink of water with my head tilted straight up (causes burping), the hiccups go away. Pretty much every time, immediately.
Now I feel like I’m missing out on the journey of hiccup alleviation.
Someone told me ages ago, that if you rub your index finger and thumb on both hands in circles and swallow lots, (just air), they will go. I’ve tried it and it works. As a teacher it’s great cos I tell the kids to do it and it works without them leaving the room! :)
When I get hiccups, a friend of mine offers me a ten-dollar bill and says, “If you hiccup one more time, the tenner is yours.” I have never been able to earn that tenner. It works.
There is only one proven way to cure hiccups. You yell “FISH!” as loud as you can. Always works.
Why is that? and how did you find out? My teacher told me once and it works!
Unless you’re my cousin who has funny, awesome hiccups. I’m actually kind of bummed when they stop. Otherwise, I agree.
I actually use the “hold your breath and swallow three times” method. Always works for me.
me too, every time.
Hard candy, which probably is along the lines of sugar, works! You have got to hold it in your closed mouth until it is gone. It work on me and all my kids. Then you have the fake hic-ups for the no fuss candy! My husband uses salt, but don’t waste your time.
None of these have worked for me, ever. The only success I’ve ever had is taking a tablespoonful of vinegar. Nasty, but it works.
You’re the only person in the list so far that does the vinegar thing. It is the only thing that has ever worked for me as well- though in a pinch, lemon will stop mine for a little bit, but they always come back. I might try the peanut butter though…
that moment when you realise you havn’t hiccuped in 10minutes is awesome its like “…i think….they’re gone!!” :D
Guarnteed work or your money back. Think of a white horse jumping and take 7 sips if water.
The best one I know is this one: just roll up ONE of your sleeves. Seems crazy and unrelated, but works !
I just had them the other week. They are annoying.
I have just the thing that will work — pull your toungue out with your fingers and hold for a few seconds and let go. I’m not joking. It works miracles.
Omg the other *week*? i get them like every 1-2 days! so annoying. REALLY have to try some of these methods! the sugar one doesnt seem too bad ;) but also Sandy and Rob’s methods.
I am cursed with really loud obnoxious hiccups that actually start hurting because they last so long..no old wives tale cures work on me (or at least I haven’t found one yet)… It is so AWESOME when they finally stop… ahhhh :-)
I don’t know if I am some sort of hiccup ninja or something, but I have always been enable to just concentrate and make them go away by thinking “don’t hiccup, don’t hiccup, don’t hiccup…”.
I don’t think I have had more than 2 or 3 hiccups in a single bout in years.
Oh ma. Reminding yourself that you are a human and not a fish works well c:
Also thinking of a giraffe walking backwards in the desert past a cactus.
Usually drinking a whole glass of water while I plug my ears works for me. I’ve also had success with drinking a glass of water with a metal spoon on my forehead. My father underwent chemotherapy and developed a nasty case of the hiccups that lasted about 2 weeks straight. It was pretty horrible, so the doctors prescribed him to Zoloft. I think that helped a bit.
I’ve found that holding my breath for ten seconds helps.
And as for number 3: it’s the adrenaline that does it. Asking someone a question that requires them to suddenly think fast can have the same effect. My dad uses math questions.
I once had a good friend ask me what my name was. Poof! Hiccups gone. Seems odd, but I think it was the shock, perhaps?
This cure has worked many times:
drink a tall glass of water slowly while someone pulls up on the tops of your ears.
Really!
I don’t know, but number 2 makes me wish I had them now … and a bum knee … and an eyelash in my eye …
When my boys were infants, and they got the hiccups, I would cradle them in one arm, place my hand on their chest to get a pattern of their heart beats, and gently pat their chest to the rhythm of the heart for a few minutes, and it always worked.
Still works with my grandsons.
Stopping baby hiccups….Awesome!
I find that my way to get rid of the hiccups is just… expecting them to happen. I prepare myself for when it comes, but it just doesn’t…
And then I miss the feeling :P
Drinking a cup of water always worked.
But if I didn’t have water, I held my breath by breathing in a much as I can hold and count backwards in my head from 100. By the time I get to 60ish I can’t hold it anymore and the hiccups are gone.
worked every time
I had open-heart surgery about 5 years ago… for the 5 days after the surgery, I had the hiccups non-stop. That wasn’t very fun. Now I get the hiccups several times every day. Usually just in little bursts of 2 or 3, though. I kind of like it though.
Once in a restaurant i had the hiccups, and a waitress came up and asked, “Have you ever seen a pink elephant?” i was stunned to find this cured my hiccups and has since worked on everyone i’ve tried it on. For my brother, who gets hiccups often, i make up a new animal every time. It even works on myself – i force myself to come up with a new crazy animal each time. my favourite is the enormous yellow hippopotamus. Also a catchy tune ;)
Yes! That Has Worked For Me Since I Was In High School, I actually just used it on a coworker and it worked!
The diaphragm is a muscle like any other, and it’s just spazzing out. You’ve got to calm it down, and warm water works really well. I just run warm water from the tap, fill a glass, and drink it down. The warm water soothes the diaphragm as it is going down and stops the hiccups.
suck on a piece of candy and they’ll disappear. promise!
We eat small bites of peanut butter until the hiccups quit, typically within 2-3 bites. It works amazingly well.
ME TOO! Everyone thinks I’m crazy (my family included), but it works like a charm. I just get a big spoonful down it all at once.
both of these work………….either:
think of 3 bald men………..or
think of a white horse in front of a red barn……..
ALWAYS works for me!!!!!!
The idea is to hold your breath and be distracted. What has worked for me every single time is to fill a tall glass with water, put a steak knife in, point up, and drink as much as I can with the knife point pressed to my forehead.
This never fails:
Fold a paper towel in half twice and hold it around the rim of a glass of water. Drink through the paper towel until the hiccups stop…which they ALWAYS WILL.
A friend’s sister shared this trick about 10 years ago, and it has worked every time.
Actually, the sugar trick really does work, at least for me. My mom taught it to me when I was a teenager, and I’ve been doing it with perfect success every since. The trick is that you have to take the spoonful of sugar and gulp it down. Push it to the back of your throat right away, and swallow without tasting it on your tongue. I have no idea why it works, but seriously – every time!
I had a science teacher that told me when you get the hiccups you should take deep breaths cause you got the hiccups because ur not getting enough air. That was in high school and it has worked every single time! Thank you science teacher..LOL
I’m with Blair on this one. My family eats a spoonful of peanut butter and it has worked every time.
I do the peanut butter thing too. Take a spoonful and swallow it whole with a swig of water. EVERY TIME it works.
When I get the hiccups I just take a spoonful of my babies gripe water, works like a charm.
Actually, one time, my brother completely suprise attacked me, and it worked!
Having water works fine. It doesn’t need to be any number of sips, just doing it while holding your breath.
I f0und that when you ask a totally random, out of the blue question to someone with hiccups, the hiccups go away.
I’ll be another testament to the peanut butter. One big spoonful is all it takes ;)
Try a spoonful of peanut butter.
Hasn’t failed me yet, going on three years.
Cheers.
^^
A spoonful of sugar under one’s tongue or holding my breath and drinking water has worked for me.
And when that doesn’t, I end up just waiting it out.
this website is..
AWESOME.
spoonful of peanut butter! works like a charm.
Agreed. I used to hold my breath while drinking as much water as I could, but it didn’t always work. Someone told me about the spoonful of peanut butter trick. I’ve been doing this for about a year now. It’s worked every single time!
put a matchstick behind your ear and leave it there. for some reason it works.
My mom always told me to put a pen sideways into my mouth (like, biting it, not fully in your mouth), and take a drink if water. It’s always worked, but it’s weird.
Bite a lemon. Works every time.
Put sugar on the lemon before you bite it–does the trick for me.
It’s not particularly dainty or socially appropriate, but the one never-fails method I’ve found for curing hiccups is making myself belch a couple of times. The louder the better.
Maybe it works the diaphragm or something, I don’t know.
just hold your breath until they stop…hiccups are you diaphragm having a muscle spasm, and filling your diaphragm with air and holding it helps them to stop.
I am an RN in home hospice care. The company I work for recently gave us a book with algorithms for symptom management. When a recent patient had been having recurrent, painful hiccups, I looked it up. The spoonful of sugar is in there, but my patient was having difficulty swallowing, so I tried something called, “naso-pharyngeal stimulation”. I stuck a q-tip into his nose about a centimeter or so (be careful, you don’t have to scratch your brain, or anything!) and rubbed it around for a few seconds. His hiccups went away immediately! :)
I’ve only ever successfully gotten rid of hiccups once. We were kids, in the car, and my sister was tired of listening to them. So she took that long middle lap belt and hit me in the face with it. Scared the crap out of me, but it worked. I think the scaring is the most important part, but hey.