How to Prevent Hiccups
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“It’s a reflex similar to your leg jerking when a doctor hits a hammer to your knee.” So says George Tridafilopoulos, M.D.,a gastroenterologist and associate professor of medicine at the University of California at Davis, in describing hiccups. Hiccups result when the vagus nerve or one of its branches , which run from the brain to the abdomen, is irritated. And the vagus lets you know by tweaking the muscle below the lungs that helps you breathe. The diaphragm then spasms, causing the “hic”.
Experts say hiccups are most often a reaction to common digestive disturbances. And luckily, they’re usually more a nuisance than anything else. But what about the times when we seem to hiccup for no apparent reason? No one knows for sure why these seemingly innocuous bouts occur. What experts do know is that even infants hiccup, and the reflex continues, about three to five times a year, throughout life.
The home remedies used to stop a hiccuping bout are believed to work on two principles. Some basically rely on overstimulating the vagus nerve. “Nerves deal with a number of different sensations, from temperature to taste,” Triadafilopoulos explains. “When one sensation is more overwhelming than another, the vagus nerve tells the brain that there’s something more important to deal with. The brain then shuts off the hiccup response.” Other methods, which interfere with breathing, increase the amount of carbon dioxide in the blood, probably causing the body to became more concerned with getting rid of the carbon dioxide than making hiccups. Here are same tried-and-true remedies from both “camps.”
Play “hear no evil.
Some doctors recommend that you put your fingers in your ears – and not because they don’t want you to hear yourself hiccup. It seems that branches of the vagus nerve also reach into the auditory system, and by stimulating the nerve ending there, the vagus nerve goes into action. “The pressure you create in the ears,” says Triadafilopoulos,” is similar to the gag reflex caused when you puta finger in the back of your mouth.” Of course, other doctor insist that you should never put anything smaller than your elbow in your ear in order to avoid irritating or damaging the ear canal. So if you do decide to try this hiccup reliever, be gentle, and don’t stick your fingers too far into your ear.
Get scared silly.
Having someone surprise you may be the one method that overwhelms the vagus nerve more than anything else. “It’s similar to the method an adult uses to quiet a child who’s crying endlessly. Out of frustration, a parent may yell at the child to stop, and sure enough, the child will stop, almost as if on cue,” says triadafilopoulos. Scaring the vagus may shut it up.
Drink water.
Swallowing water interrupts the hiccuping cycle, which can quiet the nerves Gargling with water may also have the same hiccup-stopping effect.
Sweeten the hiccups.
Mary Poppins sang that a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down. But does it help hiccups? Many experts think so. “The nerve ending in the mouth became overloaded with the sweet sensation,” Triadafilopoulos explains. Have a teaspoonful of sugar, and if you can ,place the sugar on the back of the tongue, where”sour” is tasted. This way, the sugar overload will pack the most punch.
Tickle it away.
Ticking the soft palate of the roof of your mouth with a cotton swab may do the trick. Or, if you’re the type who enjoys getting tickled, it may be more fun to have someone find your ticklish sports.
Hold your breath.
Hold your nose and close your mouth- like when you jump in a pool.
Bag those hiccups.
Breathing into a paper bag is believed to work on the same principle as breath-holding. They increase the amount of carbon dioxide in the bloodstream, and the body became preoccupied with getting rid of it.
Take an antacid.
“One or two tablet should help especially if you take the kind that contains magnesium,” says Allan Burke, M.D., assistant professor of clinical neurology at Northwestern University School of Medicine in Chicago. Magnesium tends to decrease the irritation and quiet the nerves, he says.
Eat more slowly.
“People who eat too fast tend not to chew well, which can cause hiccups,” says Triadafilopoulos. and besides that, you swallow more than the meal, “Air gets entrapped between pieces of food,” he explains. Chew deliberately and take smaller sips of drinks.
Avoid spicy foods.
Some spices ca irritate the lining of the esophagus(the food pipe)and stomach, At the same time, they can also cause acid from the stomach to leak into the esophagus The extra acid can bring on a bout.
Drink only in moderation.
Like spices, alcoholic beverages can cause a simultaneous irritation of the esophagus and the stomach. The digestive system not only become irritated by the alcohol, but big gulps of it cause the esophagus to expand rapidly, resulting in hiccups.
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