What Are Hiccups And How Can You Treat Them Naturally?
When you hiccup, your diaphragm and the muscles near to it convulse, causing you to briefly gulp air. This causes the glottis to slam shut which makes the "hic" noise. Once the hiccups start unless you can stop them right away they usually go on for at least 63 times or more. The record for longest bout of hiccups is 57 years. You can get hiccups when your stomach is distended such as when you drink carbonated beverages, or when you swallow too much air, drinking fizzy mixers, or when you slurp your drinks. Other things that can cause hiccups include having a skull fracture, epilepsy, having a bowel obstruction, ulcerative colitis or even a heart attack. Sometimes it can be something simple like an ear hair tickling the eardrum. The general train of thought is that an accidental reflex triggered by a stimulus to vagus or phrenic nerves causes hiccups. These nerves run all over our bodies and would explain why there are so many things that can cause us to start hiccupping.
Most natural remedies for hiccups focus on how to disrupt the hiccup cycle, including holding your breath, inducing sneezing, breathing into a paper bag, drinking water, pulling your tongue, pressing your eyeballs, eating a spoonful of sugar, or taking in a slow deep breath and instead of letting the air out, HOLD it and swallow. You of course have nothing to swallow but the act of swallowing while holding your breath should stop the hiccup cycle. You can also try drinking a pint of water all at once without stopping.
One theory behind the holding your breath remedy is that when you have hiccups it is because your diaphragm somehow got out of shape and by holding your breath the diaphragm is able to regain its shape again.
Those individuals who have had hiccups for years will say that there is no natural or otherwise cure for the hiccups because it is a spasm of the diaphragm that will stop having spasms when it is good and ready to. Some say that if you lie down flat on your back that you can stop your diaphragm from having spasms. It is the spasms that cause the vocal cords to close quickly and makes the loud, sound of hiccups.
There are many things that may trigger the occurrence of hiccups including hot or spicy foods, strong fumes, eating too fast, or swallowing air along with your beverage or food. Sometimes you can get hiccups when you have pleurisy or pneumonia.
