Drinking straw device is instant cure for hiccups, say scientists | Hacker News Reader

Drinking straw device is instant cure for hiccups, say scientists

theguardian.com

14 pointsedward14 comments

If I understood correctly, one needs to suck with diaphragm, by inhaling. Is it so? I mean, I suck through straw using my mouth only, I can breathe through nose while sucking into mouth. It seems for me that it wouldn't work. Am I right?

Since this seems like a weird chance to air your hiccup cure here's my preference: Drink water from "the far side of the glass" - that is - with your head upside-down. I typically have to drink about half a glass of water (3-4 good swigs) and it works. Maybe it's engaging the same nerves as the straw tricks which I'll have to try now that I know about them. I just tend to not have any straws around when I get hiccups...

I've always done one thing that works 100%. It's this: I tell my hiccups to stop, forcefully, out loud. It has never failed to work pretty much instantly.

I've explained it to two different friends so far for both of whom the exact same technique worked. Amusingly, one didn't even speak English but I told him how to say it in English, just as I do, and for whatever reason, it worked for him the same.

Once or twice a year I get a nasty case of hiccups that lasts 2-3 hours. Usually after a day spent wine tasting. How strange…

For $15 it’s worth a shot.

I usually wouldn't do remote diagnosis but I have the same reaction to champagne. I do get hiccups as a side symptom of a histamine intolerance[1].

[1] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8005453/[9

Champagne is a very frequent trigger.

Red wine I generally don’t drink because it’s more likely to make me feel like garbage the next day.

I had no idea about histamine levels. Need to fully read that article, really appreciate the link.

This is probably one of those things where everyone has a way that works all the time but it's not universal. This is mine:

Tilt your head up and look at the ceiling, hold your nose closed and drink for ten seconds or so.

Not sure what it is about this one, but I found it works even for people with bad hiccups.

For me, I inhale deeply and hold my breath. Then when my body tries to hiccup it "fails" and the hiccups go away.

For me I drink anything I can get my hands on and force myself to burp it up. In rare cases water doesn't work and I need something carbonated.

I always thought that the purpose of hiccups is to rid the stomach of air, and that if I there were a method to stop hiccups immediately without getting rid of the air, it would do more expected harm than good.

Drinking water, I always thought, helps get rid of the air.

An MD friend of mine once explained hiccups as diaphragm cramps to me; he advised me to calm it by simply breathing as slowly and steadily as I could. This has never failed to help.

Chug a glass of water through a napkin. You hold the napkin over the glass and chug the water through it. Paper towels or coffee filters are fine too.

I get near-instant hiccups from very hot chilies or hot sauce. Worth it. But I'll drink through a straw if that gets rid of them.

I drink through a straw while holding my nose shut and it works 100% of the time. You dont need some useless device to do that.

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