How To Quickly Get Rid Of Hiccups At Home, Including After Alcohol: Effective Methods

2024 Author: Bailey Albertson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 12:53

How to quickly get rid of hiccups at home: the most effective and strange methods

Most people have experienced hiccups at least once. Discomfort from hiccups can ruin a person's well-being and mood. Do I need to see a doctor for help or you can deal with hiccups on your own, let's try to figure it out in the article.

What is hiccups and why can they occur

The diaphragm, which separates the abdominal and chest cavity and is responsible for the correct breathing of a person, begins to involuntarily contract under the influence of irritating factors. Diaphragmatic spasms push air from the lungs into the larynx, closing the epiglottis and glottis. This process, accompanied by a characteristic sound, is called hiccups.

Most of all, people are frightened not by the contraction of the diaphragm, but by the sound that is made at the same time.

A person most often hiccups due to overeating or hasty eating, when the vagus nerve causes muscle spasm. As a result, food and air cannot leave the stomach and press on the diaphragm from below. Such hiccups are found in adults and newborns after feeding. Other reasons provoking physiological hiccups can be considered:

• alcohol consumption, which has a bad effect on the central and peripheral nervous system, and also irritates the mucous membrane of the digestive tract;
• hypothermia, provoking small muscle contractions, including diaphragmatic ones. This reason is especially common in children;
• laughter. The alternation of deep and shallow breaths causes respiratory failure;
• strong negative emotions - stress or excitement. They affect the transmission of impulses from the brain to peripheral nerves. Subconscious stress triggers muscle tension by activating the vagus nerve;
• eating in an uncomfortable position. If the body is in the wrong position while eating, it is possible to pinch the vagus nerve and, as a result, hiccups;
• pregnancy in women. The growing uterus with the fetus presses on the diaphragm and heartburn often begins.

In early childhood, people are more prone to bouts of hiccups, with age, an unpleasant symptom worries less and less.

In addition to physiological, there is pathological hiccups - a symptom of certain nervous diseases, for example, multiple sclerosis. If a person hiccups for more than 48 hours, and hiccups occur frequently, then he needs to visit a doctor for examination. You cannot cope with prolonged hiccups on your own. Medication can only be prescribed by a doctor.

Among the causes of prolonged hiccups can be a very diverse disease, from tumors to myocardial infarction.

Video: about hiccups in simple words

Quick ways to get rid of hiccups at home

A sudden hiccup may go away on its own in 25-30 minutes. If cramping starts after overeating, you need to wait until the food is digested. It is not worth lying at this time, in an upright position the digestive organs work better. You cannot drink any liquid with a full stomach, this will only aggravate the situation.

To help the baby stop hiccuping, just hold it upright

Scientifically based methods of dealing with hiccups

Using plain water:

1. Pour 0.4 liters of water into a glass.
2. Place on a flat surface.
3. Cover your ears with your fingers and drink all the water through the straw, leaning over the glass.

Alternatively, try doing the same with your hands clasped behind your back. Relaxing your diaphragm will stop the hiccups.

To get rid of hiccups, you can drink water from the tap, but be sure to tilt your body forward

Holding your breath:

1. Inhale air and hold your breath for 10-15 seconds;
2. Breathe out into an airtight bag.
3. Breathe in the air from the bag.

Carbon dioxide through the blood enters the brain and normalizes the respiratory center. The effect of holding your breath will increase if you mentally count to 10, 20, or 30, or do a few bends.

Reflex:

1. Press your finger on the base of the tongue, as if inducing a gag reflex.
2. Pull your outstretched tongue for a few seconds. This can also cause vomiting.

Irritation of the esophagus after the reflex method will stop the diaphragmatic spasms.

Tongue sticking out far can cause gag reflex, so this method is not suitable for public places

Folk ways to get rid of hiccups

Effects on taste buds:

1. Eat a slice of lemon, sprinkled with sugar.
2. Try something salty or spicy.

Unexpected food will cause stomach acid to flow out and the body will be distracted from contraction of the diaphragm.

The taste and smell of citrus fruits causes active secretion of gastric juice

Switching attention from hiccups to other issues is at the heart of several fun methods:

• remember the names of all bald men around;
• guess who remembers, saying aloud the names of familiar people;
• throw an object into a cup of water and drink, watching with your eyes so that the "secret ingredient" remains in the bowl. For example, a toothpick will do;
• smell the strong scent. The smell of citrus or your favorite perfume will bring your breath back to normal.

Compliance with the conditions will make you forget about the hiccups, and it will stop.

Thoughts on an abstract topic help to forget about hiccups for a while, breathing evens out and diaphragm contractions subside

Sayings like “Hiccup-hiccup, go to Fedot. From Fedot to Yakov, from Yakov to everyone,”pronounce at a measured pace. In the process of pronunciation, breathing will return to normal, and the diaphragm will stop contracting.

Place a piece of chewing gum in your mouth or eat a meal that needs to be thoroughly chewed. Working with your teeth will change your breathing rate and stop the hiccups.

According to my observations, there are no universal ways to eliminate hiccups. Only holding my breath helps me, and fright hiccups stop my husband. For a son under one year old, the doctor did not advise any methods other than holding him upright. Now he is 10 years old, during attacks of hiccups he is saved by water, drunk in small sips.

The hiccups may stop on their own shortly after they start, but people don't like to wait. Various methods help to overcome the state of discomfort, although not for everyone. If the hiccups last longer than two days, you cannot self-medicate, but you should undergo a medical examination.