Hiccup cures

[mspringer]

As some meds, such as Zarontin can cause prolonged and painful hiccups I was wondering if anyone has any intervention ideas. I remember phrenic nerve compression or using Benadryl, but it seems to me there are was another useful intervention that I am forgetting.

Any ideas?

Thanks,

Marc

[sunnygirl272]

IV thorazine for intractable hiccups...

[ShandyLynnRN, BSN, RN]

hee hee, I know you are probably looking for medicinal cures, but drinking from the other side of the glass has helped a time or too for me.

[VivaLasViejas, ASN, RN]

This is gonna sound completely insane, but I've found that the ONLY thing that works for me is hiccuping ON PURPOSE. I sometimes get these gawdawful episodes where the hiccups seem to be coming up from the bowels of the earth, and my ribs will still be sore 2 days later if I don't stop it immediately. I just do several deliberate "hics" in rapid succession, and somehow it seems to stop the spasms of the diaphragm. It doesn't always work, but my success rate is probably 75% with this "method", as opposed to 0% with the water-sipping method, the sugar method, the holding-your-breath method, even the squeezing-your-upper lip method. The only other treatment that ever worked was my grandmother's trick of feeding me a spoonful of red cider vinegar and sugar. Totally took my breath away. She never knew that the reason I never got hiccups at her house again was because I hid down cellar or disappeared into the woods out back whenever I felt 'em coming on.

[tattooednursie, LVN]

The scareing certantly doesnt work! I once told a friend of mine to scare me in a few minutes if my hiccups are still here. She did, and i almost peed myself, and I still had the hickups!!! lol nothing works for me! If I get them I really suffer though. My ribs hrt s bad after having them.

[neneRN, BSN, RN]

Okay, this is weird, but has worked for me EVERY single time I've had hiccups. Hold your breath and at the same time drink as much water from a cup as you can before you have to release your breath.

I've also heard of eating either a teaspoon full of sugar or peanut butter.

[melissa24]

I have heard of drinking vinegar, but have never tried it--yuck.

If holding my breath doesn't work, a teaspoonful of peanut butter does it every time!

[researchrabbit]

My daughter has fairly frequent and painful hiccups (at least 2-3 times a week) that will almost always go away when she eats a spoonful of sugar (she is 17 and eating that much sugar at a time about gags her -- but it works).

[Youda]

The cause of hiccups, in most cases, is d/t a high oxygen level in the blood, which causes the diaphragm to go into spasms. So, any cure has to involve relieving the spasm or to balance out the oxygen and carbon dioxide in the blood. Holding your breath or breathing into a paper bag helps get more CO2 into the system and can help in minor cases, although for severe cases, you can't hold your breath long enough to solve the imbalance. (Same with drinking and not breathing from a glass, etc.) Researchrabbit's idea is a very good suggestion because a couple tablespoons of sugar releases the carbon dioxide in simple sugars during digestion. For prolonged cases, finding the underlying cause through labwork is important since prolonged hiccups can also signal an alkaline, electrolyte problem.