Tuesday, December 08, 2009

Hiccups

I got the hiccups yesterday for a couple of hours. Every time I get them, I am worried that I'll have them forever like the poor little girl I saw on the news. I immediately tried holding my breath to get rid of them. It did not work.

Brock looked it up online and told me to gargle water. I did that, and it did not work! As I was still in the kitchen, I heard a loud knock at the door. We live so far out in the country that this is rare. Brock asked me to get it. Nobody was at the door, and I could not see a car. I turned around, hiccuping as I did, and Brock was smiling. I guess that he was trying to get my mind off of it, or scare me, or something. It did not work.

19 out of 20 people said that downing a teaspoon of sugar worked, so I tried it. To my surprise, straight up sugar is not good. I definitely have a sweet tooth, but this was not the cure. However, was the cure for my hiccups! My hiccups were gone!

What causes hiccups anyway?

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Glad you got rid of those hiccups! I rarely get them but have had them several times in the past few weeks.

Hiccups are sudden, involuntary contractions of the diaphragm muscle. As the muscle contracts repeatedly, the opening between your vocal cords snaps shut to check the inflow of air and makes the hiccup sound. Irritation of the nerves that extend from the neck to the chest can cause hiccups.

The girl on the news didn't technically have hiccups. I'm not sure of the name, but it's a mental something that occurs and usually happens after a person has strep throat (although most people don't develop it, certainly). It's like a tick or twitch. Totally mental, not a diaphragm spasm!

AUNY said...

I am glad you told me that! Hiccups are a funny thing to me.

Megan said...

Peanut butter always gets my hiccups to go away..hiccups annoy me cuz if I don't get rid of them I have them spiratically throughout the day..super annoying!