Drinking straw device is instant cure for hiccups, say scientists

[Judi Lynn]

Sipping water through an L-shaped ‘suction and swallow tool’ cured 92% of attacks, according to study

Nicola Davis Science correspondent
@NicolaKSDavis
Fri 18 Jun 2021 11.00 EDT

From holding your breath to having a friend shout “boo!”, there is no shortage of alleged cures for hiccups. Now scientists say they have found a better solution: a drinking straw device.

When you get hiccups – or singultus as they are known in medicine – the diaphragm and intercostal muscles suddenly contract. The subsequent abrupt intake of air causes the opening between the vocal folds – known as the glottis – to shut, resulting in a “hic” sound, often to the embarrassment of the afflicted and the amusement of others.

But while home remedies abound, a team of scientists say they have come up with a new answer.

Called “the forced inspiratory suction and swallow tool” (FISST), and patented as HiccAway, the $14 (£10) plastic device is a rigid L-shaped straw that has a mouthpiece at one end and an adjustable cap with a pressure valve, in the form of a small hole, at the other. Hiccuping people place the device into a glass of water and use it to sip.

The idea is that the enhanced suction required to draw water up through the device requires the phrenic nerve to trigger a contraction of the diaphragm, while the subsequent swallow involves activation of the vagus nerve, among others. As these two nerves are responsible for the hiccups in the first place, the researchers say keeping them busy stops them from causing the unwanted phenomenon.

More:
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2021/jun/18/drinking-straw-device-is-instant-cure-for-hiccups-say-scientists

[niyad]

1. Just a spoonful of sugar. . .

[BigmanPigman]

9. That's how I was raised, and it worked!

I learned that a sucking motion is what does the trick. Pretend you are sucking on a Lifesaver candy and rub your tongue against the roof of your mouth for 20 seconds.

When I taught 6 year olds they always came to me, complaining of hiccups and I told them to do this with their tongues and it worked every time.

[RockRaven]

2. Here's a way to save 14 bucks and accomplish the same thing by mostly the same mechanism...

I learned this from a Catholic nun teacher when I was in school and it works pretty well, in my experience (which is decades by now, though admittedly I get hiccups rarely).

So you've got the hiccups...
Breathe in and out (i.e. hyperventilate just a bit) so you'll be prepared to hold your breath.
Take a deepish but not overly deep breath.
Pinch your nostrils closed with your thumb and forefinger of one hand, and keep your mouth/lips firmly closed.
Swallow (yes it feels weird and is difficult).
Pause.
Swallow (yes keep going even if you hiccup in the middle).
Pause.
Swallow.
Pause.
Swallow.
Etc until you need to breathe.

If it fails to work, keep calm, wait a minute or two and try again. It almost always works for me on the first try, and I don't need to buy anything or carry some random crap around with me all the time just in case I get the hiccups.

[Rhiannon12866]

3. At summer camp, I learned to drink a glass of water upside down to cure hiccups

It's always worked for me and requires no special equipment.

[napi21]

7. OK, how do you drink a glass of water upside down? I'm thinking about it, but I can't figure it

out. Do you mean lie down an drink?

[Rhiannon12866]

8. No, you need to bend from the waist (while standing) so your head is upside down

And drink a glass of water (which is obviously upright) that way. I think it changes the way you need to breathe - kind of like the old remedy of holding your breath - so it stops the hiccups. I don't exactly know why that works, just that it seems to.

[50 Shades Of Blue]

4. Pineapple juice.

[summer_in_TX]

5. Take a mouthful of water.

Hold breath and swallow a tiny portion of the water.
Keep holding breath, swallow another tiny swallow.
Repeat until you finish the mouthful of water and you have to breathe.

I've only had to do the process a second time once. It's my go-to cure.

Sounds very similar to the HiccAway's principle, but without needing a device that costs $14 and is guaranteed to be buried in some drawer at home when you need it.

[Grasswire2]

6. a straw is also a recommended tool for stopping tachycardia...

You take a deep breath, blow into the straw as long as you can while pinching off the other end.

It's a version of the Valsalva's Maneuver -- an accepted method to stop a bout of supraventricular tachycardia. (SVT) In that, you take a deep breath, hold it and bear down as if having a bowel movement. For as long as you can.

[Warpy]

10. I approach it from another direction, what is irritating the vagus nerve

Since I'm not prone to overeating, it's usually swallowed air or another source of gas.

I burp. And burp. Never takes more than 5 minutes and hiccups are gone. It's especially useful if I see the RNC on caller ID, they call a few times a week because they think I have money and naturally will vote for them over tax and spend liberals. I notice burping at them gets rid of them for longer periods of time.