We imagine you have personal experience with hiccups. Almost everyone has. The diaphragm contracts involuntarily and the air rushes in. As it does so, it pulls the glottis closed in the voice box and you make a sound that resembles “hic.”
Most of the time, this is not a big problem. They occur once in a while and don’t last very long, but they are annoying and sometimes embarrassing. Occasionally, though, hiccups keep coming back or they just won’t stop. That’s when a good remedy is a treasure.
Hiccup Remedies from Doctors:
Doctors appreciate hiccup remedies, too. Over 50 years ago, Joe found a research letter in The New England Journal of Medicine describing a small study. Twenty patients who’d been hiccupping for days or weeks participated in this non-blinded, single-arm trial. They each swallowed a spoonful of granulated sugar and 19 of the 20 had their hiccups stop.
The authors speculated that the mechanism was related to stimulating the phrenic nerve. This seems to interfere with the reflex driving the hiccups.
How Else Might You Stimulate the Phrenic Nerve?
Many of the hiccup remedies we’ve learned about during the subsequent decades probably also work through phrenic nerve stimulation. Here are some of the most popular.
Susan agrees that a spoonful of sugar does the trick, but her grandmother added a twist: “Teaspoonful of sugar saturated with vinegar. Sounds bad, tastes great!” Presumably it also works well to stop hiccups.
Sherry says she swears by a spoonful of peanut butter. This probably works in a very similar fashion to the spoonful of sugar. We must warn readers, though, that some people who have tried to swallow a large spoonful of peanut butter have choked, so this remedy should be undertaken only with caution.
Bartenders Have Favorite Hiccup Remedies:
Q. Years ago while eating in a restaurant I started hiccupping badly. I asked the bartender for his suggestion and he gave me a slice of lime with a few drops of Angostura bitters. When I sucked on the lime as instructed, the hiccups stopped immediately.
I hate hiccups, so since then I have always kept a fresh lime and a bottle of bitters on hand. This remedy has never failed me. I have tried the lime alone and the bitters alone–neither worked but the combination works like magic.
A. Thanks for the recommendation. We’ve heard of numerous hiccup remedies over the years. A wedge of lemon or lime with Angostura bitters is a bartenders’ favorite.
Could Chocolate Stop Hiccups?
We have heard from a few readers that a small handful of chocolate chips works just as well as a spoonful of sugar or a wedge of lemon with bitters.
One reader wrote:
“The chocolate cure really works. I was at a hair salon when a bout of hiccups started. I looked around me for anything that might help, and I saw a box of Hershey kisses, milk and dark chocolate.
“I don’t favor dark chocolate so I took two milk chocolate kisses. I ate them but my hiccups continued so I tried two dark chocolate ones instead. I shoved them into my mouth quickly and within a minute my hiccups were gone.”
Drinking Water to Get Rid of Hiccups:
Other people rely on various water-drinking techniques. Olivia says she takes ten quick sips and then holds her breath as long as she can. This always works for her.
Bill got this common remedy from his grandmother long ago:
“Fill a tall glass with water. Stand up and lean forward. Drink the water from the far side of the glass, leaning over. No more hiccups!”
Joanne chimes in:
“This is going to sound silly but it works every time. Hold a glass of water with your pinky, ring and third fingers and cover your ears with your thumbs and pinch your nose with your index fingers. Drink as much as you can, and the hiccups will be gone.”
Can You Startle Hiccups Away?
Capturing the hiccuper’s intense attention unexpectedly appears to work in some cases. One friend of ours claimed to cure hiccups by asking the afflicted individual to hold thumb and forefinger ready to capture a $20 bill as he dropped it. We never witnessed this cure and it seems expensive. But our friend is a reliable reporter.
James shared this story:
“As a young man in my 20s, I had the hiccups and couldn’t get rid of them for hours. Then my girlfriend said, ‘We have something to talk about. I’m pregnant.’ My hiccups went away instantly. Over the years she’s tried that again, but without success. When I was a young man, that news truly set me back.”
Another reader used a similar technique:
“I stopped one coworker’s hiccups by asking if he knew ‘Jane’ was pregnant. He knew three Janes, one of which was his girlfriend. None of them were pregnant but his hiccups immediately disappeared as he focused on figuring out the possible outcomes of that situation!”
A teacher reported success with a related approach.
“Sternly, I would look at the student and say, “You are disrupting the class! I am going to write a detention for you.” Some of the class would be horrified and come to the offender’s defense. Others would just smile because they knew me.
The affected student would look at me in terror and, like magic, the hiccups stopped.”
Learn More:
If you have a favorite hiccup remedy that hasn’t been mentioned here, feel free to share it in the comments. You will find other hiccup cures in our book, The People’s Pharmacy Quick & Handy Home Remedies.
