Cure For Hiccups
Got hiccups? It turns out the cure may be worse than the disease... The 2006 Ig Nobel Prize winners were awarded last week, on the campus of Harvard University. Among the winners were a group of researchers who claim that the cure for hiccups that just won't go away (even after holding your breath while standing on your head and rubbing your stomach) is "digital rectal massage." Read on for details, and to see who won the dubious distinction of winning the Ig Nobel prizes in Mathematics, Literature, Physics and other fields of scientific endeavor...
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It'll Cure Hiccups, But...
Surely you've heard of the Nobel Prize, which is awarded for great achievements in science and civics. But have you heard about the IG NOBEL Prize? The Igs, which honor individuals whose achievements "cannot or should not be reproduced" are intended to celebrate the unusual, honor the imaginative, and take a good-natured poke at some remarkably goofy things done in the name of science.
The winner of this year's Ig Nobel Prize in Medicine went to Francis M. Fesmire of the University of Tennessee College of Medicine, for discovering that "Stick two fingers in your butt and call me in the morning" really DOES work as a cure for hiccups. His medical case report "Termination of Intractable Hiccups with Digital Rectal Massage" delves into all the ifs ands and (ahem) buts of the methodology.
Ig Nobel Winners in other categories included:
- PEACE: (The Sound of Silence) -- Howard Stapleton of Wales was honored for inventing "teenager repellant" technology. His device drives loitering kids away from the convenience store by making annoying sounds audible only to teenagers. But Stapleton's contrivance has a dual purpose: he also used it to make mobile phone ringtones that cannot be heard by the teens' parents and teachers.
- ACOUSTICS: (Chalk One Up For Researchers) -- D. Lynn Halpern, Randolph Blake and James Hillenbrand took this prize for figuring out exactly why some people hate the sound of fingernails scraping on a blackboard. My guess is that their "Psychoacoustics of a Chilling Sound" study originally included a larger number of researchers...
- BIOLOGY: (Stung By The Facts) -- Bart Knols and Ruurd de Jong won for showing that, given the opportunity to choose, female malaria mosquitos really don't have a preference between stinky feet and stinky cheese.
The Ig Nobel Prizes are sponsored by the science humor magazine The Annals of Improbable Research. You can view the full slate of winners for 2006 and the past fifteen years at their website.
Got comments about hiccups or the Igs? Post your thoughts below...
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Posted by Bob Rankin on October 9, 2006 05:42 PM
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Article information: AskBobRankin -- Cure For Hiccups (Posted: October 9, 2006 05:42 PM)
Printed from: http://askbobrankin.com/cure_for_hiccups.html
Copyright © 2005 - Bob Rankin - All Rights Reserved
Most recent comments on "Cure For Hiccups"
Posted by:
Dr Randall Scripter, DC
13 Oct 2006
This has been my ONLY remedy for 39 years, so I KNOW it works. Equipment needed 1 or 2 mouthfuls of water. Stand or sit up straight. Fill your mouth with water. Tilt your head to the left. Swallow the water HARD. Straighten your head. Try to burp. Problem solved.
If this does not work, repeat with head tilted to the right. Science... The tilting orients the esophagus and the trachea. The water moving through the esophagus under pressure dislodges air trapped in the trachea. The burp eliminates the air. The hiccoughs are muscle contractions which are unsuccessfully trying to move the same air bubble.
PS - no rectal contact neccessary with this method!
Posted by:
Chris Kocsis
13 Oct 2006
Likewise, many years of consistent cure -- no relapses -- by simply taking and swallowing ten sips of water without breathing or pausing. No need to swallow hard or make the sips large. I'm confident this will work for you.
Posted by:
Richard
13 Oct 2006
You can add this to your sure-to-be-received list of hiccup "cures," I actually have one that has worked 53 out of 54 times (my experience mostly, but also two other teachers and my daughter, who runs an Outdoor School during fall and spring and a Camfire Camp during the summers).
Here it is: have the victim eat a teaspoon full of granulated sugar. That's it. It's only failed one time.
EDITOR'S NOTE: I think the AMA actually endorsed the "sugar cure" for hiccups. Seems like I first heard of it over 20 years ago.
Posted by:
SRINIVASAN.S
13 Oct 2006
Whenever I get hiccups, I take 7 sips of water without pause. It is a very well established method. For children, give small amount of sugar. It will stop hiccups. The third method is sudden shock like a shout or come from behind the door or ask a quick question like why you have done this or try to remind something he has forgotten. The idea is to take the person's thought away from hiccup.
EDITOR'S NOTE: WebMD is a good source for medical info. See http://firstaid.webmd.com/hiccups_treatment_firstaid.htm
Posted by:
meme
24 Oct 2006
If the cause isn't from something like eating white rice too fast, try this: Remember what you had for supper/dinner the day before, then the day before, and then the day before that. Concentrate on remembering and the hiccups will go away.
EDITOR'S NOTE: Hiccup!
Posted by:
Kevin
06 Jan 2008
First cure I have found for the hiccups that works for me eveytime. Take a tablespoon filled with sugar, pour some apple Cider Vinegar into the sugar and swallow. Presto, instant relief!!!
Posted by:
Philip Crawford
15 May 2008
I have the easy way to get rid of hiccups. Just let your entire body relax and trust me they will go away. I have done this many many times and it has worked 95% of the time. Just relax. The more you tense up the faster they get. When you relax, they go away! Simple. A friend taught me that.
Posted by:
Rose
18 Jul 2009
Whoa... I have a much better and easier way to stop the hiccups... I have been using this method for several years.
Fill a shot glass with water, light 3 stick matches and immediately stick them in the water, then drink the water as fast as you can after the matches are extinguished. It is the sulfur in the matches that does the trick.