in between bites & sips ...

thanks for stopping by! here's where i put various thought, quotes or stories. most will be brief, some may be extended - but all will be somehow connected to my world. enjoy your stay!



Sunday, November 16, 2008

Why Hiccups?

I've never understood hiccups. To me, they are just an annoyance. Sneezes, I understand. Yawning, I get that. Coughs, blinking, and most any other natural bodily reaction that we seem to have little or no control over still all seem to fulfill a particular purpose for our bodies.

But hiccups? What's the point? What's the use? Where do they come from and why do they go?

Basically, anything can cause them, they serve no purpose and the best way to stop them is to forget about them. Here's a few examples of what wikipedia says may cause hiccups ... lack of water, eating too fast, being hungry for long, taking a cold drink while eating a hot meal, burping, eating very hot or spicy food, laughing vigorously, coughing, drinking alcoholic beverages in excess, crying out loud (sobbing causes air to enter the stomach), some smoking situations where abnormal inhalation can occur (in tobacco or other smoke like cannabis, perhaps triggered by precursors to coughing), electrolyte imbalance, talking too long, clearing the throat, by some of the stronger opiate painkillers such as Heroin, Morphine, and Oxycodone or from lack of vitamins, pressure to the phrenic nerve by other anatomical structures, or having the sensation that there is food in the esophagus, rarely by tumors and certain kidney disease.

So, I'm thinking it's amazing that you don't have the hiccups right now! At any given moment I'm either hungry or eating, laughing or crying, talking or smoking! The odds that any of us aren't doing anything on that list is next to impossible.

In fact, I have the hiccups at this very moment (my inspiration for this post). Do you have any magical treatment for hiccups? I'd love to hear some of your home remedies! I'm thinking my hiccups will be gone by the time the recommendations come flooding in - but - you never know! Some people have been known to have the hiccups for months on end! Plus, I may get some good ideas for future hiccup attacks.

I'll be *hic* waiting!

btw - I don't smoke. I just wanted to see if you were paying attention to what you were reading!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

LOL I saw smoking and I though "so thats where all those cig butt's are coming from in the parking lot"

In the famous words of Pastor Tommy Barnet "If there are not cigerette butt's or beer cans in the church parking lot then the church is not doing their job"

Anonymous said...

We had two growing up in the late 60s and early 70s.

One: drink an 8-ounce glass of water (sugared or not) as fast as you can while holding your nose.

Two: take a deep breath and hold it as long as you can. The hiccups should not happen after the first 30 seconds.

They both have to do with getting excess air out of your system. The first by causing a burp and the second by using up all the available air....

Who knows....remember who writes the entries in Wikipedia....anyone who wants to...