What The Hell Is A Hiccup And Why Do I Have Them?
What’s the haps, medical fans? Sorry, I had a wide-brimmed hat on and thought I was gangster there for a minute. Forgive me. Today, I’m interested in sharing a little about those little interruptions in your breathing, that sometimes refuse to go away. Tada…your HICCUPS! Now that we’ve had that grand introduction, I’ll knock it off.
What Is It?
This won’t be long. Hiccups are subtle disturbances in our breathing that make a funny sound. Actually, it’s pretty cute in some young ladies, but in some men, I thought they were going to keel over and die. What a horrible way to go. Anyway, hiccups are fascinating bits of biological “puzzlery”. Yes…that IS a word because I just made it up.
Where Do They Come From?
To put it simply, most people’s hiccups come from the stomach articulating (touching) the diaphragm (your primary muscle for breathing). If you suck down your soda to quickly or inhale that burger too fast, your food sack swells fast to accommodate the “sustenance” you just took in. This expedient bloating of your biological balloon causes contact between itself and our breathing muscle, causing hiccups. Swell stuff, huh kids!
Like Billy Mays said before he so brilliantly died to preserve his legacy, “…But wait, there’s more!” Hiccups can also be ignited by interruptions of nerve pathways on the way to our muscles, namely our diaphragm. This means temperature change can set off these breathing spasms, and get this, even emotionally charged situations. Heavy!
Extremely difficult hiccups could be an indication of respiratory nerve damage, brain damage involving respiratory nerves, or the structures surrounding the diaphragm and intercostal muscles.
Make It Stop!
If you really want to conquer your hiccups, I can’t help you there, but I can…just f***ing with you. Here’s some suggestions on how to get ’em gone. Ready? Stand on your head for 5 minutes, down a tall glass of water without stopping, breath into a paper bag, take a spoon full of sugar, cover your ears (time unknown), let someone scare you to death, pull your tongue, get tickled by a loved one (or a stranger if you’re kinky like that), hold your breath until…, eat and drink slower, take an antacid, and avoid excessive alcohol intake (anything carbonated). Whew! I got it all out in record time.
In truth, I was funnin’ with you about some of these, but it turns out, all of them have worked for someone at some time. You’ll have to discover your own path and how you react to the above. Do them all at once, it’s gotta work! LOL Seriously, all of the above is code for slowing down your breathing or stopping it completely so as to retain more carbon dioxide in the lungs. This will expand the diaphragm, relaxing it, and suppressing the spasms.
Good luck…especially if you try any of the tough ones above. LOL
Alvin J