How To Get Rid of Hiccups? 10 DIY Remedies, Medications, Triggers & Relieving Hiccups In Infants

Waqar Ahmad June 21, 2024

0 19 6 minutes read

How To Get Rid of Hiccups? 10 DIY Remedies, Medications, Triggers & Relieving Hiccups In Infants

One thing that annoys me the most is hiccups which start off the blue and just won’t be stopped. Do they bother you too? Although they will be gone in no time but how to get rid of hiccups immediately? Most of the time, they go away on their own but sometimes they persist and you might think about acting on old wives’s tales of scaring people so that they get distracted and forget about it so let me burst the bubble for you, no they don’t work at all.

However, several homemade remedies find their way into this situation, like holding breath and swelling thrice. You may asked to blow into paper, tongue pulling, and Gargle.

If you still experience these hiccups and now they are intervening with other organs and causing stomach pain, chest ache, difficulty in breathing, and vomiting, and if you are puking out blood then you must consult with a doctor.

In this guide, we will learn how to get rid of hiccups at home with DIY remedies for adults and infants which medication works best, and its potential causes.

Table of Contents

How To Get Rid of Hiccups By DIY Remedies?

Before we delve deeper into how to get rid of hiccups, we first need to understand what it is. The hiccups start when the diaphragm muscles spasms and vocal cords close down which gives rise to hiccups noise.

Why it happens? There could be many reasons though, you may have to swallow air why chewing gums, drinking carbonated beverages, or maybe overeating. But how to cure it at home? However, we still need lots of research on the efficacy of such remedies as it has remained an enigma.

The professional treatments include stimulating nerves that are attached to the diaphragm.

The remedies which are employed to get rid of hiccups include:

Take A Spoonful of Table Sugar

It’s one of the popular anecdotes where you swallow a tablespoon of grainy sugar to get rid of hiccups.

This remedy dates back decades, you take a spoon of sugar, and, the graininess of sugar stimulates your vagus nerveastopspsp the hiccups reflex.

There was research conducted where 19 out of 20 patients got rid of hiccups by this remedy.

But again if hiccups persist and don’t go away on its own, consult with a doctor as it could be an indication of any underlying ailment.

Swallow Something Sour

How to get rid of hiccups naturally by any sour compound? You just need to swallow either a drop or a small teaspoon of vinegar on your tongue and the hiccup reflex will go away.

But if you want to experiment with something extra sour take a teaspoon of apple cider vinegar which contains a powerful ingredient and will dissolve hiccups naturally.

Suck Lemon Wedges

Lemon wedges have found their way into the powerful remedies. How to get rid of hiccups by using this? You need toeither bite or such on a lemon wedge, it works better when sighed in non-alcoholic bitters.

The New England Journal of Medicine received a letter from a doctor and bartender who claimed it helped cure 14 out of 16 people in resolving dreaded hiccup problems.

Plugging Ears While Drinking Water

Have you ever heard of this bizarre remedy where you plug your ears while drinking water? It might seem awkward but it’s effective in relieving hiccups reflex.

You sip from a glass of water using a straw and it’s claimed to be effective by a doctor who suggested it in the Canadian Family Physician journal.

Popping Ears (Valsalva Technique)

How to get rid of the hiccup reflex with this typical Valsalva technique Where you pop your ears to relieve the hiccup reflex. To practice this technique, you have to pop your ears, pinch your nose while blowing air out, and close your mouth shut. Hiccups might be a bizarre bodily function but they can be relieved by simple remedies like this.

Breath Into Brown Paper Bags

If you don’t feel lightheaded then this remedy works wonders. If you breathe slowly and deeply into small paper bags, it increases carbon dioxide levels in the blood and relaxing your muscles and nerves which helps to get rid of hiccups fast.

Hold Breath For 10 Seconds

How to get rid of hiccups by holding breaths? For a long, it has been proven to be effective in relieving hiccups by halting breaths for a count of 10 and is backed by research at the University of Michigan Medicine.

Sticking Tongue Out

How to get rid of hiccups by pulling on the tongue? It’s way too much fun, just stick out your tongue and it stimulates your nasopharynx and gels in relieving the hiccups reflex.

Drink Dill Pickle Juice

The British Medical Journal has issued research reports on this popular question, how to get rid of hiccups? Drink dill pickle juice or Chew some dill, a strange incident where a patient after surgery got persistent hiccups and was dealt with pickle juice, and the hiccups went away in no time.

Hug Your Knees For 2 Minutes

How to get rid of hiccups in under two minutes by just sitting? The easiest way is just to sit back bring your knees towards your chest and stay like this for at least 120 seconds. Hugging your knees puts a strain on your chest and resultantly stop diaphragm spasms and hiccups stop.

Hiccups might be strange bodily phenomena and are dreaded but can be relieved by these simple tricks if persistent use of medications prescribed by physicians.

Triggers of Hiccups

How to get rid of hiccups will be easier to determine once you find the causes behind incessant hiccups so that you can avoid the triggers in the first place. The hiccups occur when the diaphragm contracts, your breaths hitch and your vocal cords snap shut. The causes include:

Overeating/ Eating Fast
Eating spicy food
Drinking alcoholic beverages
Drinking carbonated beverages
Fluctuations in Temperature

These hiccups go away naturally on their own when the diaphragm relaxes. If this persists, consult with a healthcare professional for advice.

How To Get Rid of Hiccups In Infants?

Babies get hiccups more often and it’s a part of their development and is not usually disturbing but if your infant gets disturbed then how to get rid of hiccups fast.

It usually occurs during a feeding, so you can change the baby’s position, burp the baby, and calm your infant down so that it stops.

It’s a matter of concern if it persists for long and upsets your baby.

How To Get Rid Of Hiccups By Medication?

Hiccups persist for prolonged periods, your doctor might recommend medicine to relieve the reflex. If you have another underlying medical condition, then resolving that will get rid of hiccups as well.

The medicines approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) include only Chlorpromazine.
Other medicines are originally for other bodily conditions but also helps in getting rid of hiccups.
Metoclopramide, an antinausea Drug that relieves the hiccup reflex in some people, baclofen, a muscle relaxant, and gabapentin, an antiseizure drug that stops hiccups.
While in surgery and anesthesia, usually ketamine and Ephedrine are given to stop hiccups.

The medication for hiccups usually begins with a low dose and eventually increases and is given as per the patient’s age and health.

Bottom-line

In conclusion, we have found many ways to relieve hiccups reflex and some are powerful while others are just normal. But how to get rid of hiccups fast in a natural way that is claimed by even physicians and researchers? You can apply any of the anecdotal remedies like breathing into brown paper bags, pulling on the tongue, hugging knees, swelling either sweet or sour things, and many others, and all are efficient in relaxing diaphragm muscles that contract and shut vocal cords.

If such a condition persists, then first-line medication i.e., chlorpromazine is recommended and accredited by FDA.

Give it a thorough understanding of all the intricacies of these easy remedies and share if have you ever experienced such dreadful hiccups.

FAQs on How To Get Rid Of Hiccups

How do you stop hiccups immediately?

You can do it by drinking ice-cold water, swallowing granulated sugar or something sour like vinegar, breathing Into a paper bag, and hugging your knees.