What Causes Hiccups?

Hiccups are experienced by almost everyone during their lives – bouts of hiccups have even been shown to occur in fetuses in utero and in a wide variety of animals. The medical term given for hiccups is “singultus”.

The physiology behind the hiccup is complicated. This motor action is an involuntary reflex controlled by the medulla – it involves the coordinated action of the diaphragm, the muscles that govern the opening and closing of the trachea and the nerves that innervate these muscles. It seems that there is a hiccup center in the medulla from where efferent nerve fibers travel to the diaphragm.

Image Credit: 9nong / Shutterstock.com

In a hiccup, the firing of this center leads to the intense activation of the respiratory muscles followed by the rapid closure of the glottis. This closure occurs approximately 35 milliseconds after the activation and with a noise produced at the top of the trachea that is the characteristic hiccup sound.

It is interesting to note that there is not yet a named function for the hiccup. Even though the hiccup reflex results in both repetitive and great stimulation of the inspiratory musculature, it normally does not serve any purpose in respiration because of the prompt closure of the glottis following the intense inspiratory drive.

There are theories that the hiccup has a role in the gastrointestinal tract to remove air from the stomachs of young mammals – this is thought because of the numerous gastrointestinal stimuli observed to elicit them.

It could be that the hiccup is a fetal development tool – although there is a high incidence in utero and infancy, suggestions of its role in suckling, clearance of meconium or strengthening of respiratory musculature do not appear completely satisfactory.

It is just as likely however that the hiccup is a vestigial reflex with a no longer present purpose. The cause of hiccups has been linked to the following:

• Alcohol consumption
• Excessive smoking
• A temporary swollen stomach – this can be caused by overeating or eating too fast, drinking hot or carbonated drinks, or swallowing air
• Eating too quickly or eating spicy foods
• Sudden emotions, such as stress, fear or excitement
• Any illness that irritates the nerves that control the diaphragm
• Hyperventilation (because this is when carbon dioxide levels in the blood decrease)

Why do we hiccup? – John CameronPlay

While hiccups are not harmful and generally only last for minutes, it is possible for them to last longer than 48 hours. In this case, they are referred to as “persistent” hiccups. Hiccups are also termed as “intractable” if they persist for longer than a month.

It is possible for certain disorders to trigger long-term hiccups. These can interrupt the body’s usual control of the hiccup reflex and can include:

• Encephalitis
• Alcoholism
• Meningitis
• Multiple sclerosis
• Stroke
• Traumatic brain injury
• Tumors
• Particular drugs such as barbiturates, anesthesia (following procedures particularly if they involve abdominal organs), corticosteroids, benzodiazepines and tranquilizers

It is most common for cases of long-term hiccups to fade away without any medical treatment. In cases where there is an underlying illness, treatment of this can be effective.

References

Further Reading

This Man Had the Hiccups … for 3 Years

Ever felt like your hiccups would never stop? For Chris Sands, that was his reality for 3 years before the cause of his hiccups was diagnosed. Find out what hiccups are and what causes them, including some rare life-threatening causes.

Following is a rough transcript (Note that errors are possible):

Chris Sands: Then you start to feel the dead-end hitting you, the wall. Where you’re like, “Oh no. Is this going to last forever?” Then at one point, probably 4 o’clock in the morning, I still was hiccupping or whatever. I thought, “Well, I’ll just write a letter to our local newspaper.” Just like, “If there is anyone out there that can, just please help me.”

Siobhan Deshauer, MD: Hey, guys. I’m Siobhan a 5th-year medical resident.

Now, we’ve all had the hiccups that lasted just long enough that it felt like they would never stop. For Chris Sands, that became his reality. He hiccupped for 3 years straight and tried every possible cure. When all hope was lost, he had a surprising opportunity that led him halfway around the world, where he finally discovered the cause of his hiccups. Today you’ll meet Chris, hear his story, and learn everything you’ll ever have to know about the hiccups.

Before Chris got the hiccups, he was a 23-year-old aspiring musician living in England, playing the guitar and composing for a punk band. Then one day in 2007 he got the hiccups and his whole life changed.

Sands: I didn’t know. It was like, once every couple of seconds I guess. Yeah. It was quite severe. Sometimes it would speed up, sometimes it would slow down, and sometimes it would stop for an hour. Or I can feel them coming back and you’re doubling over, and trying to resist this kind of nervous internal feeling.

It’s that kind of thing. You can feel it coming back all the time, all the time, all the time. Eventually, it gets you, bang, and then you’re hiccupping, hiccupping, hiccupping, hiccupping, hiccupping all the time.

Narrator: This is Day 1 of Christopher’s diary. He is supposed to have gone for a massage, but he’s been 48 hours awake.

Deshauer: These painful hiccups tormented him day and night. When he would try to eat, the hiccups would make him vomit. When he wanted to go to sleep, they would keep him awake at night.

Sands: I was still hiccupping in my sleep. I was hiccupping while I was sleeping and then I would wake up and I’d still be hiccupping.

Deshauer: Before we go any further, you need to understand what happens when your body hiccups. A hiccup is a contraction of the diaphragm followed by closure of the vocal cords. Your diaphragm is a thin, flat muscle right under your lungs. When it contracts, air flows into the lungs until the vocal cords suddenly close, causing that hiccup sound.

What causes the hiccups? Well, anything that irritates the phrenic nerve, which controls the diaphragm. The most common causes are related to the stomach bloating and pushing up on the diaphragm — things we’ve all experienced like eating too much, eating too quickly, spicy food, bubbly drinks, or even heartburn.

The phrenic nerve goes from the diaphragm up into the chest and goes behind the heart. That’s why it’s a rare symptom of heart attack. The nerve then passes up to the neck, and so an enlarged lymph node or thyroid gland can also be a cause of hiccups.

Then finally, the phrenic nerve connects up to the spinal cord and then up to the brain — and you guessed it. Things like a stroke, brain tumor, and even infection like meningitis can all cause the hiccups. Plus other conditions that generally irritate the nerves like alcohol, other medications, diabetes, kidney disease, or electrolyte abnormalities.

Although most hiccups are harmless, the ones that are persistent can be a symptom of a life-threatening condition and they need to get investigated.

Sands: I have been Googling, as we all do nowadays, what the hell to do and what it could be. You always find, “Oh, it’s probably cancer,” and AIDS and brain tumors. It’s all of the worst things in the world you can imagine being wrong with you. I went to the doctors and they started the process of trying to find what’s wrong with me.

Deshauer: Ever since he was a child, Chris suffered with gastroesophageal reflux, also known as heartburn. That’s when the stomach acid comes back up into the esophagus, causing this burning sensation in the chest.

His doctor first started by treating him with a medication to suppress his stomach acid. But when that didn’t work, they went on to do blood work and a CT scan of his head, his chest, and his abdomen, looking for other possible causes. The scans showed that Chris has a hiatus hernia, meaning part of his stomach has come up through the diaphragm making it much more likely for acid to come up and give you acid reflux.

Now, he has probably had this since birth since he had all these symptoms as a child. Since it’s not something new, it’s unlikely that this is the cause of his hiccups. With no other leads, Chris’ doctors started to wonder if this could be a psychological or emotional problem.

Sands: They seemed a bit nervous asking me, because it’s probably a bit of a sensitive subject to say someone might be making it up. Or it might just be kind of a psychological tick. But for me, it was like, “No, if it’s that brilliant and then at least I can be…” well, not talked out of it, but at least start solving it. As soon as I know what it is, we can start working on it. Because when you’re in those kinds of situations, you’re nervous and you’re trying not to say anything that might make you sound crazy.

You kind of like go ahead. She said, “How do you feel?” I was like, “Oh, no. I feel absolutely fine.” I never think to myself, “Oh, no, it’s a bit strange to say I’m fine. Oh, God. What if I’m being strange?”

Deshauer: Chris’s psychological testing came back normal. We still didn’t have an answer for what was causing the hiccups.

Sands: I came away from that thinking, “Damn. Okay. It’s not that. On to the next thing.” But then we got back to the doctor and he said, “Well, that’s it.” He said, “I have done everything I can do. You’re on your own.” This was 4 and a half months into it.

Deshauer: I can’t even imagine how devastating that must have felt. I mean, at this point he can’t work. He is not able to even drive a car, go on a date, or play guitar. I mean, his life was on hold and somehow he managed to keep this amazing sense of humor.

Sands: It hurts, it’s severe, and it’s bad. But the laughter was always around. My friends were there and my family were there and very supportive. They knew I didn’t need like, “Oh, are you okay? Are you okay?” all the time. What I needed was them jumping up behind me or punching me in the stomach, or being stupid or … and that’s what I needed. I needed this kind of back and forth of kind of comedy to break the routine of close to depression.

Deshauer: During this time, Chris has scoured the Internet looking for every possible cure and trying every home remedy that he could get his hands on.

Sands: From one of these companies … there was this copper cup with a rod that sticks out the top that pokes onto the side of your head while you’re drinking. I did all the upside-down drinking. I went into an oxygen chamber that like football players used to heal their injuries much quicker.

I mean, it was all completely useless. It didn’t do anything for me, but in a way like it did do something for me. It allowed me to continue my journey. Because if at some point those things had stopped, that’s it. Like I have got no answers. I have got no cures. I have got nothing to look forward to. As long as these things kept coming through, I still had like a lifeline I could keep trying to find a cure with.

Deshauer: One after the other, every remedy failed and the real possibility of living the rest of his life with hiccups began to sink in.

Sands: Then you start to feel the dead-end hitting you. The wall where you’re like, “Oh, no. Is this going to last forever?”

Then at one point, very early in the morning, you’re still hiccupping or whatever, I thought, “Well, I’ll just write a letter to our local newspaper.” Just like, “Hey, guys. This is what’s going on with me.” I expected it to be in the letter section. “If there is anyone out there that can just please help me.”

Deshauer: Overnight Chris became a sensation and his story was picked up by news outlets and magazines around the world.

Sands: Then that was it. Phones were ringing off the hook. I have got the BBC. I’m on breakfast television. I have got French television coming round. I had TV Globo from Brazil come around and film me, and the Japanese coming around. The list continues for a while and it allowed me to kind of continue without hitting that wall again. The wall kind of went back a whole load.

Deshauer: Having run out of remedies and unable to keep food down, Chris had lost over 30 pounds. He was malnourished and underweight.

He went back to his doctor and started talking about getting surgery to fix the hiatus hernia. This prompted a whole new wave of tests including an esophageal pH test. This is where a sensor gets put back through someone’s nose and down their throat. The idea is to test how much stomach acid is coming back into the lower esophagus over a 24-hour period.

Sands: The problem is when I was hiccupping and vomiting … this is going to be quite graphic, I’m sorry, but the tube is up your nose and down into there. At one point, I’m hiccupping, hiccupping, and the tube is in my nose and now out my mouth. I’m like, “Oh God, oh God. This is awful. Oh God.” I’m a mess. I don’t know what to do and I know I need the doctors to do the test properly. I took it out myself and shoved it back in. I know a stupid idea, but you’re desperate at those times and you make stupid decisions.

We got back to the doctors and I told them what happened. They said, “Jesus, you put it back in?” “Yeah. I thought that would be the right thing to do.” “You didn’t need to do that.”

Deshauer: Chris’ doctors warned him that the surgery was mainly to help stop him vomiting so much, that it probably wouldn’t stop the hiccups. The procedure is called a laparoscopic fundoplication, where they first fix the hernia and then they pull the top of the stomach up and wrap it around the lower esophagus to create a better seal and prevent the acid from flowing back up.

Sands: That was one of the worst … that was one of the most painful moments actually, waking up from that surgery. I woke up in a hospital bed about 4 o’clock in the morning, hiccupping right after having stomach surgery. I was in excruciating pain. Every hiccup was like someone stabbing you in the stomach.

Deshauer: This is a surgery that used to be really popular, but we don’t see it much anymore, because we have really good medication to suppress stomach acid. With time, his stomach healed and although it didn’t impact the hiccups at all, it really improved his quality of life.

Sands: That was quite a revelation for me because during the hiccups I was just vomiting everything. I was skin and bone. After that operation, I could eat again. I was still hiccupping and I was still bringing up some stuff, but I was keeping mainly my food down. Really, it made a big difference to how I was during that time.

Deshauer: A few months later, Chris was contacted by a doctor of East Asian medicine from Japan. He had seen him on the news and contacted him offering to help cure his hiccups.

Sands: “Because I want to fly over to see you and stay with you and your family for 7 days, and I’ll try and cure you.” “Okay. Yeah, that’s very kind of you. Okay.”

Deshauer: He brought with him a secret manual of medical cures that had been passed down in his family from generation to generation.

Sands: Acupuncture. He did the cupping. He had this … it looked like a cigar, this burning stick, which he would hold close to each of these different points in my body. He would tread on me. Lay me on the floor just tread on all my muscles.

Deshauer: Sadly, none of the cures worked. But it wasn’t long until Chris got his next big break. The Japanese TV show called The World’s Astonishing News! contacted him for a follow-up interview in Japan.

Sands: I said, “That’s great. That’s amazing. Yeah. I’d love to go to Japan, so why not?” I don’t think I had ever been on a plane before. I don’t really travel that much.

Deshauer: Chris was taken to see an anesthesiologist … and the entire thing was being filmed by the Japanese TV crew. While he was there, he had more tests and more scans including an MRI of the brain. The next day the TV crew showed up at Chris’ hotel room.

Sands: The television crew say, “Oh, [the doctor] wants to see you again. He wants to do another scan.” I said, “Oh, I don’t really want to do another scan. I’m claustrophobic.” At this point, it had been 2 and a half years of hiccupping with people saying they have got the answer when they don’t. I thought, “I don’t want to go back there.”

The television crew were quite like insistent. They said, “Well, let’s just go talk to him. Let’s just go talk to him.” Okay. We went and talked to him and he said, “Look, I know you don’t want the scan, but I found something.” He said, “Can you take the television crews out of the room?”

He put the scans of my brain and he said, “Look, I found what I think is a tumor in your brain. ” He said, “It’s in a bad place. I don’t know much about tumors. I’m just an anesthesiologist.” He said, “You need to speak to a neurosurgeon, but I want to do a more high resolution scan to confirm it.”

At that point I’m in tears. I’m like, “Oh, I’m going to die.”

Deshauer: The second MRI confirmed that he had a 1.2 cm tumor in his brain stem. I know you’re probably wondering, but didn’t they scan his brain right at the beginning of this whole story? The answer is yes, but they did a CT scan. MRIs have a much crisper picture, better resolution, especially in the back of the brain where Chris has his tumor.

This was the missing piece of the puzzle. Armed with these MRI scans, Chris flew back to England and met with a neurosurgeon to discuss surgery. While he was there, Chris confided that his symptoms had become much worse recently.

Sands: At that point, I had actually started passing out from the hiccups. I would hiccup, hiccup, hiccup, wake up on the floor, hiccup, hiccup, hiccup. He said, “You’re lucky you haven’t died yet.”

Deshauer: The brain stem is only a small part of the brain, but it’s absolutely critical for life. Chris’ brain tumor is found in the medulla oblongata, part of the brainstem that controls your breathing, heart rate, and blood pressure. Very literally your vitals. As the tumor grew bigger, it put more and more pressure on these nerves. threatening Chris’ life. The only way to stop this is by cutting into this really delicate part of the brain.

Reflecting back on this uncertain time, Chris recalls what he felt just moments before this risky surgery.

Sands: “I don’t want to die, but I don’t really feel anything. I feel very strange.” It was like I had accepted what was going to happen and whatever happens happens. “Just knock me out and get on with it,” kind of thing.

Deshauer: The surgery lasted 5 hours and the goal was to remove as much of the tumor as possible without damaging Chris’ brain. They managed to take out over 60% of the tumor and sent it off to pathology.

The pathologist diagnosed the tumor as a pilocytic astrocytoma, which is a benign, non-cancerous tumor that grows really slowly and doesn’t travel anywhere else in the body. Which explains why Chris was able to live with this for over 3 years.

Sands: The moment I open my eyes, there is a lady in front of me and she has got a sponge on a stick, a wet sponge on a stick. She is just dabbing it on my lips and it was like the best thing in the world. You just wanted water. Your whole throat was dry. Your mouth was dry. But they have to be careful because you don’t? have a gag reflex at this point.

Anyway she is dabbing in the water and dabbing on my lips, and eventually she says, “Oh, do you want to do it?” I said, “Yeah.” She puts the sponge with the stick in my hand and I go to put it in my mouth, and I just smack it straight into my eye, and we both burst out laughing.

But at this moment, I realized I don’t have control over my arms. Not real control. She said we’ll try that test where you took your finger to your nose. With my right hand, I took my finger to my nose just about. With my left hand, I smacked myself in the face, and we burst out laughing again.

But you couldn’t … at this point I wasn’t hiccupping. I woke up and I wasn’t hiccupping. I wasn’t even thinking of that. I was just thinking of things in the moment.

I couldn’t feel anything from the neck down. It felt like when you fall asleep on your arm for far too long. When you touch it, that kind of fuzzy feeling. It was like that. But every time I breathed, my whole chest felt like that. Everything from the neck down felt like that.

It wasn’t until a few hours later that I’m laid in the hospital bed and I’m like, “I’m not hiccupping. I’m not hiccupping.” It’s fantastic, but I really can’t enjoy this right now. My whole body feels awful and I couldn’t enjoy the aspect I wasn’t hiccupping because all my mind was thinking was like, “Am I going to get my arms back again? Will I ever walk again?” I couldn’t walk.

Then I had a little MP3 player and I was listening to my compositions and things. I’m thinking, “Am I ever going to play piano again? Am I ever going to play music again?”

Deshauer: Chris went through a really long recovery phase. It took at least a year before he could even try to start playing the piano and guitar again. What’s so amazing to me is that he used playing music as a way to improve his dexterity and fine motor skills. Then he actually challenged himself to compose a new song every single day for a year.

Sands: I was able to craft these absolutely terrible pieces of music, but music nonetheless that I could still compose.

The feeling of creation completely outweighed the disappointment of not being able to do it. It just gave me a push to try harder. As soon as you feel that sense of progress and you can kind of clutch on to it, and keep on dragging yourself forwards — whether it’s dragging yourself forwards on your knees or whether you’re running — at least you’re going forward.

That was a real sense of accomplishment, and it was lovely. At 365 songs, it’s like a musical diary of the year. It’s incredible.

Deshauer: Today, Chris has made a full recovery, although he still has a little bit of numbness in some of his fingers since the surgery. But the tumor hasn’t grown back, he hasn’t got the intractable hiccups back, although he will occasionally get the normal hiccups. Personally, that would just freak me out, but it seems like Chris isn’t really bothered by it.

Sands: Yeah. Now I get hiccups like a normal person. It doesn’t make me nervous because, me being me, I have got quite good knowledge of how to get rid of them. I am quite good at it. I studied them for a long time. I have got all the cures and I know how to get rid of them better than anyone else.

Deshauer: Listening to Chris’ story, I have such conflicting emotions because on the one hand I am just amazed by his resilience and positive mindset through everything that he has been through. On the other hand, I feel outraged for him. I mean, 3 years he had to make a plea to the news. He had to go to Japan before he got an MRI. It’s so disappointing.

Sands: The neurosurgeon told me, “You should have been scanned within 48 hours of having that. The cause of hiccups, if it’s lasting that long, is either in your stomach or in your brain. If it’s not in your stomach, it’s in your brain. Get an MRI scan. Just get it straight away. If your doctor says no, get a different doctor because they don’t know what they’re talking about.”

Deshauer: I think Chris’s story really highlights the importance of advocating for yourself. To me, it also shows how powerful social media can be because people can share their experiences and we can learn from each other, especially when it’s an unusual symptom or it’s a really rare disease.

Sands: All I can say is that I felt very, very lucky. I feel very lucky to have had the people around me that I had around me at the time. To still have people that I love and adore around me all the time.

Deshauer: I really cannot thank Chris enough for sharing his story with us and allowing us to learn from his experience.

I am really excited to hear what you think. Let me know in the comments below what were your reactions. What were you thinking? Is it what you expected?

If you haven’t already, be sure to subscribe and click that notification bell and that way I’ll see you in the next video. Bye for now.

Siobhan Deshauer, MD, is an internal medicine resident in Toronto. Before medicine, she was a violinist, which is why her YouTube channel is called Violin MD.

Last Updated August 26, 2021

Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus.

Why do we hiccup and how can we stop them?

Posted July 11, 2021 by Yan Sun, MD

We’ve all experienced it at one time or another: the dreaded hiccups. They can be funny at first, if not hysterical, but they quickly become a nuisance. Hiccups affect everyone, from babies in utero all the way up to senior citizens, but what are these loud, noisy, disruptive and sometimes uncomfortable hiccups?

Hiccups occur when the diaphragm, a dome-shaped muscle between the lungs and the stomach, spasms from irritation. The diaphragm pulls down when you inhale to let air into your lungs and then relaxes when you exhale, so air can flow back out of your lungs and exit your nose and mouth.

If the diaphragm spasms — or involuntary contracts — it forces you to suddenly suck air into your throat, where it hits your voice box. That causes your vocal cords to snap shut, which creates the infamous hiccup sound.

The diaphragm usually becomes irritated if there’s a disturbance in the nerve pathways from the brain to the diaphragm. Some common causes for hiccups include:

While you might think having a friend scare you, drinking water quickly or breathing smelly salts will cure you of hiccups, there’s no scientific evidence on these common home remedies. But, some medical experts agree holding your breath for several seconds and then breathing out slowly, or breathing into a paper bag might do the trick to rid yourself of hiccups.

Both of these remedies increase carbon dioxide levels in the lungs, which is believed to relax the diaphragm and stop the spasms.

Hiccup bouts (<48 hours in duration) are typically not caused by serious disease; most people occasionally experience brief hiccups that resolve on their own in a few minutes. By contrast, hiccups lasting >48 hours occur rarely and may be caused by serious disease.

Most etiologies, or causes, of prolonged hiccups are structural, infectious, or inflammatory disorders. Sometimes a sore throat, a tumor or cyst in the neck can cause persistent hiccups. Chronic medical conditions, such as encephalitis or meningitis, diabetes or kidney failure, can also cause long-term hiccups. Even medical procedures involving anesthesia can cause persistent hiccups.If you experience hiccups for several days or more, or if they are severe enough to interfere with eating, breathing or sleeping, it’s time to talk with your healthcare provider.

Your healthcare provider may prescribe medication to put an end to those uncomfortable hiccups.

What Causes Hiccups and How to Get Rid of Them

• The most common causes of hiccups include swallowing air, drinking excessive amounts of alcohol or carbonated beverages, and eating too much.
• Hiccups usually only last for a few minutes. If they are exceptionally painful or last for hours to days, it could be a sign of a more concerning underlying condition.
• One way to get rid of hiccups you can pull your knees to your chest to compress your diaphragm which may stop it from spasming.
• This article was medically reviewed by Jason R. McKnight, MD, MS, a family medicine physician and clinical assistant professor at Texas A&M College of Medicine. 
• Visit Insider’s Health Reference library for more advice.

LoadingSomething is loading.

Hiccups can strike at unusual times like when your stomach is too full or you suddenly feel overly excited. Most of the time they pass quickly and are more annoying than harmful.

However, in rare cases, hiccups can be a symptom of an underlying medical condition like diabetes or kidney disease. 

Many hiccup remedies, like scaring the person, may seem pretty unscientific. And it’s true that there’s little to no scientific evidence to recommend one hiccup remedy over another. 

However, knowing what we do about what causes hiccups, experts can offer some advice on how to stop hiccuping. 

What causes hiccups

A hiccup occurs when there’s a disruption of your diaphragm, a muscle that is key for helping you breathe. Normally, your diaphragm contracts when you inhale and relaxes when you exhale.  

During hiccups, the diaphragm also contracts, but in a more spastic, involuntary manner. The spasms are just one part of hiccups, though. The second part is that, after the diaphragm contracts, your vocal cords close, which creates the “hic” sound. 

Scientists aren’t exactly sure why we, and other animals, get hiccups in the first place since it doesn’t seem to serve any real purpose, benefit, or advantage. What scientists do know are some of the most common causes of hiccups:

• Drinking carbonated beverages
• Overeating or eating too quickly
• Swallowing air
• Drinking alcohol excessively
• Feeling suddenly excited 

How long do hiccups last

Most of the time, hiccups last for a few minutes. However, if your bout of hiccups is extremely frequent, painful, and lasts for hours or multiple days, this could be a sign of a more serious underlying condition, and you should consider seeking medical help.

For example, your central nervous system is what controls the hiccup reflex. If your nervous system is damaged — like from a stroke or traumatic brain injury — this could lead to long-term hiccuping. 

Other underlying conditions include

diabetes
, kidney disease, meningitis, and anesthesia. The Mayo Clinic has a complete list.

How to get rid of hiccups

Everyone seems to have their own hiccup cure. But there’s limited evidence, aside from anecdotal, to prove one method works over another. 

So, we asked Ehsan Ali, MD, a physician at Beverly Hills Concierge Doctor trained in internal medicine, for his advice. Ali recommends the following methods to stop hiccuping:

• Pull your knees to your chest. This compresses the diaphragm, which may stop it from spasming.  
• Irritate the back of your throat. This area, called the nasopharynx, is connected to your respiratory system and diaphragm, which may kick start your diaphragm back to normal. You can do this by:
  •  Gargling with water (be extremely careful since hiccups could cause you to accidentally swallow some)
  • Pulling on your tongue
  • Sipping cold water

If you want to prevent yourself from getting hiccups, “the best thing to do is avoid things, foods, and drinks that you know will cause hiccups,” says Ali. For example, cut down on soda if you know this is a trigger for you.

In addition, “hiccups typically should not be painful,” Ali says. If your hiccups are frequent and painful, “there may be something more serious going on and you should seek medical attention.”

Related articles from our Health Reference library:

How to get rid of hiccups? What causes hiccups? Here’s what science says

Hiccups that just won’t quit are almost as annoying as being stuck in traffic for hours — with no air conditioning. We may be exaggerating here, but this mysterious bodily function is just as strange as it is irritating. So what exactly is going on when you hiccup — and how can you stop them?

What are hiccups?

“Hiccups occur when there is a sudden, involuntary contraction of the diaphragm, a muscle that lies just below the lungs and separates the chest cavity from the abdomen,” said Dr. Andrea Paul, chief medical officer at BoardVitals.com, a website for health care professionals. “As the diaphragm contracts very quickly it causes air to be sucked in very quickly, which snaps the vocal cord shut and makes the ‘hiccup’ sound.”

What causes hiccups?

Recent research has found that hiccups are likely caused by a little-known reflex arc involving the brain stem.

“There’s a motor pathway, a network of several nerves that lead to this reflex arc. There are phrenic and vagal nerves that then goes into a portion of the brain that regulates all of this,” said Dr. Alexandra Kejner, an otolaryngologist at the University of Kentucky College of Medicine (also known an ear, nose and throat doctor).

Once this reflex arc is activated, a cascade of small events cause hiccups to happen, including a sudden contraction of the diaphragm and closing of the vocal cords.

What exactly causes this reflex arc to start? Some say eating or drinking too much, inhaling an irritant like smoke and drinking alcohol or even stress could be the culprit.

How to stop hiccups?

The cure for hiccups is pretty simple: Increase the level of carbon dioxide (CO2) in your bloodstream, both Paul and Kejner said. Kejner suggested breathing into a paper bag for 10 to 20 seconds.

“When your CO2 numbers go up, that triggers your brain to breathe,” said Kejner. “By increasing your C02, it changes your breathing a little bit and can often break that reflex.”

In addition, Paul said you could try drinking a glass of water without taking a breath or jogging in place or do jumping jacks for 30 seconds.

“Usually, one of those will do the trick,” she added.

Here’s the science behind it: Taking a deep breath in and holding it will keep you from ridding your body of the carbon dioxide waste; each time you breathe into a paper bag, your body is taking back in the CO2 you just exhaled; and a brief bout of exercise works because, as you take in more oxygen and it combines with other nutrients in your body for energy, your body produces more CO2 as a result.

For more prolonged cases of the hiccups, there are medicines available such as chlorpromazine, but you should consult your doctor first beforehand.

Do I need to see a doctor?

“In very rare cases, chronic, long-lasting hiccups can be a sign of something more serious, but before you run out to see your health care provider, give your hiccups time to go away on their own,” said Barb Dehn, a nurse practitioner in San Francisco.

Usually hiccups last anywhere from a few minutes to several hours. If your hiccups last for more than 48 hours, or are getting in the way of your ability to breathe, eat, drink or sleep, see your doctor, Dehn advised.

This is an updated version with additional reporting of a previously published article.

Hiccups | Frankel Cardiovascular Center

Topic Overview

What are hiccups?

Hiccups
occur when a spasm contracts the diaphragm, a large sheet of muscle that separates the chest cavity from the abdominal cavity. This spasm causes an intake of breath that is suddenly stopped by the closure of the vocal cords (glottis). This closure causes the characteristic “hiccup” sound.

What causes hiccups?

A very full stomach can cause bouts of hiccups that go away on their own. A full stomach can be caused by:

• Eating too much food too quickly.
• Drinking too much alcohol.
• Swallowing too much air.
• Smoking.
• A sudden change in stomach temperature, such as drinking a hot beverage and then a cold beverage.
• Emotional stress or excitement.

How long do hiccups last?

Hiccups usually stop within a few minutes to a few hours.

Hiccups that last longer than 48 hours are called persistent hiccups. Hiccups that last longer than a month are called intractable hiccups. While very rare, intractable hiccups can cause exhaustion, lack of sleep, and weight loss. Both persistent and intractable hiccups may be a sign of a more serious health problem and must be checked by a doctor.

There are many known causes of persistent or intractable hiccups, including:

• Central nervous system problems, such as cancer, infections, stroke, or injury.
• Problems with the chemical processes that take place in the body (metabolic problems), such as decreased kidney function or hyperventilation.
• Irritation of the nerves in the head, neck, and chest (vagus or phrenic nerve).
• Anesthesia or surgery.
• Mental health problems.

How are hiccups treated?

Most bouts of hiccups go away on their own within a few minutes to a few hours and do not require any treatment.

Many home remedies are used to treat hiccups. Most of them involve increasing the level of carbon dioxide in the blood, which usually stops hiccups. Some of these remedies include:

• Holding your breath and counting slowly to 10.
• Quickly drinking a glass of cold water.
• Eating a teaspoon of sugar or honey.

The treatment for persistent or intractable hiccups depends on the underlying cause of the hiccups and may range from medicine to acupuncture or hypnosis. Sometimes several treatments may be tried before persistent or intractable hiccups are controlled. If you have hiccups that last a few days or longer, your doctor may conduct tests to rule out a more serious problem.

Who is affected by hiccups?

Hiccups affect males more often than females. Hiccups occur in practically every human being, including babies and older adults.

Credits

Current as of:
February 26, 2020

Author: Healthwise Staff
Medical Review:
William H. Blahd Jr. MD, FACEP – Emergency Medicine
Adam Husney MD – Family Medicine
Kathleen Romito MD – Family Medicine

Current as of: February 26, 2020

Author:
Healthwise Staff

Medical Review:William H. Blahd Jr. MD, FACEP – Emergency Medicine & Adam Husney MD – Family Medicine & Kathleen Romito MD – Family Medicine

Hiccups | HealthLink BC

Topic Overview

What are hiccups?

Hiccups occur when a spasm contracts the diaphragm, a large sheet of muscle that separates the chest cavity from the abdominal cavity. This spasm causes an intake of breath that is suddenly stopped by the closure of the vocal cords (glottis). This closure causes the characteristic “hiccup” sound.

What causes hiccups?

A very full stomach can cause bouts of hiccups that go away on their own. A full stomach can be caused by:

• Eating too much food too quickly.
• Drinking too much alcohol.
• Swallowing too much air.
• Smoking.
• A sudden change in stomach temperature, such as drinking a hot beverage and then a cold beverage.
• Emotional stress or excitement.

How long do hiccups last?

Hiccups usually stop within a few minutes to a few hours.

Hiccups that last longer than 48 hours are called persistent hiccups. Hiccups that last longer than a month are called intractable hiccups. While very rare, intractable hiccups can cause exhaustion, lack of sleep, and weight loss. Both persistent and intractable hiccups may be a sign of a more serious health problem and must be checked by a doctor.

There are many known causes of persistent or intractable hiccups, including:

• Central nervous system problems, such as cancer, infections, stroke, or injury.
• Problems with the chemical processes that take place in the body (metabolic problems), such as decreased kidney function or hyperventilation.
• Irritation of the nerves in the head, neck, and chest (vagus or phrenic nerve).
• Anesthesia or surgery.
• Mental health problems.

How are hiccups treated?

Most bouts of hiccups go away on their own within a few minutes to a few hours and do not require any treatment.

Many home remedies are used to treat hiccups. Most of them involve increasing the level of carbon dioxide in the blood, which usually stops hiccups. Some of these remedies include:

• Holding your breath and counting slowly to 10.
• Quickly drinking a glass of cold water.
• Eating a teaspoon of sugar or honey.

The treatment for persistent or intractable hiccups depends on the underlying cause of the hiccups and may range from medicine to acupuncture or hypnosis. Sometimes several treatments may be tried before persistent or intractable hiccups are controlled. If you have hiccups that last a few days or longer, your doctor may conduct tests to rule out a more serious problem.

Who is affected by hiccups?

Hiccups affect males more often than females. Hiccups occur in practically every human being, including babies and older adults.

Credits

Current as of: June 26, 2019

Author: Healthwise Staff
Medical Review: William H. Blahd, Jr., MD, FACEP – Emergency Medicine
Adam Husney, MD – Family Medicine
Kathleen Romito, MD – Family Medicine
H. Michael O’Connor, MD, MMEd, FRCPC – Emergency Medicine

Current as of: June 26, 2019

Author: Healthwise Staff

Medical Review:William H. Blahd, Jr., MD, FACEP – Emergency Medicine & Adam Husney, MD – Family Medicine & Kathleen Romito, MD – Family Medicine & H. Michael O’Connor, MD, MMEd, FRCPC – Emergency Medicine

90,000 5 reasons why hiccups can last longer than 48 hours

A hiccup that does not go away for more than two days should be a cause for concern. It is known that when a person hiccups from 48 hours to 30 days in a row, the violation is recognized as chronic, and is one of the symptoms of the underlying disease. What health problems are associated with hiccups?
Nerve problems
Any damage to the vagus or phrenic nerve can trigger hiccups. Corresponding damage can appear in the following diseases and conditions:
– a tumor in the neck;
– laryngitis;
– acid reflux;
– pneumonia;
– A tickling sensation in the eardrums due to dirt or hair.
Diseases of the nervous system
Any infection or external factor affecting the nervous system can trigger chronic hiccups. Hiccups occur when the brain malfunctions due to the fact that it controls breathing. Disorders that can lead to hiccups include:
– multiple sclerosis;
– brain injury;
– encephalitis;
– meningitis;
– stroke;
– brain tumor;
– spinal cord injuries.
Diseases of the gastrointestinal tract
Any problem associated with the functioning of the abdominal organs can lead to chronic hiccups.Usually, the problem occurs when drinking too much soda, overeating, fast absorption of food, or even when a candy is sucked. At the same time, hiccups can be a sign of dangerous ailments, such as:
– stomach ulcer;
– jaundice;
– cholera;
– inflammation of appendicitis;
– Crohn’s disease.
Taking medications
Some medications that a person uses for an underlying medical condition can cause hiccups. Most often, this side effect occurs due to the effects of drugs at:
– anesthesia;
– diabetes mellitus;
– kidney disease;
– oncology;
– violation of the level of sodium and potassium in the blood.
Surgical intervention
Chronic hiccups can also be the result of some operations. As a rule, the problem can arise after an operation affecting the nervous system, brain, gastrointestinal tract, diaphragm.
# national projectdemography89

Hiccups in an infant: what to do about it?

Hiccups occur very often in newborns. Many young mothers get very scared when a baby starts to hiccup and don’t know what to do about it. Why does hiccups occur? There is no definite answer to this question.In most cases, hiccups do not cause any particular inconvenience to the baby and do not cause any disturbances.

The main causes of hiccups

The baby is very cold.

During feeding, the baby swallowed air together with milk.

The child is thirsty.

Something frightened the kid, for example, a bright light or a loud sound.

The newborn could overeat. Food, once in the stomach, stretches it, causing the diaphragm to contract.

How does hiccups manifest?

Hiccups in an infant usually last no more than 15 minutes. This condition is not dangerous, almost always goes away on its own, without specific actions on the part of the mother.

If hiccups continue for a long time, this is a reason to think about functional or organic disorders. It is necessary to consult a pediatrician if hiccups occur very often in a child and lasts more than 20 minutes each time.Such prolonged hiccups can indicate diseases of the digestive tract, pneumonia, or spinal cord injury.

How to help a child with hiccups?

Despite the fact that hiccups are not dangerous in most cases, the mother wants to help her child by eliminating the hiccups. There are several ways you can try to find out the cause of the hiccups.

1. Since most often hiccups occur as a result of swallowing air during feeding, it is necessary to cuddle the baby and, holding him in an upright position, walk a little around the room with him.This position usually allows the child to quickly get rid of the swallowed air, and the hiccups will stop.

If the baby is bottle-fed, you should pay attention to the nipple and bottle. Often, when feeding through a bottle, the formula comes in very quickly, and the newborn swallows the formula with the air, trying not to choke. Manufacturers such as AVENT are now producing nipple feeding bottles with specially shaped teats with special petals.When feeding from such a bottle, air does not enter the baby’s tummy, remaining in the bottle.

If the baby is breastfed, the mother should pay attention to how the baby takes the breast. Try to change the position of the baby while feeding and you may forget about the hiccups.

When hiccups do not go away for a long time and occurs often, you can try giving the baby a bottle of water or applying it to the breast again. The liquid will help relieve hiccups.

2.If the child hiccups, the mother should make sure that the child is not cold. First, you need to touch the hands of the newborn, if they are cold to the touch, you should warm the baby, cover him, pick him up.

3. Eliminate any annoying factors that may interfere with the child: loud sound, bright light. The child needs to be reassured, taken in your arms, talked to him, sing a song, vilified around the room. This will calm the baby and the hiccups will go away.

Sometimes a child gets scared of strangers and starts to hiccup.In this case, it is better to limit the circle of visiting the baby until he grows up and adapts to those around him.

4. Do not overfeed your baby. Regular overfeeding leads to the chronic stage of hiccups. Overeating is indicated by the abundant regurgitation of the baby. It is better to feed the baby more often, but not enough.

Hiccups, which often occur in children of the first year of life, quickly pass and later parents no longer remember about it. The older the child becomes, the more perfect his digestive tract becomes, and the hiccups will bother him less and less.You can’t try to calm the hiccups in grandma’s ways, for example, forget about the way to scare the child. This can only provoke a new attack and adversely affect the psychological state of the child.

90,000 Hiccup. General information. – Evidence-based medicine for all

Hiccups are involuntary jerky contractions of the diaphragm and intercostal muscles. These contractions lead to a short-term cessation of breathing and closure of the glottis, which causes the corresponding sound to accompany the hiccups.The usual frequency of hiccups is 4 to 60 times per minute. The incidence of hiccups is very wide, almost everyone has experienced hiccups at least once in their life.

Classification of hiccups by their duration

• Normal hiccups lasts up to 48 hours
• Persistent hiccups – from 48 hours to one month
• Permanent hiccups lasts more than a month

Causes of hiccups

It has not yet been possible to reliably establish the causes and mechanism of the occurrence of hiccups.Most often, hiccups are associated with:

• Bloating
• Overeating
• Drinking carbonated drinks
• Aerophagy. Aerophagia is a common cause of hiccups in newborns and young children .

Often, hiccups are provoked by inflation of the stomach during fibrogastroduadenoscopy.

Other causes of hiccups:

90 100

It should not be forgotten that persistent or persistent hiccups can be a sign of serious illnesses:

Central nervous system disorders:



Vascular diseases, ischemic or hemorrhagic stroke, temporal arteritis, head trauma, intracranial neoplasms, brain neoplasms, multiple sclerosis, syringomyelia

hydrocephalus

Infection

Encephalitis, meningitis, brain abscess, neurosyphilis, subphrenic abscess

Diseases causing irritation of the vagus and / or phrenic nerve

Goiter, pharyngitis, laryngitis, cysts or tumors of the neck

Diseases of the gastrointestinal tract

Gastritis.peptic ulcer, pancreatitis, pancreatic cancer, stomach cancer, abdominal abscesses

gallbladder disease, inflammatory bowel disease, hepatitis, aerophagia, esophagitis

Chest diseases



Lymphadenopathies caused by infection or neoplasm, pneumonia, pleural empyema, bronchitis, asthma, pleurisy, aortic aneurysm, mediastinitis, mediastinal tumors, chest trauma

Cardiovascular diseases

Myocardial infarction, pericarditis

Diseases leading to metabolic disorders

Alcohol, uremia, diabetes mellitus, hyponatremia, hypocalcemia

Hiccups caused by medical interventions

General anesthesia, tracheal intubation, EGD, the use of certain drugs.

Why hiccups are dangerous

Despite the fact that hiccups do not pose a direct threat to the life and health of , it can significantly reduce the quality of life, the main problems caused by hiccups:

• Malnutrition
• Weight Loss
• Chronic fatigue
• Dehydration
• Insomnia
• Mental stress

How to Get Rid of Hiccups

There are a number of physical methods to get rid of hiccups:

90 100

Medical approach to a patient with hiccups

If hiccups last less than 48 hours and are the only symptom, then in such a situation, additional medical intervention is usually not required. If hiccups persist for more than 48 hours, then you should consult a doctor to decide whether further research is needed.The survey plan is aimed at excluding (or confirming) diseases that can cause hiccups. The survey may include the following research methods:

Blood test: complete blood count, electrolytes, urea, creatinine, calcium, liver transaminase, and amylase.

The rest of the studies are prescribed if there is a suspicion of a disease of specific organs and systems.

90 100

Methods for the treatment of hiccups

If no physical causes of persistent hiccups are identified, your doctor may recommend medication. The following groups of drugs can be used to treat hiccups:

• Antipsychotic drugs
• Dopamine antagonists
• Muscle relaxants
• Anticonvulsants
• Antidepressants
• Central nervous system stimulants
• Antiarrhythmic drugs

Some studies have shown the effectiveness of the use of acupuncture and hypnosis in the treatment of hiccups.In severe cases of persistent hiccups, surgical treatment may be recommended. 90,000 Hiccups are … What is Hiccups?

Ikota is a nonspecific dysfunction of external respiration, which occurs as a result of a series of convulsive jerky contractions of the diaphragm and manifests itself in subjectively unpleasant short and intense respiratory movements. One of the possible symptoms of hypothermia, overeating and other conditions.

Hiccups are caused by involuntary synchronous myoclonic contractions of the diaphragm and intercostal muscles, which mimic forced inhalation, but the sudden closure of the airway by the epiglottis blocks the airflow and produces a characteristic sound.

Hiccups are an involuntary physiological reaction. The squeezed sound that is produced is the result of a sharp closure of the glottis.

Reasons

The cause of hiccups is sharper than usual contractions of the diaphragm, while the breaths are accompanied by a sort of short suffocation.

Hiccups sometimes occur in healthy people for no apparent reason and, as a rule, is a harmless, rapidly resolving phenomenon. Hiccups can occur with general cooling (especially in young children), with overstretching of the stomach (overfilling it with food), as well as with irritation of the phrenic nerve (a case of prolonged hiccups with a frequency of contractions of the diaphragm equal to the heart rate when the damaged wire from the pacemaker is closed to phrenic nerve).

Prolonged debilitating hiccups can be caused by lesions of the central nervous system, in particular encephalitis, metabolic disorders (with diabetic, uremic or hepatic coma), intoxication (alcohol, barbiturates, muscle relaxants, benzodiazepines), stroke, traumatic brain injury, arteriovenous malformations. Hiccups can be a formidable sign of increasing intracranial hypertension or a mass of the posterior fossa. The causes of hiccups can also be compression of the CIV root by herniated intervertebral disc, neck tumors, mediastinal tumor, lymphogranulomatosis or sarcoidosis, esophageal or lung tumor, esophageal diverticulum, reflux esophagitis, laryngobronchitis, mediastinitis, myocardial infarction, gastric ulcer diseases, abdominal diseases stomach and duodenum, intestinal obstruction, subphrenic abscess, pancreatitis, diseases of the biliary system, tumors of the stomach, pancreas, liver), glaucoma.In young women, hiccups are sometimes psychogenic in nature.

Hiccups from a medical point of view

From a medical point of view, hiccups are a reflex designed to remove air from the stomach. When this goal is achieved (by displacing air with water or belching), the reflex stops. This statement does not apply to cases of so-called. pathological hiccups, when the reflex is caused by some internal stimulus of a pathological nature (inflammation, swelling, etc.) [Great Medical Encyclopedia].

Treatment

There is no only correct and correct method of dealing with hiccups: someone is helped by a drunk glass of water, someone is holding their breath. Some recommend scaring the hiccup, which is actually a very controversial remedy. The hiccups should go away on their own within 5-15 minutes after the start – just as involuntarily as they started.

It should be noted that in the case of prolonged hiccups, treatment primarily involves an effect on the underlying disease.

Often, hiccups can be stopped with the help of techniques, the action of which is based on stimulating the back of the pharynx and changing the activity of the vagus nerve: the patient is asked to make several swallowing movements or swallow a piece of sugar, hold his breath after a deep breath, switch from chest breathing to diaphragmatic breathing, stick out his tongue far inhale the smoke.Sometimes pressure on the eyeballs or the phrenic nerve exit points (above the collarbone at the edge of the sternocleidomastoid muscle) or trying to provoke a sneeze (for example, with pepper) helps. [2]

American Francis Fesmire and three of his Israeli colleagues discovered in 2006 that hiccups can be cured with rectal massage, for which they received the Shnobel Prize in Medicine. The discovery was made by them in different years independently of each other.

Medication

Cerucal, atropine (controversial effect), motilium, scopolamine, pipolfen, haloperidol, finlepsin, diphenin.

Folk remedies

1. Just breathe frequently for a while.
2. A slightly weird, but very effective way is to take a small package and tightly close your nose and mouth (as in vomiting), leaving the volume for inhalation-exhalation 200-300 ml, keep it so that no outside air passes through.Breathe in this way until there is a feeling of lack of air. Usually once is enough.
3. Consecutively hold your breath three times.
4. Option: hold the breath on exhalation before the spasm, then you can breathe shallowly, and again hold it before the spasm. 2-3 times is enough.
5. Place 20 drops of valocordin, corvalol or similar in a teaspoon, drink and drink with a glass of warm water.
6. Several small, continuous sips of water.In this case, the water must be swallowed and not breathed.
7. Bend your torso forward as much as possible, close your hands behind your back and then, with the help of another person who will hold a glass, drink water in small sips.
8. Ingestion of one teaspoon of plain granulated sugar in dry form, without drinking water, quickly, as a rule, stops hiccups.
9. Apply a cold compress or ice cubes to the throat.
10. Inhale as deeply as possible and, without exhaling, perform actions similar to inhalation.
11. Raise your arms above your head and take deep breaths in and out
12. Keep warm (if the reason is hypothermia): dress in dry warm clothes, drink a hot soft drink, etc.
13. Hiccups – spasm of the diaphragm. If you straighten the diaphragm as much as possible, then the hiccups pass (Usually, it is enough to inhale the maximum volume of air while standing, then sit down and bend forward, wait about a minute (usually the spasm comes every 20-30 seconds). If the hiccups are felt even with a deep breath, then the inhalation was not enough complete.
14. Concentrate on something, such as doing simple exercise, etc.
15. Helps to lie on its side and lie down a little
16. Spread your arms out to the sides, cross your fingers, straighten your back, push your chest out with a “wheel” and breathe through your nose. It is especially effective after a couple of sips of water.
17. Lying on your back, raise your hands up. Take your left hand with your right wrist and make springy up and down movements with a small amplitude so that the vibration goes to the chest.Do this for a short time and the hiccups will go away.
18. Just fold your pinky and thumb together with the pads on both hands – the hiccups will be relieved by hand.
19. “A Sip of a Ballerina”. In case of hiccups, the ballerina jumps behind the curtain for a second, puts both hands behind her back, leans forward, lifts her chin and takes ONE sip of water. Everything. The show continues.
20. This method has been repeatedly tested in humans and does not require water, exercise, or anything else. Sitting on a chair (office chair, etc.)lean back, and stretch your arms as much as possible up and a little back (about 15 degrees from the vertical), as long as you have enough strength, for 10-15 seconds. In most cases, hiccups go away instantly.
21. Spread mustard on the root of the tongue.

In folklore there is a saying “Hiccups, hiccups, go to Fedot, from Fedot to Yakov, from Yakov to everyone”.

Interesting Facts

Charles Osborne (born 1894), Anton, Iowa, USA began to hiccup in 1922.The hiccups began the moment he slaughtered the pig. The hiccups continued for the next 68 years until 1990. During this time, he hiccuped about 430 million times. The hiccups did not give in to treatment, but this did not prevent Osborne from leading the way of life familiar to all people, he got married and had children. The average frequency of hiccups at the beginning of the attack was 40 times per minute, which then decreased to 20-25 times. ^{[ source not specified 650 days ]}

Notes

Literature

• Shtulman D.R., Levin O.S. “Neurology: A Practical Physician’s Handbook” – 6th ed. – 2008 −1024s.
• “Great Medical Encyclopedia”

References

90,000 Scientists have named unexpected and dangerous causes of yawning, sneezing and hiccups

YEREVAN, July 25. News-Armenia. We yawn, sneeze, sometimes hiccup. And there are certain reasons for all this. Which? Learn from the material on the MedikForum.ru website.

Causes of sneezing

Sneezing is a protective reaction of the body to irritation of receptors in the nasal mucosa.If dust, pollution gets there or accumulates, then the mucous membrane is dried out. Because of this, irritation happens and the person sneezes. Such a reaction allows you to remove excess particles from the nasopharynx, which include dust, allergens, harmful microorganisms, bacteria, and so on.

Normally, a person does not sneeze more than 2-3 times in a row. But every morning sneeze is a reason to think: are you surrounded by some allergens? Chronic rhinitis, dry nasal mucosa may also be the cause.

Interestingly, there are certain circumstances in which people can sneeze too. For example, eyebrow plucking. This is due to the fact that the nerve endings are affected, contributing to the fact that a person sneezes. Or a bright light – sneezes are also possible. Scientists are still looking for the cause of this phenomenon and it is believed that it is associated with heredity.

Remember that sneezing is getting rid of harmful microorganisms. Therefore, you should cover your mouth and nose with a handkerchief or at least your hand (and then wash your hands).

Reasons for yawning

From time immemorial, scientists have been arguing and trying to figure out why yawning is necessary. It is known that almost all living things on the planet yawn: from frogs to mammals. Yawning is generally thought to be due to boredom or not getting enough sleep. However, this is not the case, as proven by experts.

In a huge number of situations, a person opens his mouth to yawn because of what he is experiencing or if the room is stuffy. Stress provokes increased work of the brain, it seems to “overheat”, and then yawns are triggered.This relaxes the brain. Lack of oxygen can also cause yawning.

Interestingly, a yawning person can “infect” another. It has been proven to be related to the reflex of imitation and empathy. And even yawning was found to be beneficial. What exactly? It helps to get rid of stress, cope with fatigue, mental stress, and revitalize the brain. It also promotes the activity of the lacrimal glands, leads to a normal state of blood pressure, and improves mood.

Causes of hiccups

Hiccups never just happen. This is always getting rid of excess stress – usually with erratic excessive eating. If a person does not chew food well, then the food leads to injury to the walls of the esophagus, affecting the vagus nerve. It affects the diaphragm, producing air jerks.

Hiccups are completely unsafe. The reasons may be snacking on the run, conversations while eating, a passion for soda. If the hiccups are frequent, prolonged, then it’s time to check your digestive system.Indeed, behind this can be hidden dangerous diseases, including gastritis, intestinal obstruction, myocardial infarction, intervertebral disc compressed by a herniated disk, tumor of the neck, lungs, esophagus. Try to see a doctor as soon as possible with a similar symptom in order to exclude a lot of unpleasant ailments. -0-

Hiccups, Hiccups causes, How to get rid of hiccups, Frequent hiccups, Hiccups after eating

Frequent hiccups

As we already mentioned, frequent hiccups can result from damage or irritation of the nerves that affect the muscles of the diaphragm.Nerve damage can occur as a result of pleurisy or pneumonia. Pleurisy is a condition in which the lining of the lungs and chest becomes infected and inflamed, making breathing very difficult. And pneumonia develops when bacteria and viruses enter the lungs through the nose or mouth. Symptoms of pneumonia include fever, chills, and a cough that produces green or yellow mucus that sometimes contains droplets of blood.

Frequent hiccups can result from a malfunction of the central nervous system.When the central nervous system is damaged by a tumor, infection, or injury, our hiccup reflex also fails. What diseases can affect the nervous system so much that it will cause chronic hiccups?

Familiar names, nothing exotic. Meningitis, for example, also called spinal meningitis, causes inflammation of the brain and spinal cord. Symptoms of meningitis include mostly severe headaches, neck pain, and fever. And encephalitis causes swelling of the brain, and its symptoms are similar to those of a cold or flu.

Frequent hiccups can, among other things, be caused by chemotherapy. Cancer patients who have gone through several stages of chemotherapy often begin to hiccup due to the fact that their body is exposed to several powerful drugs at once. More than 30 percent of cancer patients experience frequent hiccups during chemotherapy. One of the causes of hiccups during chemotherapy is the action of the drug dexamethasone. In addition to frequent hiccups, dexamethasone also causes nausea, vomiting, and muscle weakness.

The risk of frequent hiccups is also increased by surgery and the effects of anesthesia. After the surgeon inserts breathing tubes into the trachea to perform procedures on the abdominal cavity, and also displaces internal organs during the operation, the risk of frequent hiccups increases significantly. Hiccups overtake a person after abdominal surgery due to the accumulation of air and gases in the internal cavities.

Why hiccups appear

Hiccups are familiar to everyone.This is an unpleasant, and at the same time, not a critical condition, which often causes laughter and almost never frightens a person. The reflex contraction of the diaphragm cannot be controlled. However, once you know the cause of the hiccups, there are a number of steps you can take to address it.

Contents:

What is hiccups and where does it come from

Hiccups occur when the diaphragm reacts to certain factors with contractions.Medicine suggests that hiccups are needed by the fetus in the womb to ensure the movement of amniotic fluid through the respiratory system. Often, a pregnant woman can feel the rhythmic jolts of the unborn baby, which is hiccups.

Medicine knows several cases of prolonged hiccups, the duration of which was more than two decades. Separate studies have identified settlements in which hiccups appear more often than in the rest of the country. Scientists’ curiosity made them pay special attention to a number of factors provoking hiccups, which prevail in each specific region.

The diaphragm is a flat, broad muscle that separates the chest from the abdomen. When it contracts sharply, a spasm of the lungs occurs, which does not go unnoticed by the entire respiratory system. Air passing by the vocal cords can be accompanied by sound.

Causes of hiccups

Hiccups can occur for several reasons:

• with hypothermia;
• due to stress;
• for overeating or fast food consumption;
• for dry food.

There are also neurological disorders that provoke a reflex contraction of the diaphragm. For example, if the vagus nerve, transmitting a signal from the lungs to the brain that it is necessary to make a breathing movement for inhalation or inhalation, begins to give false commands to contract the diaphragm.

A nerve irritated by external factors directs false impulses not only to the brain, but also to the spinal cord. As a result, the central nervous system forces the muscles of the respiratory system to contract.These movements can be compared to convulsions. The respiratory center of the brain loses its ability to control the process. The epiglottis occupies a position in the trachea that is characteristic of the swallowing reflex. In this case, the vocal cords are closed.

Such a contraction of the respiratory system can occur both during inhalation and exhalation. One effort of will cannot stop the process. Rare episodes of hiccups do not pose any health risks. However, regularly occurring spasms should be the reason for seeking help from a specialist.

Complications that can cause hiccups

There is an opinion that a person can die from prolonged hiccups. However, this is a myth. Death from hiccups has never been recorded. But the reason that provokes hiccups can be deadly.

For example, if the hiccups provoked cancer or disturbances in the work of the cardiovascular system, the patient risks losing his life, but the hiccups are not to blame for this.

Frequent intense attacks can lead to insufficient oxygen saturation of the blood, and at the same time to its oversaturation with carbon dioxide.This is a direct path to brain tissue hypoxia. Therefore, if hiccups often torment, you need to talk about this first with a therapist. He, having collected anamnesis, will refer you to a narrow specialist. Such a serious condition is extremely rare, but it still happens.

Severe hiccups can also cause side pain, which is common for beginner athletes while running. This is due to the constant jolts of the diaphragm, which, with its contractions, also touches the abdominal organs.

If hiccups torment from day to day, it interferes with sleep, which is why a person does not get enough sleep, feels overwhelmed and constantly tired.In this case, hiccups provoke depressive disorders.

During business negotiations, a cat puts a person in an awkward position. In this state, not everyone will dare to approach the leader or partner to resolve serious issues.

How to get rid of hiccups

The most effective method for stopping hiccups is called bag breathing. This is explained by the fact that saturating the blood with carbon dioxide, we concentrate the vagus nerve on the fact that the body needs a full breath.And this allows you to stop the messy sending of signals to the brain, forcing the diaphragm to contract in convulsions.

The second effective way to get rid of an accidentally attacked hiccup is to drink water, standing in the bird’s pose: fix your hands along the body, like folded wings, and tilt your body forward to reach for a glass of water. This requires outside help, because someone has to hold the glass. You need to drink in small sips, stretching your neck.

The third and most famous method is to hold your breath as much as possible by drawing more air into the lungs.Thus, it will be possible to push the diaphragm with the lungs and keep it in a calm position.

Hiccups in pregnant women

Hiccups during pregnancy is a normal variant that does not require medical intervention. It occurs especially often in the later stages, when the uterus occupies most of the abdominal cavity, constricting all other organs. And the fetus, with its periodic physical activity, adds inconvenience not only to the bladder and intestines, but also to the diaphragm and the lungs.

Along with obvious physiological changes associated with the location of internal organs, hormonal changes can also cause hiccups. Toxicosis is another phenomenon that causes hiccups in the early stages. If every morning starts with nausea and vomiting, it can affect the spasms of the diaphragm, causing hiccups.

It is worth discussing frequent hiccups with your obstetrician if they cause pain or other problems. If hiccups come from time to time, and go away by themselves, without causing obvious discomfort, it does not require treatment, because it is not dangerous for the expectant mother.