So how can you cure a hiccup? While a doctor might claim that all hiccup "cures" are really just old wives tales that have zero effect, other people claim that their favorite pet cure works every time. This is most likely due to a placebo effect and resignation to the universal yet under rated condition of problem hiccups (singultus). Interestingly, some of these folk remedies are on the correct path by having at least some basis in the science of the hiccup and singultus. With home remedies, the methods that attempt to relax or stimulate the diaphragm to be the most effective. Whether that "remedy" is a miracle cure or placebo effect is for you to decide. Here are some proposed methods that some people believe work. Your results may vary.
The Drinking Method
1. Get a 12 ounce glass of water
2. Plug your ears with fingers
3. Plug your nose with other fingers at the same time
4. Now pick up the glass with the remaining fingers
5. Drink as much as you can as fast as you can
If necessary repeat the steps. You will look silly, but your hiccups will be gone.
The 30 Seconds Cure
1. Start by inhaling through your mouth until your lungs feel full (when it feels like you cannot inhale any more). For overall best results, try to do this as quickly as you can. DO NOT LET ANY AIR OUT.
2. Swallow. You are not really swallowing anything but it seems thatwithout this act, it doesn’t work. DO NOT LET ANY AIR OUT.
3. Now inhale some more. You don’t need to inhale a lot, but do get some more air in. It will start to get difficult to do this as you go, but keep trying. You obviously can’t suck in as much air as you did initially, but just a little will do (think of it as taking a “sip” of air). DO NOT LET ANY AIR OUT.
4. Swallow again. This too will start to get difficult as you go. DO NOT LET ANY AIR OUT.
5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 until you cannot swallow again. While it seems you can almost always suck in just a little more air, it is the swallowing that gets to be impossible. When you feel like you cannot swallow again, swallow again anyway. It will be hard to do, your face will probably turn red, and you may make squeaking sounds. But you CAN swallow one last time. By this time, your lungs should also be quite full and it should be difficult to get much more air in as well. While you should try not to let any air out, if you have really repeated steps 3 and 4 as many times as you can, you probably will end up letting a little out before you can take that last swallow. If you find that air keeps escaping out of your nose even early in the process, try squeezing it shut with your fingers.
6. Exhale.
The Temple Method
1. Hold your breath but make sure it is a big breath
2. Have someone else hold your temples until you feel as though you cannot hold your breath anymore (If you do it to yourself then it does not work as well.)
3. Hiccups cured.
Burp
1. Drink lots of water.
2. Burp.
3. Repeat until the hiccups stop.
Straw Method
1. Get a glass of water and two straws, put one straw inside the glass as usual and the other straw pressed up against the side of the glass on the outside.
2. Put both straws in your mouth at once, drink the water like you would normally, taking as big of gulps as possible.
3. Drink a couple of gulps and then your hiccups should be gone!
Stretch Method
1. Stand upright with your feet hip-width apart, lock one thumb in the palm of your other hand with fingertips outstretched, lift your chin, look up and stretch your arms over your head (reach for the sky), pull your abs in as if trying to let your pants fall off your hips, and breathe deeply several times.
Sugar Method
1. Take a spoon and fill it with sugar, hold in your mouth for five seconds. Swallow. Take a sip of water. This is the simplest of all methods.