Home hiccups remedies may work for some

You're in the middle of an interview, right out of college, for a company that could be the start of your dream career and you suddenly get the hiccups. You wonder which of the numerous supposed remedies will cure the annoyance.

"There are a couple hundred home remedies," biology professor David Jaynes said.

According to a study done by the University of Michigan, a teaspoon of ordinary table sugar, swallowed dry, cured hiccups in 19 out of 20 people, stated the Health on the Net Foundation Web site.

Yahoo's health Web site suggested holding your breath, breathing rapidly into a paper bag, drinking a glass of cold water or eating a teaspoon of sugar as home remedies to stop hiccups.

"The reason I think there are so many remedies for hiccups is because there are so many different causes," Jaynes said.

A hiccup is a sound produced by unintentional movement of the diaphragm, the muscle at the base of the lungs, followed by rapid closure of the vocal cords, according to Yahoo's health Web site.

The causes of hiccups include indigestion, irritation of the diaphragm, alcoholism, certain cerebral lesions or hysteria, according to the 1981 "Taber's Cyclopedic Medical Dictionary."

"A spoonful of sugar calms the [gastrointestinal] track," Jaynes said.

Babies get hiccups often because of the amount of air they intake while nursing, according to Jaynes. Jaynes also said a fetus will hiccup in order to strengthen the diaphragm muscle and prepare it for breathing once it is out of the womb.

Myths also circulate that someone who has the hiccups is growing. Jaynes said this may be a common belief because younger children have hiccups more frequently than adults, as a result of relative anatomy, the size of their stomachs and other organs.

"When children drink soda, it expands in the stomach, which applies pressure to the diaphragm," Jaynes said.

According to the medical dictionary, if hiccups are prolonged, they may cause serious problems.

Conditions that can cause chronic hiccups include liver disease, a stomach ulcer, inflammatory bowel disease, kidney disease, lung diseases including cancer, heart attack, psychological disturbances and certain medications.

Yahoo's health Web site said to treat persistent hiccups, a health care provider may perform gastric lavage, which is the massaging of the carotid sinus in the neck. Doctors also can prescribe antibiotics for serious cases.

"One of my colleague's husbands had hiccups for three days," said Ann Simmons, coordinator of health education and wellness programs. "He was in a lot of pain, and eventually was prescribed a medication to get rid of them."

According to Dr. Michael Alexiou, surgeon of the head and neck, ear, nose and throat, hiccups can be inhibited when carbon dioxide is high in the blood. He suggests rebreathing in a paper bag, eating bread or holding one's breath, which increases carbon dioxide in the blood.