spaf@gatech.UUCP (06/10/83)
Well, I've found at least one hiccup cure that works much of
the time. It sounds odd, but I have found that if I take
a Q-tip and rub the inside of my ears (fairly far in -- not
so as to be painful) it stops the hiccups. I really
don't know why, but...
Another method relies on the idea of getting your concentration
on something else. Therefore, try a sexual encounter with
the person/animal/object of your choice. If you can't change
your breathing habits and your focus of attention, you obviously
aren't trying. If everybody tries this and gets this
cure deeply imbedded in the folklore, I'll need to find
a good cause for hiccups and then visit one of the sororities....
A third method that I have had work is to find an overhead bar
and hang from it (something like a chinning bar). Stretching
my back out and taking a few deep breaths seems to work well.
I won't conjecture exactly why, but it works quickly. Perhaps
a visit to a chiropractor would do the same. Or combine it
with the second cure and visit a massage parlor.
Now for a bit of hiccup humor. I had developed a bad case of
the hiccups by (unwisely) having some cold water after some
prolonged exercise. As I was driving home with my roommate
the hiccups were getting quite painful and frequent. I commented
to my roommate that I was in pain. He tends to look at life
rather oddly and came up with an observation which convulsed
me in laughter, doubled my hiccups, and nearly killed me (it seemed).
So, if you are around someone with hiccups and feel particularly
sadistic, look thoughtfully into the distance and enquire:
"A hiccup is kind of like a burp in reverse. Imagine what
kind of shape you'd be in if you could manage the hiccup
version of ...[flatulence]?"
Cheers,
--
"The soapbox of Gene Spafford"
Spaf @ GATech (CS Net)
Spaf.GATech @ UDel-Relay (ARPA) School of ICS
...!{sb1, allegra}!gatech!spaf (uucp) Georgia Tech
...!duke!mcnc!msdc!gatech!spaf Atlanta, GA 30332bj@yale-com.UUCP (06/14/83)
Well, I've found at least one hiccup cure that works much of
the time. It sounds odd, but I have found that if I take
a Q-tip and rub the inside of my ears (fairly far in -- not
so as to be painful) it stops the hiccups. I really
don't know why, but...
I sometimes make myself cough by using a Q-tip in my ear. I feel a
tickling sensation in my throut. I assumed it was some sort of
confusion with the nerve connections. I have also noted similar
comfusion between other pairs of points on my body, but quite rarely.
(How would you like the job of managing a switchboard as complicated
as your nervious system).
B.J.
Herbison-BJ@Yale
decvax!yale-comix!herbison-bjtrb@floyd.UUCP (06/15/83)
yale-com!bj talks about using Q-tips* to swab out your ears and stop hiccups. I'm going to sound like your mother, but I'm going to say this anyway, as a public service. Don't go jamming Q-tips into the ear canal. I was a teenage Q-tips addict and my ears eventually got clogged up with cotton and infected cruft. A doctor had to flush out my ears and so much gunge came out of my ears that you'd have thought it was a miracle. Having infected ears is no fun either, not to mention the fact that there's potential for permanent damage. Also, I use Q-tips brand swabs, for historical reasons. I really think that the Johnson + Johnson ones hold together better, the cotton tips are less likely to come apart in your ear. I'm still a Q-tips addict, but now it's under control. (That's what they tell us at the QA meetings). Andy Tannenbaum Bell Labs Whippany, NJ (201) 386-6491 ----- Q-Tips is a registered trademark of Cheesebrough Ponds Inc.
hutch@dadla-b.UUCP (06/15/83)
Yes, the reference about walnuts as a hiccup cure was from the Dick Van Dyke show. Specifically, the particular episode was one where Rob and Laura stayed up late one night watching a space horror flick and then both ended up dreaming that they were in the story. The story was that there was this alien race which had invaded Earth, being very humanlike. The major difference between us and them was that they had an eye in the back of their heads, and no thumbs, which is how their rulers kept them in line (people without thumbs cannot use normal tools). They invaded earth by transforming humans into their form of life, which only ate walnuts. tres strange. That is why when I read the article about pressing on the soft palate with the thumbs to cure hiccups, and the reply "what if you have no thumbs," I broke out laughing, which annoyed my cubicle mates. As far as I know. it is unsafe to put walnuts in your mouth when you have the hiccups, and I advise strongly against it unless you are trained in the Heimlich maneuver. Hutch
benson@dcdwest.UUCP (06/15/83)
I agree with Andy about not putting Q-tips (or anything smaller than your elbow) into the ear canal. This is mostly in defense of your eardrum. One additional fact (surmise, groundless belief) I would like to put forth is that earwax is not without its ' benefits. The canal is a warm, moist place, ideal for growing fungi. The wax may act as a shield to prevent the dread Otitis Externa. Those of us who have on occasion suffered from this know the embarrasment of walking through life with one's little finger digging in their ear. (By the way, I was told once that the French name for the little finger is auricular, meaning the ear finger. Guess Otitis Externa spares no one, not even the elegant French.) Peter Benson decvax!ittvax!dcdwest!benson
laura@utcsstat.UUCP (06/17/83)
re Lauren's cure: It works. A straw is very useful. I plug my nose too. DONT try it with Ginger Ale (or any other soda drink) instead of water. Someday you may botch it and get the water down your nose - it happens to the best of us, and the pain of carbonated nose-drops cannot be adequately described. (That's why I plug my nose.) laura utzoo!utcsstat!laura