The Unbelievable Antics We Use To Drive Hiccup Agony Astray

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Enduring a hiccup outbreak is one of the most embarrassing, frustrating things that can happen in your day. If you’re lucky, a bout with hiccups will be just that - a few minutes long and its business as usual. But what if you aren’t so lucky?

I had the hiccups four times in one day last week and I was convinced I was hexed and going to end up in the looney bin. I don’t know if it was the all of the excitement of the warm weather in St. Louis that caused it, but I was miserable. I could get about two words out at a time and then, "hic, hic, hic!" 

I used every antic/remedy I had ever heard and gave them a whirl:

• Hold your breath.
• Drink water upside down with a pencil in your mouth.
• Eat a teaspoon of sugar. 
• Eat a "Fluffernutter" sandwich, made with peanut butter and marshmallows.
• Hold your breath and then swallow three times. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.
• Yank on your tongue.
• Go to your "happy place" and think of something peaceful. 
• Stick your fingers in your ears and drink water (a two-man job.) 
• Anticipate the hiccup and say "beep" right before it.

All a dirty trick to make me look a fool, right? 

Collectively, I’m guessing the hiccups cost me about three hours of my life. In the end, I’m not sure what stopped my diaphragm spasms, but I know the last round ended with someone (purposefully) scaring the crap out of me.

Things could always be worse; remember this girl? Jennifer Mee hiccuped an average of 50 times a minute for over a month, poor thing! 

What’s the lore on hiccup remedies? Any favorite cures?