HOW TO STOP HICCOUGHS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20898, 13 June 1931, Page 7 (Supplement)

HOW TO STOP HICCOUGHS.

The ordinary common-or-garden Hiccoughs occur suddenly and usually last only a ihort time. They aro tiresome, but usually harmless. They are duo to recurring spasms of the diaphragm and generally come on after an excessively largo meal or tho excessive drinking of alcohol. Various methods may be tried to stop them. (1) Swallow vigorously two or three times. Then take a deep breath and hold it. At tho same time contract your upper abdominal muscles as though you wero trying to expel your breath, which, however, you continue to hold. (2) Sip rapidly a glass of cold water. (3) If you aro alono in tho room you may, •without lowering your dignity, lie flat on your stomach across a hard-bottomed chair. (4) Close your eyes and then press with your fingers on the eyeballs through the lids. Occasionally, however, none of (liese remedies works, and you just have to wait until they go of their own free will. But remember sometimes hiccoughs o.ro a serious matter. If they occur in quick succession and continue for a long time, so that the sufferer is actually distressed and exhausted by them, one should cease to regard them as a joke. Sometimes it is necessary to call in a doctor, who may actually have to inject morphia to stop them. Occasionally, when simple remedies fail, the application of ice or very cold water to the mid part of the upper abdomen immediately below the ribs may bring relief. There have been epidemics of hiccoughs of a most intractable kind. Also hiccoughs sometimes occur ns a symptom of sleepy sickness. When long continued in young or old they should, therefore, not be regarded too lightly.