h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

OK.. this is just really starting to bother me. I just seem to be one of those people that hickups really likes going to.. and staying with. Well.. I've tried all the tricks I know, but it doesn't help!
Anyone knows how to make hickups go away? They really don't fit in when I sing in the jazzchoir...

The only thing that has been rather effective with me, is holding my breath for as long as I can when it starts. Doing it several times. You could try doing that.

I too am a great sufferer - do you find that if you've had them once, you'll get them repeatedly for the next 24 hours?

My best solution is this, but you need a good friend who doesn't make you giggle:

If it is an 'intimate' friend:
Sit down, get them to stand behind you and block your ears with those little flaps in front of the earholes, while you take sips of a drink, preferably fizzy.

If the friend is not intimate then you block your ears while they hold the drink - but this is much more likely to be messy! A good alternative is to use a straw, especially if you are alone.

If you can't face this rigmarole, then a fizzy drink on its own can sometimes work...

My colleague across the office says to stand with your back to the wall and stretch your arms above your head - keeping themn against the wall - but I haven't tried that.

And my first aid book says to breathe in and out of a bunched-up paper bag, but I haven't tried that either!

Good luck!

I always get very loud and horribly embarrassing hiccups when I am drunk (it's a bit of a give-away) and I have found that the best cure is to hold your breath for as long as physically possible - unfortuantely, when drunk this isn't very long at all.

Well, I never actually tried holding my breath while being drunk.. but it could be interesting to try
Anyway, I was also recommended to hold a glass with water, and drink from the place of the glass that was the furthest away from me (yeah, without turning the glass around, that is!)
That ended up being a bit messy too.....

keep on breathing in, without exhaling for as long as possible.
It is just another variation of holding your breath for as long as possible, but if you can concentrate hard enough to do then it tends to work.

The drinking a drink with your ears blocked definitely works!!!! It is also slightly more effective if you block your nose at the same time. It does look stupid though

I always do this, and it always works:

Close your eyes, and take long deep breaths, breathe in and out really slowly, and concentrate. You'll feel them coming up, but if you just keep breathing and concentrating, they'll go away.

There are a number of causes of hiccoughs and therefore a number of ways of "curing" them. If the hiccough is a spasm of the epiglotis (little hiccough) then drinking water works, whereas if its a spasm of the chest (big hiccoughs) then holding your breath or blowing hard into a bottle works.

Drinking little sips of water (or any other fluid) at a time until you burp seems to work, though I don't know if it works for big hiccups or little hiccups

What's a 'Hiccough'? - I thought it was what old people did when they accidentally let a fart slip out!!

I know it looks odd - but that is how it should be...it is a very funny language, this!

Well, I think half the cures for hickups is placebo, and the other half are simply for amusement purposes. Like the one with drinking from the other end of the glass. Ppl look so funny while doing that. But I believe the hold your breath thing works, because it makes your stomach muscles at ease. And it´s apparently cramps in those that give you hickups.

Try this:

Inhale as much as you can - in fact, so much there's no room left for a hickup (not the easiest thing to do, believe me) and then hold your breath while swallowing 3 times - it has worked EVERY time for me, but only if I've managed to fill my lungs COMPLETELY...