Inspired by Dumdad’s comment yesterday,

‘Nettles and dock leaves: funny how this knowledge is handed down through the generations.’

…and an interesting episode with Miss M this morning,

I have a question for you.

How do you cure Hiccups?

Or is it Hiccoughs?

Hmmmmmm,

Inspired by Dumdad’s comment yesterday,

‘Nettles and dock leaves: funny how this knowledge is handed down through the generations.’

and an interesting episode with Miss M this morning,

I have 2 questions for you.

1. How do you spell Hiccups/Hiccoughs?

2. How do you cure hiccups/hiccoughs?

Ooo, wait a moment, I’ll check…

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/hiccup
‘hic·cup [hik-uhp, -uhp]
a quick, involuntary inhalation that follows a spasm of the diaphragm and is suddenly checked by closure of the glottis, producing a short, relatively sharp sound.
Also, hic-cough’

Phew, glad we got that sorted.

Ok.

How do you cure hiccups?

Miss M had the hiccups this morning.

I can always tell when she’s going to get them.

She gets them when she laughs too much.

I know, I know, a 2 year old can never laugh too much, but, if Miss M laughs too much she gets the hiccups.

Miss E is the same.

They’ve both always been ‘hiccupers’.
Even in the womb.

The first time I felt Miss E, who was then known as ‘plum bob’, (We found out I was pregnant when she was about the size of a plum. The plum-bob bit was a homage to the Waltons. Don’t ask.),… hiccup, I thought,

‘Ahhh how cute.’

It was an unmistakable regular rhythm that made the little form inside me jump and made me and Mr B smile.

Of course by the time plum-bob was 2 weeks overdue and hiccuping every night as I was about to drop off, it was less cute, infact it was blumming annoying.

Imagine.

You’re climbing into bed.

Well I say climb, it’s more kind of drop and roll.

I feel like a ship in full sale, a figurehead lying low in rough seas, almost ready to bail. I move slowly into port, ready to close my eyes and rock into a gentle sleep.

Then it begins.

A shivering in the ballast, a quaking that knocks me off keel.

Me: “Oooo, the plum is hiccuping again.”

Mr B: “Oh my God, I can see it.”

Me: “Bugger, bugger, bugger. That’s me not sleeping for the next half an hour then.”

When E was younger and her hiccuping continued I had visions of a record breaking Guiness Book of Records style hiccuping affliction, so each time the hiccuping stopped I breathed a sigh of relief. (very carefully.)

According to the Guiness Book of Records, (excerpt from Powell’s Books)

“Longest attack of hiccups Charles Osborne (USA) began hiccuping in 1922 while attempting to weigh a hog before slaughtering it. He was unable to find a cure but led a normal life in which he had two wives and fathered eight children. He continued hiccuping until one morning in February, 1990, 68 years later.”

Imagine that?

Torture.

And he managed to father 8 kids. I bet if he’d had to carry them he’d have had less.

Anyway, after dumdad’s comment I got to thinking about the various hiccuping ‘cures’ handed down through the family.

1. Grandad Booth.
Have a spoonful of sugar soaked in vinegar.

I tried this once and it worked. It has never worked since.
Maybe it worked because I did it straight after my Grandad told me and I believed him.
Or maybe they were about to stop anyway.
It didn’t taste very nice though.

2. Great Auntie Evelyn. (I think.)
Drink from the other side of the glass.

As a kid I remember thinking really hard about this one.

Does she mean have a drink, then turn the glass round and drink from the other side?
I tried it.
It didn’t work.

Then I tried to put my mouth on the other side of the glass and bend right over so the glass actually tiped away from my body and into my mouth.
This one has worked a few times but also means getting soaked and the possibility of choking so I wouldn’t recommend this one for use with small children.

3. Definitely Great Auntie Evelyn.

A shock/fright, like a cold key down the back of the neck.

My brothers and sister used to try this cure quite regularly, often when the victim didn’t even have hiccups.
Preventative medicine?

(I’ve also heard of this being a cure for nose bleeds??)

Being the responsible blogger that I am I decided to research this terrible affliction further and found this interesting site, aptly named ‘A cure for Hiccups (A Cure For Hiccoughs)’ authored by Stephen Malinowski.

The site lists cures under various headings from ‘Mental’ to ‘Hazardous’.
I have chosen a select few that caught my eye…

• Think of all the bald men you can. (Erm, ok.)
• Blow on your thumb (as if you were blowing up a balloon). (Hee hee)
• Close your mouth and breathe easily through your nose; swallow easily once; tell yourself: The electrical system short you have experienced has been corrected and your hick-up is gone” (What??)
  Threateningly point a gun at the subject. (Is there any time when pointing a gun at somebody is not threatening? You’ll be pleased to know this one is listed under hazardus.)
  

The site also lists the medical name for hiccups, ‘singultus’, causes of hiccups, and even a list of childrens books on the subject.

I like the sound of The Hiccupotamus by Aaron Zenz, which was given a 5 star rating and is available from Amazon.

So, over to you guys.

Have you any interesting and unusual cures for, or stories about hiccups/hiccoughs?