We have been collecting hiccup remedies for more than 50 years. Some have been written up in prestigious medical journals such as the New England Journal of Medicine (December 23, 1971). Others have come to us from readers of our syndicated newspaper column. School teachers and bartenders tend to have lots of hiccup remedies to share. That’s because teachers often have to deal with a student who can disrupt a class with loud hiccups. Heavy drinkers tend to complain about hiccups, so bartenders have a couple of tried and true remedies for hiccups handy for such patrons.
We have written thousands of words about hiccups over the decades in books, newspaper columns and on this website. But, as you well know, if a picture is worth a thousand words, a video is worth far more. That is why Terry and I have put together this video on our YouTube channel to give you a very quick and handy demonstration of both classic and unusual hiccup remedies.
Here is a link to our latest YouTube video with some of our favorite remedies for Hiccups. Why not take a moment to watch us demonstrate each one?
Why Randomized Trials Are Ridiculous for Hiccups:
Ask most physicians about home remedies and they will get a snooty look on their face. They have been trained to believe that the only meaningful way to test a treatment is in a randomized controlled trial (RCT). Without a placebo arm, these health professionals discount “anecdotal” accounts of success.
Please do not get us wrong. We love RCTs. They are critical for approving new medications. But the most meaningful drug ever developed, penicillin, was not tested in a randomized controlled trial. This antibiotic was given to critically injured soldiers in military hospitals in north Africa between 1942 and 1943. Many recovered from what were potentially fatal infections. The physicians used common sense and their powers of observation to determine that penicillin was a life-saving medicine.
When it comes to home remedies, there are certain conditions that are so obvious that an RCT would be unnecessary. If someone nicks themself while slicing an onion and starts to bleed, you do not need a randomized controlled trial to tell if a dash of finely ground pepper has stopped the cut from bleeding. Either the cut continues to bleed or it stops promptly.
That is also true for hiccups. Either you are hiccuping or not. If a home remedy works, you will know it instantly. Here some of our stories about hiccups.
The Sugar Story:
Joe discovered this remedy in the pages of New England Journal of Medicine (December 23, 1971) over 50 years ago. The physicians who wrote it up described 20 patients who had been hiccuping from days to weeks. This was not a double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. Each patient was observed swallowing a spoonful of granulated sugar. The doctors saw that 19 out of the 20 stopped hiccuping. They speculated that the granules stimulated the phrenic nerve of the soft palate. They suspected that stimulation of that nerve somehow interrupted the hiccup reflex of the diaphragm.
Since then we have heard from lots of readers that a spoonful of sugar does indeed work against hiccups. And we agree that it is working through TRP (transient receptor potential) ion channels in the roof of the mouth. This stimulation likely triggers the vagus nerve to block the muscular contraction in the diaphragm that causes the hiccups.
Here is just one of the many stories we have received over the decades:
“My father has been plagued with hiccups at all hours of the day or night. His physician gave him samples of medications to try, but none worked. A friend of mine told me many years ago that a teaspoon of sugar stops hiccups. This is the only remedy that has worked. It is immediate and can last for hours. Sugar packets are easy to carry, too.”
There is a caution here that cannot be ignored. Frequent hiccups can be a warning sign that something is not right. We were gratified that this individual had seen a physician, even though the medications that were prescribed did not work. We would want anyone with persistent hiccups to have a complete medical workup to make sure there was not an underlying health problem that needed addressing.
Success With an Unexpected Question:
Q. If you are not totally bored with home remedies for hiccups, I would like to share my story. I have had great success with the “unexpected question” cure you described recently.
I stopped one coworker’s hiccups by asking if he knew “Jane” was pregnant. He knew three Janes, one of which was his girlfriend. None of them were pregnant but his hiccups immediately disappeared as he focused on figuring out the possible outcomes of that situation!
Another coworker was cured when I walked over to tell her that her mother was calling for her on the customer service line. She was so confused as to why her mother would contact her that way that she forgot to hiccup! The difficulty lies in finding appropriately confusing or distracting questions.
A. We admire your ingenuity! There’s no explanation we know for why this strategy might work, but others have reported similar success. When we asked for examples, we heard from a teacher.
Squelching Hiccups in School:
Q. You asked for anecdotal experiences using surprise as a remedy for hiccups. I taught high school and middle school for over 32 years. During this time, students would often get hiccups in class. I had a sure cure.
Sternly, I would look at the student and say, “You are disrupting the class! I am going to write a detention for you.” Some of the class would be horrified and come to the offender’s defense. Others would just smile because they knew me.
The affected student would look at me in terror and, like magic, the hiccups stopped.
I used this technique for years with success. In fact, some of my students still remember me doing this. So, yes, surprise works.
A. We still do not know why this tactic can stop hiccups. Our best guess is that a jolt of adrenaline might interrupt the nerve misfiring that leads to the hiccup reflex. Most remedies for hiccups activate the vagus nerve (Frontiers in Neuroscience, July 16, 2020). Perhaps that is also how your surprise tactic works.
Should You Gulp Gewurztraminer?
Q. When it comes to hiccups, none of the remedies like holding your breath, drinking water upside down or sucking on a lemon work for me.
However, I found that taking a full gulp of Gewurztraminer wine instantly stops the hiccups. The key is to take a fast full gulp to feel the tingling of the alcohol as it goes down your throat.
Sipping slowly does not work. If it’s just the alcohol, then other wines might work, but I know for sure that gulping Gewurztraminer stops my hiccups.
A. We had to chuckle at your hiccup cure. Gewurztraminer is a white wine traditionally produced in northern Italy, Germany and eastern France. It has been described as having a spicy flavor and we suspect that may be the reason you have found it helpful.
Many hiccup remedies appear to work by stimulating nerves in the roof of the mouth. These nerves contain transient receptor potential (TRP) channels that detect heat, cold and numerous natural compounds. That’s probably why pickle juice, lemon or Angostura bitters also help some people overcome hiccups.
If you like such home remedies, you may be interested in our collection: The People’s Pharmacy Quick & Handy Home Remedies. Your library may have a copy or you can find it in the book section of our store.
Other Remedies That Work:
Tim in Fishers, IN, suggests an unusual posture for swallowing:
“My cure for hiccups: I got this remedy a long time ago from a very old man in a bar, and he got it from his grandmother.
“You take a 1/4 cup of any liquid in your mouth. Stand up and bend over with your head as close to your knees as possible and drink it down. Bam! The hiccups are gone! I have tried this on many people besides myself and it works. I think the water pushes all the air out and down to the stomach.”
Sniffing Peanut Butter as a Hiccup Remedy:
Q. My daughter, who is 12 years old, has been using your remedy for hiccups. She was taking a spoonful of peanut butter and that successfully stopped her hiccups.
Now she claims she only has to open the jar and the SMELL of peanut butter stops the hiccups! We think that is pretty cool. What do you think?
A. It seems your daughter has successfully associated the smell of peanut butter with the nerve stimulation that stops hiccups. She is very smart. This is a safer way of handling hiccups, since some people choke on a spoonful of peanut butter. We have been taken to task for recommending the peanut butter remedy because of this potential risk.
Other Surprising Remedies for Hiccups:
Some other remedies have taken us by surprise.
One reader offered this:
“Hold a pencil in your mouth like a horse’s bit. With the pencil still in your mouth take a couple of gulps of water and try to swallow. I have tried this many times and it works!”
Currant Jelly for Post-Surgical Hiccups:
Another suggested a home remedy that was used for life-threatening post-surgical hiccups:
“Please take this home remedy seriously, as it could help many people with hiccups. After major surgery my husband almost died from severe hiccups. They were draining all his strength.
“A doctor recommended placing currant jelly under the tongue. Within seconds my husband was free from hiccups. They returned periodically and the jelly never failed to work.”
Acupuncture as a Hiccup Remedy:
A meta-analysis of five randomized controlled trials found that acupuncture may stop post-stroke hiccups quickly (Yue et al, Acupuncture in Medicine, March 2017). Randomized controlled trials of hiccup remedies are rare. These authors called for more and higher-quality studies of this approach.
A Hiccup Remedy That Needs a Helper:
Some hiccup cures require an accomplice, as this one does:
“Here’s a hiccup cure that I’ve used all my life and passed on to my kids: Have someone stand behind you and pull straight up on your ears while you take sips of water. I do this by myself by taking a mouthful of water and swallowing it in small amounts while pulling up on my ears. No kidding, it works every time!”
We ourselves often use a variant of this remedy. Instead of having the assistant pull up on your ears, have them push on the tragus, the little flap at the ear opening. This too works astonishingly well.
A Sip or Two of Vinegar-Laced Water:
Q. For an instantaneous, universal hiccup remedy that has never failed: 1 tsp. apple cider vinegar to 1/ 3 cup water (or less). This is the proportion I use (and have given out to innumerable people).
In truth, only one or two sips is necessary to stop the hiccups immediately every time!
A. We have been collecting hiccup remedies for more than 50 years. We suspect that the vinegar you are adding to the water stimulates transient receptor potential (TRP) channels in the mouth. Activating these receptors overwhelms the muscle contractions that lead to hiccups.
We suspect that this mechanism explains why your apple cider vinegar remedy can stop hiccups so quickly. Many people say that a sip or two of pickle juice also can reverse hiccups. Others insist that munching an olive will accomplish the goal as well. All of these remedies involve vinegar in some form and probably all work in the same way.
Not all remedies are beloved by everyone in the family:
“I wanted to tell you about my hiccup remedy that I have used since I was a kid. I don’t remember how I got started with this, but I think I just tried it on my own and it worked. Whenever I get the hiccups, I just swallow a teaspoon full of vinegar. My husband thinks it’s disgusting, but it always seems to work. I usually use apple cider vinegar, but it would be interesting to try a milder type, such as rice wine vinegar and see if it works!”
Some people use olives instead of plain vinegar. Both may work by triggering the transient receptor potential (TRP) channels on nerves.
Chocolate Chips Triumph:
One of our favorite hiccup remedies: a few chocolate chips. Others have reported that several spoons full of chocolate-chip mint ice cream does the trick.
Do you love reading about such remedies? If so, you are likely to enjoy our book, The People’s Pharmacy Quick & Handy Home Remedies: Q&As for Your Common Ailments. You will find lots of other hiccup remedies along with hundreds of simple solutions to everyday health problems.
And if you have a favorite or unusual hiccup remedy, please tell us about it in the section below for your thoughts.
If you enjoyed our YouTube video, please share it with friends and family members. Almost everyone will experience hiccups at some time or another. Just tell folks that they will discover lots of cool remedies for hiccups by going to YouTube and searching People’s Pharmacy for hiccups. Here is a handy link.
