I read an article recently claiming a spoonful of sugar cures hiccups about 93% of the time. This is the first I hear of this. If it's true, why doesn't anyone seem to know about it? All I ever heard about was holding your breath, or breathing into a paper bag, or scaring the daylights out of the hiccupping party. The cures I'm familiar with always seemed to require a dash of drama. (My colleague, for example, suggests panting. I can't wait to try that out.)
I can only attribute the ignorance of the sugarcure to a misanthropic theory that people subconsciously don't want to be cured of the hiccups because they get pleasure from annoying their loved ones and crave attention. So maybe we've all been told of this cure before but we "forgot." I think of my sister who hiccupped through her youth only to terrorize me, not because she really had the hiccups. Or the people who talk to themselves constantly, who seem totally unperturbed by it, even when everyone else is pulling their hair out.
Both of my kids recently had the hiccups and I tried telling them that it was all in their heads. Which actually did the trick. I'm sure it was a fluke, but still, may work as a last resort.
Thursday, April 07, 2011
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5 comments:
I grew up on the spoonful of sugar theory!
But I have another cure that works like a charm, like yours did.
Can't remember where I heard this. But a spoon in a glass of water has worked on several occasions. Placebo?
Coincidence?
the only time i've ever heard of the spoonful of sugar thing is in Mary Poppins.
basta un poco di zucchero
la pillola va giu
la pillola va giiiuuuu
pillola va giu...
When I was a kid my father used to promise to give me a five pound note if I hiccuped again. Which actually worked, until one day I hiccuped after he offered it, and he didn't give me the money, which pretty much broke the spell.
I have been using the sugar cure for hiccups since I read about it in a magazine about twenty years ago. It works well! My mother always claimed the best remedy was seven slow sips of water and while I admire the inherent sibilance of her chosen cure, I have not found it to be particularly effective...
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