Hiccups

I believe we were discussing this in class, some while ago. I ran across an article which claims a link between hiccups and cancer! I'm amazed how literally everything now-a-days leads to cancer. Professor Tom Walsh, from Dublin, conducted some studies and found that hiccups in cancer patients could be linked to the phrenic nerve, the motor nerve of the diaphragm.

The Article

A little background on hiccups:
Hiccups are sudden, involuntary contractions of the diaphragm muscle. As the muscle contracts repeatedly, the opening between your vocal cords snaps shut to check the inflow of air and makes the hiccup sound. Irritation of the nerves that extend from the neck to the chest can cause hiccups. Hiccups are not serious and have no clear reason for occurring. The few causes of hiccups:
Eating too fast, or swallowing air with you food
Eating too much, or drinking too much (fluids such as alcohol, drunk people hiccup)
Hiccups are sometimes thought off as a mechanism that is preventing a person from choking, because the stomach sits on top of the diaphragm.

You should see a doctor if hiccup persists for 3 hours.... or if you blood is coming out of your mouth.

Some home remedies:
Hold your breath.
Drink a glass of water quickly.
Become frightened.
Use smelling salts.
Pull hard on your tongue.
Place one-half teaspoon of dry sugar on the back of your tongue. (You can repeat this process 3 times at 2-minute intervals. Use corn syrup, not sugar, in young children.)
Even breathing in a bag has been suggested.

I just found this to be interesting, and wanted to post on it.
I hope you enjoyed it. Now you know what to do when you hiccup, and if you hiccup too much, you might have cancer!


-Sumedh Mankar