*hic*

[squeequeg]

I know everybody has a cure for hiccups. But does anyone know how to prevent them?

The reason is that I've been waking up in the middle of the night with a bad case of the hiccups. I can't tell if it's the hiccups that wake me up, or if I wake up slightly and then the hiccups start, but I do know that by the time I've gotten the hiccups to stop, I am well and truly awake.

I like my sleep, and I get little enough of it as it is. I'd rather not lose any more to something as stupid as hiccups.

Comments

[spyscribe.livejournal.com]

Oh, I don't have any secrets, but if you get any, please pass them along.

I am a terrible hiccuper. No cute little hics for me, no. I get full-lunged body-shaking quakes that a friend once claimed he could hear from across campus.

I've noticed some triggers, mainly related to quick air temperature changes, but that probably isn't what's happening to you. And what you could do about it while asleep is an open question. Best of luck and sympathy then?

[stealthmuffin.livejournal.com]

Air temperature changes might be what did it -- it's been colder than Lucifer's Dantean nether regions lately, and when the heat kicks in it does so in a nice warm blast of air. So the heat turning on or shutting off might have triggered them. (And half the trouble is that when I hiccup, I wake up thomascantor...)

[scottahill.livejournal.com]

Googling "sleep hiccups" turned up this site (along with a peculiarly large number of spam sites):
http://www.ncemi.org/cse/cse0601.htm

Significant quote: "Persistence of hiccups during sleep suggests an organic cause, but conversely if a patient is unable to sleep or if the hiccups stop during sleep and recur promptly on awakening, this suggests a psychogenic or idiopathic etiology."

However, "idiopathic" means "having an unknown cause", so that's not very helpful. :)

Maybe you could try not eating anything for a few hours before bed? Otherwise, no clue.

[stealthmuffin.livejournal.com]

"An organic cause" meaning what, exactly? That they're entirely natural?

And psychogenic hiccups sound kind of cool. I suppose the least useful superpower would be to inflict hiccups at will.

[squirrelhaven.livejournal.com]

Alas, my hiccup cure/preventative, while effective and relatively fast, requires consciousness. (It involves concentrating on one's breath, which is tough to do while sleeping. Though it *is* pretty relaxing, so it might make it easier to fall back asleep afterwards?)

[stealthmuffin.livejournal.com]

That's usually enough to do it, but by the time they're gone, I'm awake. It's not even that I'm lying awake for a long time afterwards, just that the break in sleep is enough to disrupt everything down the line.

[minyan.livejournal.com]

Schedule a tiger to pounce on your chest and debate the state of nature? Waking up to floating golden eyes might scare 'em off, and if not it could keep your feet warm...

I get hiccups when I laugh, and all I know of to do is concentrate on my breathing for awhile. Or keep laughing and ignore them. Hope you find something soon!

[stealthmuffin.livejournal.com]

Tempting. Maybe I should rig up some weird Rube Goldberg device to scare me out of hiccups if I get them...

[pantshead.livejournal.com]

Pure speculation here--perhaps you're sleeping in a different position? Or have you been having difficulty breathing (from, say, a cold) recently? Three things that give me hiccups are laughing too hard, drinking something carbonated, and eating a lot of dry bread--all things that disrupt my normal breath pattern. I don't get sleep hiccups, but if I sleep on my back, I've been known to stop breathing for long enough that I wake up, sit straight up in bed, and cough, hack, and splutter until I begin breathing again. Maybe some type of intermittent breath pattern is giving you the hiccups?

Wishing you more restful nights!

[stealthmuffin.livejournal.com]

That actually makes sense. I don't always breathe regularly when I sleep -- some of it's snoring, some of it's being a light sleeper -- and it would seem to make sense that there's enough of a disruption to cause hiccups, which then wake me up further. Thanks!