“Hic!” You’ve just hiccuped for what seems like the tenth time since you finished your big dinner. Wonder where these funny noises are coming from? The part to blame is your diaphragm. This is a dome-shaped muscle at the bottom of your chest, and all hiccups start here.
The diaphragm almost always works perfectly. When you inhale, it pulls down to help pull air into the lungs. When you exhale, it pushes up to help push air out of the lungs. But sometimes the diaphragm becomes irritated. When this happens, it pulls down in a jerky way, which makes you suck air into your throat suddenly. When the air rushing in hits your voice box, you’re left with a big hiccup.
Some things that irritate the diaphragm are
1. Eating very quickly,
2. Eating something that is hot but still drinking cold water over it,
3. Sobbing or crying – Eating very spicy food,
4. Consuming very hot food,
5. Consuming excessive alcohol or soda,
6. Coughing badly,
7. Laughing badly.
8. air in your stomach
, an irritation in the stomach or the throat, or feeling nervous or excited. Almost all cases of the hiccups last only a few minutes. Some cases of the hiccups can last for days or weeks, but this is very unusual and it’s usually a sign of another medical problem.
Most of the time, doctors never find the cause of persistent hiccups. When a cause is found it is almost always something that irritates or presses on the nerves leading to the heart, lungs or diaphragm, such as a tumor, stomach ulcer, or irregular heart beats.