Tag: hiccups

Hiccups

I used to get the hiccups all the time. I mean all the time. Not only that, but they were never ending. I tried all the things you’re supposed to try to get your hiccups to stop and nothing ever worked. Nothing. Ever.

Eventually the problem was solved by the great Bill Nye the Science Guy. He had a video… somewhere… that I watched that said to get your hiccups to stop you have to get your brain to stop waffling between the am-I-breathing and am-I-swallowing states and force it to do one or the other. He said to take a drink, but instead of drinking normally, take five small gulps in quick succession. Gulp-gulp-gulp-gulp-gulp.

I tried it. Lo and Behold, it worked.

Oh the gloriousness, it worked.

Then I had the Gastric Bypass Surgery. Fast forward a little over two years and I was talking about something with my wife and it occurred to me that I had not had the hiccups once since the surgery. Not once. That was lucky, as Bill Nye the Science Guy’s cure would have been tough for me because I couldn’t drink fast anymore. I had to pause between sips, and the sips had to be small. As time continues to pass, that is less and less of an issue. I can’t gulp drinks like I used to, but it is not as difficult as it was in the early post-surgery days.

Which is lucky, because tonight after dinner… for the first time in two years and almost six months…

I had the hiccups.

Bill Nye’s trick still works, thank goodness.

Coffee is Gross

I took my laptop and a microphone to the kids’ karate tonight so that I could do some singing/writing in the car while waiting for the class to let out.  I drove over to the far side of the parking lot, set everything up, picked the song I wanted to work on, and started hiccuping.  Sing a line, hiccup.  Sing half a line, hiccup.  Sing a syllable, hiccup.  I couldn’t stand it anymore.  

Bill Nye the Science Guy taught me that the way to get rid of hiccups is to take five quick sips of water.  That always works for me.  I didn’t have any water (nothing is worse than needing to take a leak while waiting outside in 17 degree weather) and the only drink available was an 11 hour old cup of dunkin donuts iced coffee.  Damn, I grabbed it and sipped it five times. 

That was the single most disgusting moment of my life.  Never, ever, have I been that grossed out by anything.  I wanted to vomit.  I wanted to hurl.  I wanted to blow chunks all over the front of the car.  

The hiccups stopped though, and I was able to get a whole vocal done on RPMarch01.  Granted, it’s awful and I’ll have to do it again, but I got it done for now.