I am very mildly infuriated by the fact that thinking "I am not a fish" genuinely works to stop Hiccups
Ok, here me out, this is so small compare to other c/mildlyinfuriating that people would not casually read what I have to say.
For the last 3 months I've had hiccups 5 times. And I have hiccedup 6 times in total. In Juin It happened for the first time. I had hiccuped once and it reminded me of stories about "telling yourself your not a fish" so at the second hiccup I told myself, "I am not a fish"
Boom, nothing at all. I was mad. Why. God damn why. I am almost now pissed I am not hiccupping this make no sense.
But maybe, it was a random one in a hundred lucky moment where I told it to myself when it naturally stopped. And I awaited the next time .
End of the month of Juin. Going down the stairs from the cafeteria after eating with people,
I had one.
The second it happened I thought to myself how angry I was before and instantly told myself "I am not a fish". And nothing after... Oh boy I was fuming, there is no reason on earth that thinking I am a biped, a homo sapiens sapiens. How can my brain forget that I sapiens the sapiens and goes back to fish mode. You have the capacity if you'd wish to, to build rockets, but you forget your a human and find a bribe of fish DNA in me somewhere, wow
So I continued for the next two month. And after 3 month of evaluation, I have come to the conclusion that for me, this indeed works, but have not accepted the fact this sh.itjust.works .
Thank you for hearing this, and I can only invite you to try it, I personally almost missed the funny feeling of hiccups today doing it almost automatically
Say this immediately after your hiccup, and if you get interrupted by another hiccup, try again:
"Hiccups are defined as a spasm of the diaphragm. A spasm is a random tensing of a muscle. If hiccups are random they will not occur in a pattern. Therefore these hiccups do not exist."
For some reason it doesn't work if you've been drinking but I've had multiple people text me and ask me for it because it's the only thing that works for them.
This leads to the only logical conclusion that hiccups occur due to your subconscious believing you are a fish. When you tell yourself that is incorrect, the body normalizes, and the hiccups disappear. Do I have this right?
That's the theory, yeah. That hiccups are something to do with switching between gills and lungs and that reminding yourself you're no longer a fish stops that.
I am part of the people who have the small voice in your head that you control most of the time, and which basically tells everything you think. This invented voice of my brain is the one that said "I am not a fish"
A hiccup (scientific name singultus, from Latin for "sob, hiccup"; also spelled hiccough) is an involuntary contraction (myoclonic jerk) of the diaphragm or a disability that may repeat several times per minute. The hiccup is an involuntary action involving a reflex arc. Once triggered, the reflex causes a strong contraction of the diaphragm followed about a quarter of a second later by closure of the vocal cords, which results in the "hic" sound.
OP's note: myoclonic is fancy for a brief, involuntary, irregular (lacking rhythm) twitching of a muscle, a joint, or a group of muscles
The phrenic nerve, also known as the major phrenic nerve, is an important nerve that plays a critical role in breathing. It originates from the spinal cord, specifically from the cervical vertebrae (C3-C5), and travels downward to reach the diaphragm, which is the primary muscle involved in breathing. The phrenic nerve controls the contraction of the diaphragm during inhalation, allowing the lungs to fill with air. If the phrenic nerve is injured or irritated, it can cause respiratory difficulties, such as hiccups, as it can lead to involuntary contractions of the diaphragm.
I have a really good trick to stop hiccups that an oncology nurse taught me as it often happens in cancer patients; have someone pull down on your earlobes while cupping your ears and pulling them gently forward, and while this happens you drink some water. I don't know the logic of it, it stimulates some nerve or something that helps it stop is all I know, but it genuinely does work. You can also do the ear part with one hand while drinking with the other. Yes I know it sounds very strange but it really does work.