Back in the Blogger Saddle

Wow, time flies! It's difficult to absorb that I have not posted here about hiccups in almost two months. Life has been very busy. Some recent comments on this blog reminded me to get back to the keyboard and thinking about singultus again.

In watching my Google Alerts, I have kept track of the great media response to the launch of The Hic-Cup. Last time I checked out the website ( about a month ago) there was a long page of media clips. Good job!

I also read about the passing of popular PittsburghMayor John O'Conner. I have written about him in a previous post and about his struggle with severe singultus as a result of his chemotherapy treatment for a brain tumor. Apparently, according to Pittsburgh radio reports, the makers of the Hic-Cup (The Hic-Cup Ltd.), sent a complimentary cup to the Mayor at the request of his family (despite the small odds of being able to successfully treat such an ill patient). I don't know if it helped at all, but I'm sure it was much more pleasant for him to try than the lemons he was being force-fed in another medieval remedy attempt.

My coaching and speaking engagements have been keeping me away from this blog, but I am almost through with a new article on Mind/Body Speaking Tips. Stay tuned...

In the meantime, you may enjoy this product review by one of my colleagues...


The Hic-Cup - 2006's Hottest New Gadget by Nora Knowles at Associated Content

The Best & Worst Hiccup Remedies- Part 2

As I have been compliling my catalog of hiccup remedies, the number of home remedies continues to grow exponentially! There are over 500 hiccup cures on the Web, indicating to me, once again, that there is a vast underground interest in this subject. A friend of mine in the Philadelphia area related to me that the talk radio program on BigTalk1210 hosted by Michael Smerconish has been talking about hiccups and hiccup cures all week. And remember that Jeff Elder column? Jeff relates that he had a flood of responses. Everyone has their favorite treatment, and most of them seem to come from Grandma. People are PASSIONATE about their "cure" and quite defensive about them as well. I find it all quite interesting...

Some of the worst remedies I have found are the ones that embarass the sufferer or try to distract them away from their hiccups. Scaring and threatening cures are included here. Like the nun who holds her hand menacingly over the sufferer's head and orders them to "hiccup,... hiccup NOW". Or the ones that you have to put yourself in an awkward position and then drink a lot of water. How about rubbing your ear? Or putting a fish bone on your head? Then there are the smart-asses that insist that you can just will them, or think them away. What an insult to those who truly suffer from singultus. If you don't really have PROBLEM hiccups, then these kiddie-cures are fine and may be enough for you. OK, be quiet and step aside so real singultus sufferers can find some true relief.

I also dislike the so-called remedies that ask you to ingest something. While it may sometimes work for some people, as often as not it will make singultus even worse. Let's not forget that you would have to have some of these odd items with you and be able to ingest them despite what yopu are doing. Sugar might not be too difficult to find (one of the "top" home remedies), but can be very difficult to get down your throat. Maybe it works (when it works) because of the gagging you experience influences the diaphragm. Peanut butter, pickle juice, and vinegar are also very popular horrible remedies. Try that while on a business trip speaking to potential clients or while you are suffering singultus as a side effect to medical treatment or pregnancy. Nice (...NOT!).

There are 2 hiccups "cures" on the internet that come up high in the search engines. Both of them annoy me in the extreme! The first one is the Hughes/Green Hiccup Cure and the other is the Jeff Goebel "World Famous Hiccup Cure". I'd like to turn a fire hose on both of these Bozo's. Both of these guys falsley claim that their "cure" "works every time"... BULLCRAP! Goebel even goes so far to say that you will never get the hiccups again. David Hughes seems like a total lunatic and rails against masturbation as being against God on the same site as well as "reveals" information about the end of the world. Goebel is ignorant and arrogant, not one of my favorite combinations. David Hughes would have you drink water continuously until "you feel like you're drowning". Why would anyone choose to do this to themselves, especially with medical issues or with a small child. "Here, darlin' just drink this until you think you'll die soon". Goebel insists that all you have to do is concentrate and wait for the next hiccup and it will never come. He claims that "all hiccup cures are the same cure". He also promotes the use of the word "BEEP" as an addition to concentrating. What a schmuck! The aspect that bothers me the most is the the endless claims by these clowns that theirs is the definative cure without any mention of medical conditions or science or seeing a medical professional if the cure just somehow does not work. I have seen the suffering, I have done the research, I have interviewed true sufferers, and both of these guys can jump off a cliff.

For average everyday hiccups the home remedies that work BEST are the ones that influence the Vagus and Phrenetic nerves directly. People have different types of hiccups and need to find what works the best for them. For some people additional help and support is required. Up until recently, the only medical support available were potentially dangerous medications like Thorazine. The newest option is the patented Hic-Cup, a readily available Class I medical device that "re-sets" the hiccup nerves with a mild electrical current created by simple galvanic action. According to inventor, Phil Ehlinger, it has worked without fail in 15 years of prototype testing. It has worked flawlessly for me and everyone I have shared my Hic-Cup with over the last 3 weeks. Yet, even Ehlinger acknowledges that this is NOT the ONLY cure for singultus (just the most discreet, reliable instant one). Ehlinger supports people finding what works for them while offerring the BEST option for real singultus treatment to those who need it. The company website goes on to warn people that IF the Hic-Cup does not work for them, 1) they can return it for a full refund, and 2) you should seek medical help as you may have a very serious illness indeed. Ehlinger sells the Hic-Cup online at www.Hic-Cups.com. Philadelphia news station CBS Channel 3 ran this piece on Ehlinger and the Hic-Cup ... Watch it Here

Skeptics, Cynics and Denial

I would consider myself to be a skeptic. I need to have something shown or proven to me before I can fully accept it. I enjoy experimentation and conducting informal tests and studies. I often involve my children, if possible and appropriate, to help teach them the underlying rules of testing something. I am also teaching them how to 'decide' about things; how to evaluate something with practical logic and minimal bias.

Cynics begin and end with a negative bias. They live in the past with their painful memories and project them into the future, desperately seeking to avoid further pain and distress. Their assessments are always based on incomplete or inaccurate information. They close themselves off from what is possible and true in the attempt to protect themselves from what is false. Cynics deny the good that is possible in order to maintain their addiction to the illusion of control. Cynics bring their own negative bias to every situation.

I had a chance to directly experience the difference between these attitudes this past weekend. Attending a large music festival replete with thousands of musicians, singers, teachers, and dance callers, I sensed that I had a great opportunity to test out my newly purchased Hic-Cup. My skeptical self wanted to get some evidence.

In sharing my 'project' with friends and festival neighbors I encountered both skeptics and cynics. The skeptics asked lots of good questions and looked for an opportunity to test it themselves. The cynics had a stream of negative comments and odd assumptions. They were scornful yet not at all inquisitive. The cynics had their minds already made up. How boring and small-minded!

So, I had the opportunity to test my newly purchased Hic-Cup, and as I hinted in my last post, it has worked wonderfully. One of my 'subjects' had been rushing around before the big Old-Time Band competition and gobbled down a burger and soda way too fast right before she had to get on stage and sing. Well between the food gulping and the carbonated soda, she got a bad case of the hiccups. She tried several of the popular home remedies yet all they did was make her feel nauseated. Word had been travelling rather quickly about what I was doing (another sign on how much people really do care about problem hiccups and I was actually summoned to the backstage area to try to help. The Hic-Cup worked as predicted and the singer was grateful, physically and emotionally.

Not only did I get to play the heroine several times, but I had 3 different medical professionals write down the Hic-Cup website address for themselves. One said he had 6 kidney transplant patients that would pay anything to get relief from their side-effect induced singultus. The other is an obstetrician who wanted to offer relief to her patients suffering pregnancy induced hiccups. The third is a nurse at a chemotherapy clinic, and again, wanted to offer relief to her already burdened patients. Maybe I should get a job with the Hic-Cup Ltd. ! ;)

I saw that some gadget website wrote a cynical review of this device. It seemed unfair as the author had not actually tried the device. The comments following once again reflected ignorance of the reality of problem hiccups. I'm glad most people can cure their hiccups easily with one of the popular home remedies. However, there is a significant population of folks that need more help. The small-mindedness of some people can never be changed. Oh well... Those who truly suffer with singultus can appreciate a reliable solution if they are open to it. Be skeptical (this product offers a full money back guarantee), but avoid cynicism. Don't deny yourself something great because it is different!

A Quickie from West Virginia

Just a quick post to share that this "Hic-Cup" thing is AWESOME! I am ready to propose that the "Hic-Cup" is the best hiccup cure ever! ... just what I've (and the world's) been waiting for. I am testing it out on everyone I can. So far it is flawless!

I am on a short vacation to an annual music festival in West Virginia, but I could not wait until next Monday to post about this invention. I have left the mountaintop and driven 30 minutes to Fayettville for some major espresso and an internet connection. This is a real musician's festival with hundreds of professional musicians and their friends and families camping, eating,socializing, dancing, singing and playing music together. I have had a surprisingly huge opportunity to test out "the World's first official hiccup cure". It is unbelievably great - and the science behind it, as well as the cultural conditioning and myths about it, has made for interesting conversations. :)

Well, this will have to do until Monday, and then I'll tell you more...

You've got to check out www.Hic-Cups.com. They are right,...reliable singultus relief is priceless!

I Found It!! The World's First Official Hiccup Cure!!

Halleluiah! Praise heaven and blessed be!

Its true. It does exist...just barely... The (potentially) BEST hiccup cure EVER has finally been invented! According to PRWeb, Phil Ehlinger
of Doylestown, Pennsylvania was awarded a United States patent in June 2006 for the first official science-based singultus cure. Ehlinger has been working on his design for over 10 years and his innovative medical device has been at the U.S. Patent Office for 3 years being reviewed and tested. Ehlinger came up with the idea after trying unsuccessfully to cure his expectant wife's singultus using the usual array of home remedies. Through trial and error he discovered that the methods that attempted to affect the diaphragm directly were most effective, yet not acceptably so. Drawing upon his experience from sailing and mechanical engineering, Ehlinger experimented with natural galvanic action to produce a sub-sensory bio-electric current. This completely safe electrical current re-sets the Vagus and Phrenic nerves instantly and reliably to calm the diaphragmatic spasms of the hiccups. This sounds promising!

I just bought a "Hic-Cup" on their (attractive) website www.Hic-cups.com. I will let you know as soon as possible how it works. If it does, I have a great Christmas gift in mind for a bunch of people I know.. They offer an unconditional 30-day money back guarantee and actually recommend you see your doctor if the Hic-Cup doesn't work. Remember, singultus can be a symptom of a serious illness.

I am so, so, so very happy to have some kind of relief in sight. That this is a natural cure, without side effects or potential drug interactions is great. My aunt, who is going through chemotherapy and suffering singultus as a side effect to treatment, may find some peace and relief from this exhausting and sometimes painful condition. A little natural healing amidst the chemo cocktails will be welcome... thanks, Phil.

FLASH! Hiccups keep Pittsburgh Mayor in Hospital - Singultus is a REAL Medical Problem!

Singultus has hit the news headlines this week as Pittsburgh Mayor John O'Conner remains hospitalized with chronic hiccups as a side effect to his cancer treatment.(Pittsburgh Tribune) Apparently about 30% of chemotherapy patients suffer this distressing side effect with treatment. The unfortunate Mayor O'Conner, despite the progress of his cancer treatment, is continuing to suffer, not only from painful and exhausting hiccups, but from the ridiculous home remedies his doctors and friends have attempted. It was reported in the Pittsburgh media that a very unhappy O'Conner was being forced fed lemon wedges by his security staff (The Pittsburgh Channel). Maybe if this medieval singultus remedy had worked it would have been worth putting an already uncomfortable man through additional discomfort and distress. But no, like the encyclopedia of basically worthless folk remedies this one was also useless for a REAL sufferer.

O'Conner's physicians decided to intravenously administer a high dose of the anti-nausea agent Reglan, which is another factor in keeping him hospitalized. All the medications that are used to treat singultus carry with them significant risk of side efects and dangerous drug interactions. I am HOT on the trail of a new invention that is reported to use bio-electric stimulation to instantly re-set the Vagus nerve and really cures singultus! This sounds really promising! One would think that these big newspapers in Pittsburgh would have sniffed this out already...shame on them!


Maybe this will raise awareness about singultus and the official "BEST HICCUP REMEDY" will be revealed!

The Best and Worst Hiccup Remedies-Part 1

While the world awaits the arrival of an official, reliable singultus cure, people around the globe have developed an encyclopedia of hiccup home remedies. While they are all desperate attempts to relieve a distressing condition, and deficient in many regards, there are some hiccup cures that are better than others. The best hiccup cures attempt to regulate the diaphragm muscles that cause the spasm. Unfortunately most of these remedies are quite unpleasant to perform and often involve ingesting some type of substance. They are just plain difficult for the very young, the elderly and infirm, as well as for the 30% of chemotherapy patients that suffer singultus as a side effect to treatment. Often the potentially best hiccup cures are also the worst ones for the sufferer.

For the mildest of hiccup cases, the methods that use some form of distraction can be helpful. Aside from only being effective for the mildest of cases, these techniques frequently require a level of focus and concentration difficult to achieve for most people in the context of modern life. For actual cases of singultus (problem hiccups) distraction methods are frustrating and sometimes insulting.

The worst remedies of all are in the vast majority of available choices. These are the silly and embarrassing ones that humiliate us and do nothing to relieve our distress. They seem to be a combination of the distraction methods and all sorts of superstitions and magical thinking. These are the urban legend hiccup cures! Fantastical, dramatic, and keeping us from demanding a real cure from the scientific community.

Acupressure, acupuncture, and yogic breathing techniques are the best hiccup cures that are based in some kind of science AND are not dangerous pharmaceuticals. Within the medical community itself, there are a handful of powerful drugs that are prescribed for intractable singultus. They carry a great deal of risk on their own. There are 2 medical techniques that are sometimes used, but both are uncommon to many medical professionals and are very unpleasant. However, they are both related to stimulating the nerves responsible for the spasms. This approach to nerve stimulation
seems the most promising for ending singultus and hopefully will lead to the best hiccup cure ever!

Modern Life Causes Singultus

The triggers of singultus are extremely many. Some of them are just everyday things like laughing, very hot or cold drinks and food or even spicy foods. But most of the triggers of problem hiccups are either caused by, or aggravated by the trials of modern life.

Smoking cigarettes and drinking alcohol can trigger the hiccups. Breathing fumes, eating and talking at the same time, eating too fast, eating too much and drinking carbonated beverages all can trigger singultus as well. Sounds like the description of an average day for an American business person. Other common triggers include cold showers, entering or leaving a hot or cold room, sudden excitement, and stress. Stress? Isn't modern life fraught with stress? So, the stressful condition of singultus is commonly triggered by stress. Seems like we need a reliable treatment more than ever!

The website WikiHow (www.WikiHow.com) along with several other sites, offer long lists of dubious home remedies. Ingesting dry sugar, mustard, lemon juice and peanut butter are commonly offered as solutions. Lying down, all types of breath holding rituals, and activities like pressing your eyeballs and rubbing your ear are also suggested. Some of these patently unreliable "treatments" are impractical and others are liable to make you feel like a jackass. Why is it so difficult to restore our dignity and calm with an ACTUAL treatment that maintains our disrupted dignity while using it?

Picture the nervous speaker before a speech getting the hiccups. How much would a reliable and instant hiccup cure be worth?

Blog Posts, Parkbench Stories and CNN

Everyday I continue to find many stories about people being really agitated and/or embarrassed by problem hiccups. Searching through blogs, I find hundreds of posts where people are ranting about hiccups. Yet, I seem to be a real thought leader in promoting the idea that we should not have to put up with this any longer as a society. Freaking Dolly the cloned sheep exists in a world where we cannot subdue an ancient biological reflex glitch. Come on...

I heard a great story (and yes, it was funny in its own way) on a parkbench from a mother who had 2 children on a commercial plane flight. Both kids got the hiccups. Apparently the soda they were offerred in-flight gave the kids a bad case of singultus. The mother and the flight attendants tried many of those 'lovely' and almost worthless folk remedies, desperately trying to quiet the children. Passengers were either 1) getting involved in trying to relieve the hiccups or 2) getting agitated themselves at the disturbance and becoming cranky. This increased the stress levels of the primary adults involved, and lo and behold, one of the flight attendants started hiccuping too. Now, some people began laughing while others complained, and the kids kept hiccuping since no "remedy" was working. Things were getting a bit frenzied. Picture it yourself...now...Someone suggests the 'spoonful of sugar remedy', they try it and for one kid it has no effect, the flight attendant stops hiccuping and then, the other kid vomits on her! Hmmm... Things just never settled down completly and the mom reports this was the worst flight of her life. I'm sure the surrounding passengers were not too pleased either.

I came across a report that was done a few months ago on CNN by Dr.Sanjay Gupta about hiccups. As much as I like and respect what Dr. Gupta does on CNN, I was dissappointed that it was "the same old song". He furthered the misguided notion that singultus only really bothers a very small percentage of people. He missed out completly on how this ancient and universal condition has a distressing effect on the 21st century communicator, let alone the modern general public. I do not blame him, we are all still programmed to accept this as OK and have become totally resigned to the distress and disruption and the idiotic cures we have desperately tried to come with on our own. I have written 'ol Sanjay, and sincerely hope that he actually reads my message and opens his mind to reconsider this "new" problem. My greatest hope is that he will do another piece on this and help change our collective perceptions about singultus.

I, myself, now and then find myself saying internally, "This is silly,... why are you even thinking this much about hiccups?" But then I blink, look at this subject again, and say "No, it really is not". I am still conditioned, too...

Folk Medicine and Urban Legends

The more I look into the subject of singultus, the more I uncover the depths of myth and mystery surrounding the subject.

I still am incredulous that we are as completly conditioned as we are. So many people have awful stories about problem hiccups! They are exhausting, often painful and so damn disruptive. A sales rep told me a story about blowing a huge a sales presentation because he got a bad case of hiccups (probably due to nerves anyway) and the 'folk remedies' he tried did nothing but make him feel more desperate and quite foolish. His audience actually snickered at him and could not focus on what he was saying. He claims to have lost a few thousand dollars in sales. Why is this not important?

I want to collect as many stories as possible like this one. When and/or how has singultus caused a problem, discomfort or embarrassment? What did it mean for you? How would a reliable, REAL hiccup cure have changed things for you?

I would also like to collect the most bizarre, ridiculous and just plain awful hiccup cures. I heard about disgusting, bitter Chinese herbs that are supposed to cure the hiccups but make one vomit instead... yeah, thanks for the help!

Post Your Stories (nightmares) Here... (ie.comments)

Singultus (problem hiccups): A Bigger Problem than we Think

The more I look around the Web, the more people I find suffering from problem hiccups. In an age of medical and technological miracles, we are curiously resigned to the pain, distress, and embarrassment of singultus. There are so many jobs that are impossible with bad hiccups - any performers, professional speakers, sales reps, stock traders, photographers,machinists,telemarketers... precision skills and clear speaking are ruined.

As a devotee' of natural cures and natural healing I was not put off by all the folk remedies out there until I realized that there are so many because nothing reliably works. I then started to feel annoyed at the insult of these silly remedies. I believe that if we take singultus as a serious performance issue, and call for an answer, someone will answer the call. So, here I am, starting a community of people that have had enough of tolerating hiccups. Let's tolerate them NO MORE!

I heard a rumor from someone in the Patent Office that a guy in Pennsylvania recently got a patent for a science-based cure for the hiccups. Story goes, he will be launching it this year. Anyone know anything? I'm really curious.

To Hell with Silly-ass Hiccups, Cure my Singultus

I have lost my patience with ridiculous, embarrassing and mostly ineffectual hiccup cures . Even the name "hiccups" is a joke! Why do we label a distressing and disruptive condition with the silly sound that it makes? When will this condition be taken seriously?

I realize that most hiccups are considered "normal", but for legions of people who communicate for a living, or do any kind of precision work, they cost time, money, and unneccesary stress. Try making a professional presentation to potential clients with a bad case of the hiccups. Try performing a soliliquay on stage , or playing the clarinet, or doing surgery. Not too funny.

Medical literature says that "normal" hiccups last about an hour or so (maximum) and then resolve themselves. An hour of loud, painful embarrassing hiccups may be acceptable to some people but not to me! I don't have the patience or the time! I want science to develop a reliable
cure for problem hiccups. In fact, I want people to stop resigning themselves to this universal malady and its stupid name and embrace the real name, singultus (SIN-JULT-US). Let's get serious people! Its the 21st century and we should be able to better than this!