Do you constantly have hiccups and can't get rid of them no matter what home remedies you try? According to a study in the Journal of the American Medical Association Network Open, a certain straw can help. Aside from being described as successful in helping participants get rid of the hiccups, it is also said to have easily outperformed all traditional methods.
Getting Rid of Hiccups – What Makes the Straw?
For most, hiccups are just an occasional issue. If you don't have success with the usual tips against hiccups, just wait a while and the hiccups will disappear on their own. But sometimes hiccups also occur more frequently, which can severely limit the lives of those affected. And since many of the known methods are powerless against this problem, the doctor Dr. Ari Seifi from the University of Texas thoughts on a real solution. This is how his special straw was born, which he called the “forced inspiratory suction and swallowing tool (FISST) and now markets it under the name “HiccAway”. The difference toconventional strawis that you need more suction power to drink. And this should make it easier to get rid of the hiccups.
The manufacturers explain: “Drinking through the straw lowers the diaphragm while first opening it and then closing the epiglottis (the leaf-shaped valve in the throat that keeps food out of the windpipe). This simultaneously stimulates the phrenic and vagal nerves, allowing the brain to reset and stop the hiccups.”
The straw in the test
Hiccups usually come and go. Therefore, the success of the straw could be questioned. What if the annoying tick has disappeared on its own in the meantime? Dr. James Alvarez from the University of Texas based on a study. 249 volunteers took part. They used the straw and reported their experiences. Some of them suffered from hiccups only occasionally, others suffered from them every day, and some of the participants even suffered from outbreaks that lasted longer than 48 hours.
According to the newspaper, nearly 92 percent of participants said they got rid of their hiccups using HiccAway. On a scale of subjective effectiveness, the straw scored 4.58 out of five. An impressive 90 percent rated it better than home remedies. Those with the outbreaks gave lower scores, but were still generally impressed.
However, critics also emphasize the possible placebo effect and emphasize that a non-functioning version of the straw should have been used in the test. This is the only way to objectively prove whether you can get rid of hiccups with the straw. However, the inventors emphasize that very occasional persistent hiccups are a sign of something much more serious. HiccAway can act as a screening method, prompting unresponsive patients to have the problem investigated further.
The straw studycan be found here.
