Folk Cures: Hiccups- United States
In order to cure the hiccups, I think about them and try to make the length in between hiccups longer each time.
Leslie spent her middle school and high school years in Wayne, N.J. in the late 60s/early 70s. She said she made this cure up herself when she was a teenager because no other cures (drinking water upside, holding her breath, etc.) worked. She realized that the cures that didnt work for her focused on forgetting about the hiccups, so she tried to think about them. Ironically, she found that thinking about them made them go away. She figures that she is concentrating so hard on them that she gains control and thats what cures them, rather than an outside influence (such as water or peanut butter) trying to suppress the hiccups with strength
Leslie says that she figured out this cure herself, and did not hear it from any other friends or family. It is an interesting tactic. The fact that it focuses on the hiccups, rather than trying to draw the victims focus off them or suppressing them with outside force, makes it stand out amongst the hundreds of cures around today. Curing the hiccups is a challenge; everybody finds one cure that works for them, but there is no single cure that works for everybody. For example, I find that drinking water upside-down works for me, and this method does not work.
An interesting note is that this always works for Leslie, 100% of the time and never fails. She said that she has never tried this method, only to find the hiccups remained after she was finished. This is a telling sign that something is right and the cure works, yet I have not heard of this method from anyone other than Leslie. Sometimes it could take hours for me to try and get rid of my hiccups, but for Leslie, it takes less than five minutes. The fact I have not heard of many people trying this method, despite the success it evidently has, shows that there are many cures for the hiccups, and people choose a cure based on what works for them.