Questions answered

By Sherry Seethaler

SAN DIEGO UNION TRIBUNE
January 19, 2005

QUESTION: Why do we hiccup?

– Jesse Alexander, El Cajon

ANSWER: Hiccups are involuntary contractions of the diaphragm – the main muscle used for breathing. The resulting intake of air is abruptly interrupted by the closing of the glottis – the opening between the vocal cords – leading to the characteristic sound.

Eating too fast or anything else that can trigger a sudden spasm of the diaphragm can cause hiccups. They are more likely to occur when the stomach is stretched following a meal. Certain medical conditions also can cause hiccups, such as a stroke that interferes with the part of the brain that regulates breathing, or an irritation of the diaphragm due to pneumonia.

Opinions vary on whether or not hiccups serve any purpose. One proposal is that hiccups are an evolutionary byproduct of respiratory behaviors in lower vertebrates. Another is that the hiccup may help to open the sphincter – a ringlike band of muscle – in the lower esophagus, permitting the escape of gas from the stomach and thus relieving pressure.

QUESTION: Why does taking a lump of sugar with a few drops of raspberry-flavored vinegar stop hiccups? (This is my son's cure and it has never failed. We have never tried it with plain or any other type of vinegar.)

– Liane Acito-Khan, Strasbourg, France

ANSWER: There are many folk remedies for hiccups. Some of which, such as drinking from the far side of a glass, may be more interesting to watch than effective. Interrupting the normal respiratory cycle by holding one's breath or being startled (gasping) sometimes provides relief. So can stimulating the back of the throat, as happens when you swallow a lump of sugar. The resulting nerve impulses must shut down the hiccup circuitry.

Presumably these home remedies did not work for Charles Osborne, who made it into the Guinness Book of Records for his 68-year attack of hiccups.

QUESTION: Is it really possible that in years to come a portion of California will break off or sink into the ocean? If so, would it be noticeable that it was happening?

– Tara Durham, El Cajon

ANSWER: No. Fortunately for us and unfortunately for Nevadans and Arizonans hoping for beachfront property, the Golden State is not going to drop off into the ocean. However, the Pacific Plate is sliding past the North American Plate at the rate of 2 inches per year along the San Andreas fault system – which extends from Cape Mendocino in Northern California to the Salton Sea in Southern California. So in around 15 million years something strange will happen: Los Angeles and San Francisco will become neighbors.

copyright 2005 The San Diego Union Tribune