Anxiety and hiccups

Hi friends ,
Anxiety is deep rooted I believe .its connected to our subconscious mind.
I had unstoppable hiccups last night and to stop them I drank water,guess what I puked(so grossed..sorry)
After that I could barely sleep.

My anxiety is spiraling out of control.

I am worried now.

Did that happen to you anytime.

How to control hiccups without water....any ideas.

Thank you all.

i'm so sorry you're going through this right now. how exhausting.

the reason we get hiccups is our diaphragm muscle gets all twitchy which, because of its placement (just below the lungs), has a direct connection to the breathing. and it's right at our core so it's super jarring to the whole system. the way you stop any muscle from spasm is via controlled massage or suppression, usually, and there's really only one way to do that with the diaphragm: through the lungs.

that's why the old wives' tale is to hold to the count of ten, but the count of ten isn't necessarily going to work for everyone and it's not enough to just suck in a breath. you need to pay a little closer attention to your body than that to get what you need out of the practice.

here's the breathing method that has worked for me every time for years.

take in a breath slowly, as deeply into your lungs as you can, for as many beats you can without feeling like you're going to over-extend yourself. if it helps to count, do so, but you're not looking to reach any specific number. if not, just go by how you feel -- you don't want to get to where you feel like you're going to burst.

once you've taken in as much air as you can to fill your lungs, hold it for as long as you can without needing to burst. again, count if it helps but you don't have to. it might help you to know what your usual threshold is but this is not exact and it will help you best if you can just focus on how it feels rather than adhering to a formula.

once you've held it in as long as you can, release it slowly through your mouth, again so that you're not rushing to exhale and gasping for more.

there's no exact number of breaths it will take and you may hiccup in between or even while you're holding your breath. it may seem like it's not working but given some time it will eventually encourage your diaphragm to calm down and go back to doing what it's supposed to, which is to assist breathing rather than interfere with it.

it won't be terrible for your anxiety, either.

good luck, friend. hang in there.

Cilly,

Sending you well wishes both for the anxiety and the hiccups.

I hope you find relief for both and can enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Hugs,

S.C.

Hi Cilly,
I hope this episode is over and you've found relief.