Dr. S Goel

Involuntary contractions of the diaphragm muscle, located at the base of the lungs, causes hiccups. Such spasms cause the sudden, quick closure of the vocal cords, during air inhalation, causing you to gasp with the characteristic ‘hic’ sound. Hiccupping is an uncontrolled reflex action, often triggered for no apparent reason. 

They occur frequently and are more common in newborns and infants.  A hiccupping bout generally continues for a few minutes and subsides on its own.  These spasms generally occur in a constant rhythmic pattern. They are often set off by anything that creates a pressure on or around the diaphragm. These include:

1. Eating too fast or because of the speedy swallowing of food 
2. Consumption of exceptionally hot and spicy foods
3. Indigestion
4. Consumption of aerated fizzy beverages
5. Lack of sleep, stress and exhaustion
6. Pregnancy
7. Smoking
8. Excess consumption of Alcohol
9. Intake of certain medications

How problematic can they be?
In most cases, hiccups stop within a short period of time. Persistent hiccups however, keep occurring for over 48 hours and some continue for over a month, which are also medically termed as Intractable Hiccups. Medical attention is required when hiccups start interfering with sleeping or eating patterns, cause intense breathing difficulty and vomiting. Relentless hiccupping can be painful and extremely tiring. It creates discomfort in the upper abdominal region, and hinders normal routine.

Home remedies for it
Hiccups are generally not serious and most often resolved by simple home remedies. Some of these home remedies include quickly drinking a glass of water, holding your breath for a while or evenly breathing into a paper bag.

Persistent hiccups, that occur at frequent intervals and continue for weeks and months could, however, be indicative of an underlying serious health condition. Therefore, you must visit a doctor if your hiccups do not subside easily.

Incessant hiccups could be symptoms of any type of liver or abdominal disease or lung disease such as pneumonia. Strokes, brain tumours and certain nervous disorders may also cause hiccups; as such disorders create a disturbance in the functioning of the diaphragm. 

Medications
In case of painful, frequent hiccups, the physician may prescribe you some medications. These may include certain types of muscle relaxants, sedatives, analgesics or any other kind of stimulant that can help in providing a remedy.

How can you ‘prevent’ it?
The onset of a bout of hiccups, is mostly self induced, involuntary spasms, thus cannot often be predicted or prevented. However, certain precautions may be taken to avoid recurrence. Abstinence from smoking, controlled drinking, not gulping down food too fast are only a few ways that control the frequency of hiccups. However, it is always advisable to get yourself examined by a medical practitioner in case of a prolonged spell of hiccups.

As stated by Ayurveda, Panchakarma is carried out in order to perform detoxification of the human body. "Pancha" means five while "karma" means treatment, thereby alluding to the five routines that are used to lessen the problematic doshas. Panchakarma is used to oust the doshas that are in excess and correct uneven characters. Moreover, it wipes out the problematic "ama" from the framework through the body's organs and elimination methods. Panchakarma sanitizes the tissues in a deeper manner. It incorporates step by step massages as well as oil showers, natural enemas and nasal associations. Ayurveda prescribes Panchakarma as a general medication in maintaining mental as well as physical cleanliness and balance.

Like each single medicinal procedure, Panchakarma Therapy should be started with an interview with a qualified Ayurvedic doctor who can then determine the individual's "prakriti", the condition of the health issue and the best possible level of power of those supported medicines.

There are a variety of therapies that can be used during the "Panchakarma" process. Two or three processes can be utilized in combination with each other. The five different therapies are:

1. Abhyangasis the only home developed oil massage expected to deeply pass through the skin, loosen up the mind and body, differentiate between polluting influences, and recreate both blood and lymph stream. This brings about wanted conditions which is a raised state of mindfulness that will initiate and direct the inward repairing course of action of the body.
2. Garshana pharmaceuticals include brushing technique using a dry lymphatic skin with silk glove or wool. This redesigns the flow and cleanses the skin so that the oil and home developed drugs can go through the skin pores.
3. Swedana is an independently herbalized steam shower, in the midst of which, the head as well as the heart are cooled but the body is warmed to clear mental  and physical toxic substances held up significantly inside the tissues
4. Pizichili is a relentless pouring of warm, soothing herbalized oil applied on the body by two Ayurvedic physicians as they back rub the body in flawless agreement.
5. Udvartana is a highly probing common glue lymphatic massage which re-establishes the characteristic brilliance while taking out other dangerous components.

A majority of us would rather undergo any form of torture than go to a dentist. There is some great news for the ones who are silently enduring their dental pains. Read on as we reveal how to get rid of your teething troubles and that too painlessly!

#1- NO MORE INJECTIONS

If the fear of a needle is what’s keeping you away from the dental office, then think again as we can now numb you with as little as just a paste, spray or solution that doesn’t require an injection for its delivery. This revolutionary new technology takes away the prick of the needle and the pressure of the liquid expanding your lips and gums, instead, the solution enters by a digitally controlled dispenser going in drop by drop making it virtually undetectable.

#2- NO MORE DRILLING

The sound of the drill can be one of the most known triggers for creating fear and anxiety in the patient's mind. When coupled with its vibrations, heat and pressure the experience it creates oscillates from unpleasant to downright unbearable. If the drill were replaced by a beam of light that can clean up decay, even the most reluctant people would open up to the experience. Once patients experience the difference they not only get the most urgent and necessary treatments done but also opt for preventive treatments.

#3-  BLADE FREE SURGERIES

If you had to undergo a dental surgery earlier you may have had to worry about blood loss, pain, swelling, stitches not to mention the countless gory images that come to mind - but fortunately not anymore ! A surgery can be completely pain-free with little or no bleeding, Immediate recovery,no stitches and no swellings having you back at work or play almost instantly.

#4- QUICK & EASY ROOT CANALS

Root canal treatment as a procedure is probably more dreaded than even extraction or removal of a tooth. The pain and fear associated with this treatment are due to the primitive way that it used to be done in earlier. Automated technologies make root canals completely painless, precise, quick and smooth in as little as just one session.

#5- RELAXING MEDICATION

If these reasons do not sound convincing enough then pain relieving and controlling drugs before or during your appointment may be the solution for you.

Great strides have been made in the field of pharmacology with medication that can block or control pain centres in the brain.

We now choose from a variety of medication ranging from oral drugs to breathing gases through a mask, that can relieve your anxiety during the procedure to a point that you no longer perceive or detect pain.

The only thing left to fear now remains a nagging toothache in the back of your mouth that you have been ignoring.

As hard as it may seem to believe, truth is, that with the best technology, great ambience, and a host of distraction techniques - a dental appointment may actually turn out to be pleasant and save you a world of pain in the future!