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Thread: Why do I get the hiccups when I eat bread?

  1. #1
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    Default Why do I get the hiccups when I eat bread?

    This has plagued me for years, and i don't understand why. If I eat a hearty, chewy piece of bread, say a whole grain, dense bread that is fairly dry without butter, I get the hiccups almost IMMEDIATELY after the first few bites.

    What does that have to do with eating? I thought the hiccups were a temporary spasm of the diaphragm as a result of irregular breathing. If it's worth noting, the hiccups I get after eating bread are really...violent, for lack of a better term. They physically hurt, are very loud and a very sharp upward spasm in my rib cage, not your cutesy little "tipsy ingenue" hiccups.
    The details of my life and how I'm trying to improve it: Donkey In A White Coat
    If at first you don't succeed, try again. Then stop, there's no point in making a fool of yourself - W. C. Fields

  2. #2
    Oliphaunt
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    Default Re: Why do I get the hiccups when I eat bread?

    All I have to say is that you're not alone, and you're the first other person I've heard of to experience this. It's not every time I eat bread, but it's often enough that I've noticed.

  3. #3
    Stegodon
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    Default Re: Why do I get the hiccups when I eat bread?

    Small bites, chew slowly, follow with water or other beverage.
    I am not a professional chef, but I dress like one at home.

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    Default Re: Why do I get the hiccups when I eat bread?

    Well, that's a way to prevent them, but what causes them? Surely not the bread itself.
    The details of my life and how I'm trying to improve it: Donkey In A White Coat
    If at first you don't succeed, try again. Then stop, there's no point in making a fool of yourself - W. C. Fields

  5. #5
    Oliphaunt featherlou's avatar
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    Default Re: Why do I get the hiccups when I eat bread?

    I get one hiccup every single time I start drinking soda (not the later sips, just the first one). I don't understand that, either.

  6. #6
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    Default Re: Why do I get the hiccups when I eat bread?

    I don't really understand the question, am I missing something? Dense bread is liable to get stuck in your esophagus. Drink a sip of water to wash it down and the hiccups should disappear instantly. Any time I have something stuck in my esophagus I get the hiccups until it's dislodged. Drinking some liquid is the quickest way to do that.

  7. #7
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    Default Re: Why do I get the hiccups when I eat bread?

    Nope, I'll get the hiccups for like fifteen minutes long after the bread is gone or I've had something to drink.
    The details of my life and how I'm trying to improve it: Donkey In A White Coat
    If at first you don't succeed, try again. Then stop, there's no point in making a fool of yourself - W. C. Fields

  8. #8
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    Default Re: Why do I get the hiccups when I eat bread?

    I have a similar problem, but with carrots. I frequently get the hiccups when I eat raw carrots. I've always wondered why that was.

  9. #9
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    Default Re: Why do I get the hiccups when I eat bread?

    Quote Originally posted by jarbabyj
    Nope, I'll get the hiccups for like fifteen minutes long after the bread is gone or I've had something to drink.
    Okay, I guess I'm no help . . .

    I still suspect it may be the same thing. In me the hiccup response disappears as soon as the trigger's removed, in you it stays around, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was basically the same thing -- something gets stuck too long in the esophagus, triggers an old, leftover reflex, and boom. It would make sense, since bread-y things are the right consistency to get caught.

  10. #10
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    Default Re: Why do I get the hiccups when I eat bread?

    I have a hiatus hernia, and am prone to getting Oesophageal Spasm with dysphagia (difficulty swallowing). This causes hiccup like contractions of the oesophagus/diaphragm, until the bolus (ball of chewed food) is dislodged. The fastest resolution is to swallow water or (preferably) carbonated liquid - the fizzy drink can break up the bolus a bit quicker. Common triggers are rice, chicken and bread. So I always have an excuse for several Kingfishers when eating a chicken korma, pilau rice and naan bread

    If things don't resolve in a few seconds, I'm off to the bathroom. It is amazing how fast your oesophagus can fill up with saliva and mucus when it cannot go down. It has got to come back out, or you can't breathe. Eventually the bolus dislodges and things return to normal, but the strained muscles can hurt for days (and retrosternal pain is indistinguishable from cardiac pain - I was a bit worried the first few times it happened). Now I have lost weight it certainly does not happen so often, and I don't get so much reflux, either. I also don't worry about heart attacks now that I am fitter - if I was going to go, it would have been a year ago when I started working out and really stressing my cardiac arteries.

    Si

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