Everyone has had the hiccups before. They can be caused by several different things, including eating or drinking too quickly and swallowing too much air. Science knows what hiccups are, but not how to stop them. Most cases of the hiccups last five to 10 minutes. However, some go on for long periods of time and some people suffer from them quite frequently. These types of hiccups can be annoying, painful, and make talking and concentrating very challenging.
Charles Osborne, who endured 68 years of the longest case of the hiccups ever, would have loved to have met Mallory Kievman. Unfortunately for Osborne, only recently did this 13-year-old from the US create a remedy for the hiccups. Often suffering from the hiccups herself, Kievman tested traditional treatments. What worked best was water, apple cider vinegar, and sugar. Deciding to put them all together, she invented Hiccupops, a sweet and sour solution on a stick. She currently makes and tests her Hiccupops at home. However, Kievman hopes that her hiccup-stopping lollipops will one day be a common sight in family medicine cabinets around the world. |