IMS_Blog

It’s been well reported but I just wanted to mention one of this year’s Ig Nobel Prizes, namely that awarded in the field of Medicine. One of the most popular posts in my blog (it probably has the most comments of any of this poorly read part of the internet) is Hic-Up Cure in which I detail a remedy for the said infliction. The Medicine Ig deals with a similar subject, although on the much more severe scale of intractable hiccups (so many potential spellings!). The solution turns out to be digital rectal massage (yes, that is what you think it is). There are not one, but two citations of such an act (J. Intern. Med.227 (2) 145 (1990) and Ann. Emerg. Med. 17 (8) 872 (1988)).

The author of the latter citation, and recipient of the Ig Nobel, is reported (and why is that in New Scientist Space) to no longer recommend the procedure however. It turns out an orgasm is his preferred method I will be recommending sex—culminating with orgasm—as the cure-all for intractable hiccups. Now I want to know if that is available on the NHS and, if so, how do you contract intractable hiccups?