Not often, but still there is a paradoxical (is it paradoxical?) reaction to smoking – hiccups. It can occur both at the moment of tightening, and during and after smoking. Many are afraid of this phenomenon, someone even begins to think about not so good health – and not in vain. Why does hiccups occur when smoking, is there any prevention, how to stop an unpleasant phenomenon?

hiccups when smoking

What is a hiccup?

Hiccups are a physiological reaction from the respiratory organs and the diaphragm in response to some unfavorable factors. It always arises involuntarily, it practically does not lend itself to volitional regulation. The reason is the use of a large amount of food, especially dry food, drinking alcohol and smoking (intoxication hiccups), hypothermia, mental reactions.

There is also pathological hiccups, as a rule, it develops against the background of some serious diseases of the central nervous system, including infectious (encephalitis, meningitis), pathologies of an organic nature (disturbances or underdevelopment of the development of the central nervous system), tumor processes.

Often, pathological hiccups accompanies diseases of the gastrointestinal tract (irritable stomach syndrome, reflux esophagitis, pancreatitis, biliary dyskinesia, helminthic invasions, and others).

The mechanism of hiccups is as follows: air entering the stomach overstretches its walls, causing pathological impulses in the phrenic and vagus nerves. Getting to the “hiccup center” of the spinal cord, the impulses, in turn, cause a chaotic contraction of the diaphragm.

A typical sound is formed due to the contraction of the muscles of the larynx simultaneously with the push of the hiccups, the incomplete closure of the glottis. Air literally squeezes through the vocal cords, causing a thin and abrupt sound familiar to many.

hiccups when smoking

This hiccups refers to non- physiological conditions, it occurs due to intoxication (that is, irritation of the nerves by the combustion products of cigarettes and nicotine), and also – in more rare cases – when a large volume of air enters the stomach while smoking and eating food, drinks, talking.

Such hiccups are called toxic, and it can also occur during general anesthesia, with agony, severe infection with general intoxication.

The pathogenesis of toxic hiccups is similar to the mechanism of the occurrence of ordinary hiccups, but it may indicate that the body does not tolerate the ingestion of a toxic substance.

hiccups after smoking

The same causes – air, intoxication – lead to hiccups that occur after a while after smoking a cigarette. It’s also toxic hiccups – most of the time. However, the regularity of its occurrence can be considered a symptom, and it is recommended to undergo a full examination by narrow specialists: a gastroenterologist, an endocrinologist, a neuropathologist, a pulmonologist.

How to deal with hiccups

Usually, hiccups go away on their own or after simple manipulations – a few deep breathing movements, maximum breath holding, taking a small amount of water. Breathing into the bag also helps: carbon dioxide released during breathing reduces irritation of the vagus nerve.

From folk remedies, decoctions or infusions of soothing herbs – valerian, peony, motherwort, hop cones – have proven themselves well. It is enough to take half a glass of decoction and hiccups recede.

However, persistent hiccups require medical intervention, the selection of drug therapy and, of course, the simultaneous treatment of the disease that caused pathological hiccups. It can be muscle relaxants (for example, with hiccups on the background of anesthesia) and blockers of dopamine and serotonin receptors (metoclopramide).

And finally, the toxic hiccups that occur during smoking will definitely recede if you stop smoking. And it will be useful not only for hiccups.