The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 277 No 7423 p484
21 October 2006

This article
Reprint   Photocopy

PDF 50K, Acrobat Reader

· Pfizer products (3)
· Prescribing
· Sugar-free medicines
· Drug misuse
· Pharmacy in Spain
· Pharmacy ownership (2)
· The Society (3)
· Superdrug
· Hiccups

Letters to the Editor

Hiccups

Ig Nobel development in hiccups treatment

From Mr N. Fitt, MRPharmS

This year the Ig Nobel prize for medicine (www.improbable.com) has been awarded for research into digital rectal stimulation as a possible cure for hiccups.

A latex surgical glove and lubricating jelly are required. The instructions are: “If, after five minutes, hiccups persist, insert two fingers into the subject’s rectum and massage with a circumferential motion in a counterclockwise direction.”

The equipment being readily available, pharmacists may be tempted to carry out this procedure on a patient. Before doing so they should check their public liability insurance carefully. Obtaining written consent is also advisable. However, I imagine that merely describing the intended procedure to a patient may be enough to effect a cure.

Norman Fitt
Manchester

Send your letter to The Editor

Previous Topic (Superdrug)