When sitting in a packed bus or a quiet library, suppressing a sneeze by pinching your nose and closing your mouth may be the most polite way to avoid stares from others due to the unwelcome noise pollution.
Source: giphy
However, did you know that by doing this, it can actually rupture your throat, burst an ear drum, or even pop a blood vessel in your brain? Now you know.
Blocking all the exits and essentially swallowing the sneeze’s explosive force is highly dangerous and may cause you a trip to the hospital, just like what happened to a 34-year-old man in England recently.
According to AFP, the unidentified man gave doctors and nurses a shock when he showed up at a hospital’s emergency service in Leicester, England with a swollen neck. He was also in extreme pain.
“The patient described a popping sensation in his neck after he tried to halt a sneeze by pinching the nose and holding his mouth closed,” doctors detailed in a study published in the medical journal BMJ Case Reports.
Source: allergy immunology specialist
A CAT scan revealed that the force of the suppressed sneeze had ruptured the back of his throat and caused it to tear open.
As a result, the man, who could barely swallow or talk, could only eat through a tube down his throat and was given intravenous antibiotics until the swelling and pain had subsided. Thankfully, he was discharged after a week.
“Halting sneezing via blocking the nostrils and mouth is a dangerous manoeuvre, and should be avoided,” the doctors explained.
Source: wikihow
Here’s why: “Stifling a sneeze may lead to air getting trapped between the lungs, and even cause a rupture of a cerebral aneurysm, which is a ballooning blood vessel in the brain,” the doctors added.
Sounds dangerous for sure!
So, the next time you scramble to halt that itch coming from your nose, think twice before doing so!
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