Yikes! Thankfully, the man has since recovered from this injury.
A 34-year-old man from Leicester, England was admitted to the emergency room of the Leicester Royal Infirmary Hospital after he unknowingly ruptured his throat. The cause? He tried to hold a sneeze!
As reported by Medizzy Journal, the man felt a ‘popping’ sensation in his neck and an immediate excruciating pain after trying to suppress himself from sneezing. He also said that he had a difficulty in swallowing or speaking.
The man was then admitted to the emergency room of his local hospital whereby examination by the doctors revealed tenderness and swelling around his throat and neck.
An X-ray then revealed that he ruptured his throat and that air was escaping from his windpipe into the soft tissues of his neck via the rupture. Ouch!
The man had to be fed via a tube for the next few days to allow the tissues to heal. He ended up spending 7 days at the hospital before being discharged.
The doctors of the ENT department of the Leicester Royal Infirmary commented on the injury and said that halting a sneeze via blocking nostrils is a dangerous manoeuvre and should be avoided.
The Leicester Royal Infirmary
Furthermore, it could also lead to complications such as:
- Pneumomediastinum (Air trapped in the chest between the lungs).
- Perforation of the tympanic membrane (Perforated eardrum).
- Rupture of a cerebral aneurysm (Ballooning blood vessel in the brain).
So please, do not try to hold on to a sneeze!
Also read: 5yo Disabled Child Dies From Ruptured Intestines After Alleged Abuse By Grandmother
