Doctors are using one Man’s Sneeze-induced hospital stay as a cautionary tale to remind people about the dangers of holding back a sneeze. A sneeze is the body's method of clearing an irritation out of the sinuses.
The otherwise healthy 34-year-old man, who remains anonymous, was rushed to the hospital after trying to hold back a sneeze by clamping his mouth and nose.
According to BMJ Case Reports, the sneezer was rushed to the hospital in Leicester, England. This is after he started experiencing pain while swallowing and a dramatic change in his voice following the sneeze that went wrong.
He went on to explain to doctors that, after the sneeze, he immediately experienced a “popping sensation” and a swelling in his neck.
How can that be?
According to BBC reports, doctors took scans and X-rays which showed that he had burst a hole in his throat which sent air bubbles into the deep tissue of his chest. Doctors also revealed that when they checked his neck and breastbone they heard crackling sounds caused by the trapped air bubbles in his throat.
Fearing that an infection could form, doctors hospitalized the man, who was given a Feeding Tube and put on a regimen of antibiotics. He was released two weeks later after the wounds in his neck healed.
Doctors had to give him antibiotics and a feeding tube to enable him to eat.
He used this feeding tube for seven days before the tissue healed. BBC reports that he has now made a full recovery. While cases like this are rare, the doctors are using the opportunity to enlighten the public about the dangers of holding back a sneeze.
Why releasing your sneeze is such a good idea?
Holding your nose and closing your mouth while you sneeze might seem like a harmless thing to do, but doctors are warning against it.
According to Dr. Anthony Arnatt “when you sneeze, air comes out of you at about 150 miles per hour, if you retain that pressure, it could do a lot of damage to your eyes, ears, and chest as air will be trapped in your body.
When you sneeze, you let out viruses and bacteria, and if you stop it, those may end up in the wrong places of your body.
Dr. Zi Yang Jiang explained.
Although it is not true that, sneezes can cause eyeball subluxation — that is, ejecting your eyeballs from their sockets if you sneeze with your eyes opens. The man was given antibiotics and had to be fed through a tube which was removed after 7 days. He fully recovered but learned the lesson that doctors stress, "If you gotta sneeze don't hold back let it out in a tissue or the crook of your elbow and not in your hand."
Always let your sneeze out!