Suppressing your sneeze can hurt you. Researchers had warned that stifling a sneeze can destroy and cause a rupture to your throat, burst an eardrum or pop a blood vessel.
You may decide to hold down your nostrils and mouth, as a result of your fear of disturbing others. While this may be well intended, you may want to reconsider the urge to stifle your window-rattling sneeze as it could be harmful to your health.
Sneezing is a natural cleansing mechanism of the natural tract, as the nose which contains filter bed, helps to filter undesired allergens and foreign bodies that have entered the nasal cavity, and are subsequently thrown out through sneeze reflex.
Many people sneeze because they caught a cold. Sneezes are so forceful that they can propel mucous droplets at the rates of up to 100 miles per hour because of it sudden and powerful expulsion of air.
According to Irannewsdaily.com, a 34-year-old man showed up at the emergency service of a hospital in Leicester, England recently, with a swollen neck and in extreme pain.
The patient was described to have felt a popping sensation in his neck after he tried to halt a sneeze by pinching the nose and holding his mouth closed. This was revealed in a study published in the medical journal, BMJ Case Reports,
Following a CAT scan, it was discovered that the force of the suppressed sneeze had already ruptured and torn open the back of his throat. He was later admitted to the hospital as he couldn’t talk or swallow, and as a result, was tube fed and treated with intravenous antibiotics till the swelling and pain got reduced.
Apart from this incident, suppressing your sneeze may cause:
- Pain in the nape of the neck.
- A headache/ A migraine.
- Facial Paralysis: Pull of the muscles
- Disorientation of the sense organs.
- The rupture of blood vessels.
- Eardrum Rupture
- Eye Bulging
- Cracked ribs
Featured Image Credit: Dream Time.com
