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Stifling a sneeze can lead to a ruptured throat, as one man in the UK recently found out

18/01/2018

Have you ever been in a public place or maybe even a business setting and needed to sneeze? While it can be embarrassing, you should never try and stifle the urge to sneeze because it could end up causing you serious harm. Medics in Leicester, UK, recently treated a man who had ruptured his throat after trying to stifle a sneeze by clamping his mouth and nose shut with his hand. While it’s a pretty rare occurrence, experts have warned people to always allow their sneezes to come out naturally, while remembering to catch them in a tissue to prevent the spread of germs. Following the incident, the man said he immediately experienced a popping sensation in his neck and then had trouble swallowing and speaking, as well as a lot of pain. Over the next seven days, the man had to be fed through a tube while the tissues in his neck healed. He’s now made a full recovery, but his case highlights how a seemingly simple action can have a big impact on your health. Doctors from the ear, nose, throat (ENT) department at Leicester Royal Infirmary, said: "Halting a sneeze via blocking nostrils and mouth is a dangerous manoeuvre and should be avoided." The British Medical Journal (BMJ) has even published a report on the incident, which outlines how halting a sneeze can even lead to “rupture of cerebral aneurysm”. So the next time you need to sneeze and want to halt it, don’t, as it could really harm your health.

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