You’re in a quiet office, you’re in the middle of a conversation or you’re just feeling too self-aware to let it all out. Whatever the reason, you’ve found yourself holding in a sneeze. Quick gulp of air, swallow, and it’s gone.
It seems like a simple, convenient way to deal with a sneeze but, actually, as one person in Scotland found out this week, it could leave you with a serious injury.
World-first injury from holding in a sneeze
As reported in The Times, A man in his 30s was driving when he felt a sneeze coming on and, in an attempt to stifle it and not lose concentration on the road, he held his nose and closed his mouth.
This strange approach to stifling a sneeze quickly turned sour when the man suddenly felt an excruciating pain. This pain led to him being hospitalised and doctors found that when they touched his neck, there was a cracking sound and the man had lost control of the movement in his throat.
CT scans performed at the hospital in Dundee identified a 2mm tear in his windpipe, caused by 20x increased pressure from closing airways during a sneeze. The medics said that the tear was caused by, “rapid build-up of pressure in the trachea while sneezing with a pinched nose and closed mouth.” This is called a ‘tracheal perforation’.
Thankfully, following a CT scan five weeks after the incident, the patient’s windpipe had fully recovered with no tears or abnormalities left as a result of the injury.
The injury has been published in the British Medical Journal and is thought to be a world-first of its kind. Doctors have urged that, ”Everyone should be advised not to stifle sneezes by pinching the nose while keeping the mouth closed as it can result in tracheal perforation.”
How to safely sneeze when driving
According to the AA, If you drive with a cold you need to think about how you can handle a sneezing or coughing fit. This might mean driving more slowly to compensate. The driving specialists advise the following:
- Be aware of how medicine could affect you.
- Read the information on the label before taking medicine if you need to drive.
- Some cold remedies are dangerous for drivers.
- Medicine may contain alcohol or make you drowsy, similar to being drunk and unsafe on the roads.
Edmund King, AA president, said: “We often take our health and driving for granted. If a driver has a heavy cold or flu then their reaction times and concentration behind the wheel can be affected. People will still need to drive when they are unwell but they should be aware of the added dangers and adapt their driving accordingly.”