A hole in your throat is nothing to sneeze at, as shown by a case report recently published in BMJ Case Reports. And the case report showed the dangers of pinching your nose and closing your mouth in an attempt to stifle a sneeze. A man in his 30s tried doing this and was left with a hole is his trachea, which can be a hole lot of trouble.
This man who had a history of allergies was wearing a seat belt while driving his car when he felt the need to sneeze and in a pinch tried to keep the sneeze from exiting from either his nostrils or his mouth. This led to quite a pressure-filled situation. Normally, sneezing can generate a pressure of one to two kilopascals in the upper airways which, in turn, can blast air and accompanying gunk out through your nose and mouth. But guess what happens when you pinch your nose shut and keep your mouth closed at the same time? Rather than rushing out of these holes, the air has no place to go. That can build up pressure your the upper airways that is up to 20 times higher than what a released sneeze would generate.
After this sneezus interruptus, the man began experiencing severe neck pain and eventually ended up in the emergency department of Ninewells Hospital in Dundee, UK. The four authors of the case report (Rasads Misirovs, Gary Hoey, Calum Carruthers and Samit Majumdar) work at this hospital. There doctors found the man’s neck to be swollen on both sides. An X-ray of his neck revealed evidence of air where it wasn’t supposed to be, and a CT of the neck and chest with contrast showed a 2 mm by 2 mm by 5 mm in his trachea, otherwise known as his windpipe.
