One young man ruptured the back of his throat
when he did so
BMJ
Pinching your nose
while clamping your mouth shut to contain a forceful sneeze isn't a good idea,
warn doctors in the journal BMJ Case Reports.
One young man managed
to rupture the back of his throat during this manoeuvre, leaving him barely
able to speak or swallow, and in considerable pain.
Spontaneous rupture of
the back of the throat is rare, and usually caused by trauma, or sometimes by
vomiting, retching or heavy coughing, so the 34 year old's symptoms initially
surprised the emergency care doctors.
The young man
explained that he had developed a popping sensation in his neck which
immediately swelled up after he tried to contain a forceful sneeze by pinching
his nose and keeping his mouth clamped shut at the same time.
A little later he
found it extremely painful to swallow and all but lost his voice.
When the doctors
examined him they heard popping and crackling sounds (crepitus), which extended
from his neck all the way down to his ribcage -- a sure sign that air bubbles
had found their way into the deep tissue and muscles of the chest, which was
subsequently confirmed by a computed tomography scan.
Because of the risk of
serious complications, the man was admitted to hospital, where he was fed by
tube and given intravenous antibiotics until the swelling and pain had
subsided.
After seven days he
was well enough to be discharged with the advice not to block both nostrils
when sneezing in future.
"Halting sneezing
via blocking [the] nostrils and mouth is a dangerous manoeuvre, and should be
avoided," caution the authors.
"It may lead to
numerous complications, such as pseudomediastinum [air trapped in the chest
between both lungs], perforation of the tympanic membrane [perforated eardrum],
and even rupture of a cerebral aneurysm [ballooning blood vessel in the
brain]," they explain.
