I can't sneeze naturally anymore

Hi all,

I have an extremely bizarre problem, which I'm hoping somebody will be able to shed some light on and hopefully provide a solution. For some reason, I cannot sneeze naturally anymore. I repeatedly feel the sneeze sensation building up, but it never completes. I can get to the "ahh", but not the "choo".

I believe this all started when I rubbed my eyes in my mirror 2 years ago, and then my eyes started stinging really badly. After that, I couldn't sneeze for about 2 weeks for some reason! While I was unable to sneeze, I had a lot of head pressure/headaches, which stayed there until I finally sneezed. After I sneezed, the head pressure instantly went away.

For about 2 years now, I have been experiencing an inability to sneeze naturally. The sneeze builds up, but it never completes. If I fail to complete a natural sneeze too many times, I end up with very bad head pressure and headaches, which are not relieved by over the counter painkillers. When the natural sneeze EVENTUALLY comes out (which usually happens after weeks and sometimes MONTHS), the headaches and head pressure instantly go away.

Strangely, I AM able to sneeze by tickling the insides of my nostrils with a tissue, but that doesn't get rid of the headaches and pressure. Only the originally trapped sneeze relieves my symptoms, when it FINALLY decides to come out. In fact, tickling my nose with a tissue to force a sneeze sometimes makes me feel worse. Sometimes, thinking about something erotic makes me sneeze, but that doesn't relieve the head pressure either! In the past, I would be able to sneeze without any problems by plucking nose hairs. That would almost always send me into a sneezing fit, but sadly it no longer does.

I have tried many other things to make myself sneeze, such as plucking my eyebrows, breathing in cold air, sniffing pepper or spices, looking at bright lights, chewing gum, eating chocolate, faking a sneeze, tilting my head back, but none of them work!

I have done Google searches for this problem countless times. Some people have said it could be that the trigeminal nerve (which controls sneezing) might not be functioning properly, and some people have said it could be a brain tumour or lesion. But surely if I had a brain tumour, I would have more serious problems and I wouldn't be able to force myself to sneeze with a tissue (as mentioned earlier)? Most people have said it's purely psychological and the sneeze reflex will eventually return. I hope so! Luckily, I recently saw a doctor who carried out some coordination tests on me to rule out anything serious, so that's a load off my chest. Furthermore, I ALWAYS sneeze when I have a cold.

Last year, I finally visited an ENT specialist, who looked up my nostrils, but didn't see anything wrong, apart from mild redness. She prescribed me some nose drops and nortriptyline tablets to ease the head pressure. A few days later, I finally sneezed naturally and felt better, but I think that was just a coincidence. A few months ago, I started being unable to sneeze again, and I asked for those nortriptyline tablets again, but they've not worked this time.

Can ANYBODY help? I just want rid of this problem for good. It's hard to concentrate and enjoy myself with these headaches/head pressure being caused by my inability to sneeze naturally.

This won't help you at all but if it's any consolation I started sneezing at least 6 times at a time. Never one sneeze or 3 which is what I used to do but 6 or so. Makes it really hard when driving since it takes longer to sneeze that many times.

Just a thought. Did you, at one time, try to hold back your sneezes? I read some article (may be totally false) that holding back sneezes wasn't healthy but to be honest I can't remember why. Might be a different way to research, though.

aboywithgad said...

Hi Stuard,
I had the same problem as well. I couldn't sneeze for almost 3 months. From the first day I was checking everything online for this problem, then I decided to visit ENT doctor, everything was normal he told me that I might suffering with some allergic reactions and he gave me some sprays and pills. It didn't work, I was going to lose my mind because every single day I was having that awful stage of sneezing. Then one day I just sneezed. To sum up, it is all up to your brain. Just leave it. You will sneeze soon or later.

Thanks! Judging by what happened just recently, I think it is just psychological. During the past couple of weeks, I actually managed to sneeze when I was having conversations with someone, so it looks like the conversations took my mind of the sneezes, which made them come out! Weird, right? I guess it's best if I try not to think about it too much!