Stu380
16-04-17, 20:23
Hi folks. I know this will sound extremely bizarre, but it has been bugging me for a good number of months and I'm interested in seeing if anyone is experiencing the same problem and may have a solution or suggestions.
I'm 26 and in good health. But lately, I'm having difficulty completing sneezes, and the sneeze always takes a week or two to finally come out.
It all started back in May last year when I went to my bedroom mirror and rubbed my eyes (I think I was just trying to get some dirt out of them). A couple of seconds later, my eyes started stinging quite badly for at least a minute. After that, every time I felt a sneeze coming on, it would never come out. This went on for about two weeks, and I experienced quite bad headaches and pressure in my head. The headaches/pressure never stayed in the same place; it always moved around my head and felt like someone had tied a tight band around my head. After about two weeks, I finally sneezed and my symptoms went away. I was finally back to sneezing normally.
A few months later, I did the same thing - rubbed my eyes at my mirror and my eyes started stinging like crazy, and was unable to sneeze for the next two weeks, accompanied by headaches/pressure, as well as having trouble concentrating and keeping my eyes open, especially in the evening. Again, once I finally sneezed, those symptoms disappeared.
After that, I decided to avoid rubbing my eyes too often. Unfortunately, a few months later, it started happening again, but I hadn't been touching my eyes this time. It's almost as though it came on randomly. I kept feeling the urge to sneeze, but it never came out. For about a week, I once again experienced the headaches/pressure/tiredness, which all went away when the sneeze came out.
Sadly, it has worsened. Since December last year, I have been experiencing the inability to sneeze (as well as the headaches/pressure) on a fortnightly basis, and I think it's starting to happen more and more often now. For example, I managed to sneeze last weekend, but it was replaced with another trapped sneeze the next day.
I have tried forcing myself to sneeze by sniffing pepper, as well as putting a pointy tissue up my nostrils and moving it about until I sneeze. Although that provides temporary relief from the symptoms, they quickly return. Only the originally trapped sneeze relieves the symptoms when it finally decides to come out.
Recently, I finally decided to see a doctor about this, and said said it's probably allergy-related, so she gave me a nose spray. I've been taking this for a few weeks now and it's not helped. Taking antihistamines doesn't seem to work either. I also took the liberty of thoroughly cleaning and vacuuming my bedroom as I think I have a dust allergy, but I'm still puzzled as to why this suddenly started happening to me.
I've found this problem on a few other forum threads out there, and the responses have been very interesting. Most people have said it could be psychological, but some people have said it could be a damaged nerve (which can take a long time to heal), and someone even said it could be a brain tumour - his son had the same problem and it turned out to be a brain tumour. Once the tumour was removed, he could sneeze normally again.
I've not been to an ENT specialist about this yet, simply because I'm not sure how he/she would be able to treat the apparent inability to sneeze.
This week, I've been feeling awful and downright miserable. The headaches/pressure was hard to bear, I've been struggling to keep my eyes open, and I even experienced burning nostrils and slight pressure in my cheeks underneath my eyes. However, I'm not sure if that's a side effect of the nose spray or too much tickling the insides of my nostrils with a tissue.
What do you folks think? I'm starting to get tired of dealing with this extremely annoying problem.
I'm 26 and in good health. But lately, I'm having difficulty completing sneezes, and the sneeze always takes a week or two to finally come out.
It all started back in May last year when I went to my bedroom mirror and rubbed my eyes (I think I was just trying to get some dirt out of them). A couple of seconds later, my eyes started stinging quite badly for at least a minute. After that, every time I felt a sneeze coming on, it would never come out. This went on for about two weeks, and I experienced quite bad headaches and pressure in my head. The headaches/pressure never stayed in the same place; it always moved around my head and felt like someone had tied a tight band around my head. After about two weeks, I finally sneezed and my symptoms went away. I was finally back to sneezing normally.
A few months later, I did the same thing - rubbed my eyes at my mirror and my eyes started stinging like crazy, and was unable to sneeze for the next two weeks, accompanied by headaches/pressure, as well as having trouble concentrating and keeping my eyes open, especially in the evening. Again, once I finally sneezed, those symptoms disappeared.
After that, I decided to avoid rubbing my eyes too often. Unfortunately, a few months later, it started happening again, but I hadn't been touching my eyes this time. It's almost as though it came on randomly. I kept feeling the urge to sneeze, but it never came out. For about a week, I once again experienced the headaches/pressure/tiredness, which all went away when the sneeze came out.
Sadly, it has worsened. Since December last year, I have been experiencing the inability to sneeze (as well as the headaches/pressure) on a fortnightly basis, and I think it's starting to happen more and more often now. For example, I managed to sneeze last weekend, but it was replaced with another trapped sneeze the next day.
I have tried forcing myself to sneeze by sniffing pepper, as well as putting a pointy tissue up my nostrils and moving it about until I sneeze. Although that provides temporary relief from the symptoms, they quickly return. Only the originally trapped sneeze relieves the symptoms when it finally decides to come out.
Recently, I finally decided to see a doctor about this, and said said it's probably allergy-related, so she gave me a nose spray. I've been taking this for a few weeks now and it's not helped. Taking antihistamines doesn't seem to work either. I also took the liberty of thoroughly cleaning and vacuuming my bedroom as I think I have a dust allergy, but I'm still puzzled as to why this suddenly started happening to me.
I've found this problem on a few other forum threads out there, and the responses have been very interesting. Most people have said it could be psychological, but some people have said it could be a damaged nerve (which can take a long time to heal), and someone even said it could be a brain tumour - his son had the same problem and it turned out to be a brain tumour. Once the tumour was removed, he could sneeze normally again.
I've not been to an ENT specialist about this yet, simply because I'm not sure how he/she would be able to treat the apparent inability to sneeze.
This week, I've been feeling awful and downright miserable. The headaches/pressure was hard to bear, I've been struggling to keep my eyes open, and I even experienced burning nostrils and slight pressure in my cheeks underneath my eyes. However, I'm not sure if that's a side effect of the nose spray or too much tickling the insides of my nostrils with a tissue.
What do you folks think? I'm starting to get tired of dealing with this extremely annoying problem.