DailyDirt: What You Don't Know About Sneezing

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

There are a lot of things about ourselves we just don't know. Why do we need sleep? How does general anesthesia work? A whole bunch of involuntary reactions are still mysterious. Partial explanations exist to describe what happens when these things occur, but that's not a fully satisfactory understanding. So what about sneezing? Think you know all about it?

• Sneezing clears out your nose when you're sick, but what if you don't have a cold/flu? Some people sneeze after they exercise or eat a good meal or.. have sex? Sneezing can also accompany seizures and some psychiatric disorders. [url]
• A few doctors report seeing patients with constant sneezing fits, lasting days or weeks. Some of them have been 'cured' with psychiatric treatments, and one diagnosis is called PANDAS (Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorders Associated with Streptococcal Infections) which can be treated with intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) and prophylactic antibiotics. [url]
• Do you sneeze when you look at a bright light or the sun? That's a 'photic sneeze reflex' which could be genetic. Researchers have been flashing lights at photic and non-photic sneezers while looking at their brain scans.. and hopefully, they clean up the spittle in between measurements. [url]

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Filed Under: health, involuntary response, pandas, pediatric autoimmune neuropsychiatric disorders associated with streptococcal infections, photic sneeze reflex, psychiatric disorders, sneezing