Sneezing could be more hazardous than you think (Picture: Getty)
If you were to envision the kind of accident that would cause a person’s bowels to explode out of their body, you might imagine some sort of gruesome stabbing or grisly car accident.
You’d probably never imagine that something as commonplace and harmless as a sneeze would cause this kind of ghastly injury – but that’s exactly what happened to a Florida man earlier this month.
The man had recently had abdominal surgery and was suffering from wound dehiscence – where his surgical scar wasn’t healing properly. While eating breakfast, the man first sneezed, then began coughing.
He noticed pain and a wet sensation on his lower abdomen – only to discover several loops of his bowel had burst through his unhealed wound.
The man was rushed to hospital for emergency surgery where his bowels were returned to his abdomen.
Sneezing is normally a protective mechanism that keeps potentially harmful things – such as dust, bacteria and viruses – out of our respiratory system. The process is controlled by the so-called ‘sneezing centre’ in the brain’s medulla (which governs autonomic functions, including breathing).
The loudest sneeze recorded reached 176 decibels (Picture: Getty)
It’s activated by the presence of irritants in the lining of the nose and airways, which send impulses to the centre.
The response is a closing of your eyes, throat and mouth while your chest muscles contract – compressing your lungs and driving air out of your respiratory system.
This forces whatever triggered the response ‘out’ of your system at an impressive speed – up to 15.9m/s (35mph) in some cases.
But despite the benefits of a good sneeze, it can sometimes come with a greater risk of injury than many might realise.
For instance, violent sneezing can cause the lung to herniate through the intercostal muscles between the ribs – usually at a point of weakness. This is typically a result of morbid obesity, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, diabetes or smoking.
There are also cases of sneezing tearing the delicate tissues of the lungs. This happens when the higher pressure air deep in the lungs escapes into the space between the chest and the lung, causing this air to compress the lung on one or both sides of the chest.
The lungs aren’t the only thing that can tear. There are reports of people tearing the delicate lining of the brain from sneezing – leading to a subarachnoid haemorrhage (a type of stroke) which can be fatal if not diagnosed and treated promptly.
Even if you don’t tear this delicate lining, a sneeze can still affect the brain – with reports of people suffering weakness on one side of the body or visual disturbances following a sneeze.
It’s important not to hold your sneeze in (Picture: Getty)
Sneezing raises blood pressure which can cause other serious injuries to the blood vessels. There are cases of aortic dissection from sneezing, where the force of the sneeze tears the layers of the aorta (the major artery that carries oxygenated blood …read more
Source:: Metro
