Texas 12-year-old can't stop sneezing

[zwiebel]

Katelyn Thornley, 12, got a 'funny feeling' in her nose three weeks ago. She started sneezing and hasn't stopped since. The 12-year-old from Angleton, Texas, is now averaging 20 sneezes a minute - 12,000 a day - and can't eat, drink or sleep properly.

Katelyn is being treated at Houston's Texas Children's Hospital but it's only been able to alleviate her pain so far and she still isn't able to return to school.

http://www.abc15.com/news/local-new...d-texas-girl-sneezes-nearly-12000-times-a-day

 

[0101ABA]

I really feel for this girl! Hopefully her doctors can figure out how to make her more comfortable at least until they can figure out a more permanent course of treatment. Not anywhere near comparable to this, but I had a constant pronounced eye tic/twitch for 4 months and 11 days (exactly!) and near the end, I would definitely have considered something radical had the doctor recommended it.

 

[Indy Anna]

I have heard of this condition before. I found an article from 2007 about a girl who sneezed nonstop for 3 weeks. So, maybe Katelyn can take heart in knowing that there will probably be an end to her sneezing soon. But, Brooke had been suffering episodes of nonstop sneezing for 2 years.

[snipped]
In all likelihood, Owens will simply continue to suffer this remarkable inconvenience for a time, which will come to an end when doctors find and vanquish the root cause of her nonstop sneezes.

Until then, Mehta says a common remedy for sneezing can be found over-the-counter -- Benadryl.

"Generally that takes care of a lot of the irritation," he says.

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Allergies/story?id=2916916&page=1

The 2007 article says that Brooke's doctor ruled out allergies and neurological problems. I guess that rules out my theory that maybe the trigeminal nerve is irritated. According to this article, that is the cause of sneezing in response to exposure to sudden, bright light:

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/looking-at-the-sun-can-trigger-a-sneeze/


I hope Katelyn finds relief soon.

 

[Backwoods]

I wonder if hypnosis could help.