WEBVTT - Why Shouldn't You Hold in a Sneeze?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain stuff from how Stuff Works, Hey, brain

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<v Speaker 1>Stuff Lauren vog Obam. Here, medical science continues to drive

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<v Speaker 1>home the risks of holding in an explosive sneeze, this

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<v Speaker 1>time in a b m J case reports discussion of

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<v Speaker 1>spontaneous throat rupture and deep tissue air bubbles. Here's what happened,

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<v Speaker 1>according to the papers authors. At the University Hospitals of Lester,

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<v Speaker 1>a thirty four year old man entered the emergency room

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<v Speaker 1>with reports of painful swallowing and curious popping sounds at

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<v Speaker 1>his neck, all following a suppressed sneeze. Upon closer examination,

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<v Speaker 1>doctors observed swelling and tenderness in the neck tissue, and

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<v Speaker 1>the popping sound proved to be crepitus. Crepitus is the

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<v Speaker 1>medical term for popping and crackling sounds under the skin

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<v Speaker 1>or in the joints. This is the creaking and cracking

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<v Speaker 1>of joints that becomes especially noticeable in older age. Crepitus

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<v Speaker 1>maybe due to several different causes, such as grating bones

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<v Speaker 1>and snapping tendons, but it's most famously summoned every time

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<v Speaker 1>you crack your knuckle. This causes gas suspended in the

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<v Speaker 1>joint snowvial fluid to form bubbles and burst. Unsurprisingly, Crepitus

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<v Speaker 1>is also the name of a California based death metal band.

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<v Speaker 1>But how does this relate to the thirty four year

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<v Speaker 1>old patients neck. The doctors identified crepitus from his neck

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<v Speaker 1>all the way down into his rib cage. These findings

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<v Speaker 1>suggested air bubbles lodged in the deep tissue and muscles

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<v Speaker 1>of the chest. Indeed, X rays revealed streaks of air

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<v Speaker 1>like the shrapnel of a detonated explosive. The hand grenade

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<v Speaker 1>in this case was the suppressed sneeze, which resulted in

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<v Speaker 1>spontaneous pharyngeal rupture. Doctors successfully treated the patient with antibiotics

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<v Speaker 1>and tube feeding, But as how Stuff Works has reported

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<v Speaker 1>in the past, a stifled sneeze can cause a host

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<v Speaker 1>of undesirable symptoms, including the rupture of blood vessels in

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<v Speaker 1>the brain. It seems ridiculous. A sneeze, after all, is

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<v Speaker 1>such a natural thing. It's just an expulsion of air

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<v Speaker 1>and mucus from the nostrils due to irritation. Children especially

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<v Speaker 1>sneeze boldly into their surrounding world, often with little consideration

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<v Speaker 1>of decorum, superstition, or the fact that Grandma's face is

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<v Speaker 1>right there in front of them. It's only as they

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<v Speaker 1>become adults that they learned to cover their sneezes and

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<v Speaker 1>in some cases attempt to stifle them by blocking both

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<v Speaker 1>mouth and nostrils. For certain, no one wants to unleash

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<v Speaker 1>a full blown sneeze at the theater or in a

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<v Speaker 1>crowded train car. It's a high velocity burst of mucus

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<v Speaker 1>and other particles, after all, and exhibits the very lack

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<v Speaker 1>of control we despise in our bodies. But as the

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<v Speaker 1>medical science illustrates, such a force is not contained without risk.

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<v Speaker 1>As Arthur Stanley P's explored in his nineteen eleven classical

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<v Speaker 1>philosophy paper The Open of Sneezing, beliefs in the ominous

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<v Speaker 1>or prophetic aspects of sneezing date back to ancient times.

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<v Speaker 1>These notions were well developed by the time of the

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<v Speaker 1>Greek poet Homer in the eighth or seventh century b c.

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<v Speaker 1>And subsequent thinkers and philosophers continued to pour over the

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<v Speaker 1>idea that while a sneeze might mean nothing, it could

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<v Speaker 1>also indicate the temporary presence of a divine force in

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<v Speaker 1>the sneezer. God bless you indeed. Today's episode was written

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<v Speaker 1>by Robert Lamb and produced by Tyler Clang. For more

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<v Speaker 1>on this and lots of other explosive topics, visit our

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<v Speaker 1>home planet, how Stuff Works dot com