Sneezing while doing 70 on the freeway can be scary. But the alternative is terrifying: A guy in his 30s was recently driving in Scotland when he had to sneeze and decided he'd try to hold it in.
He closed his mouth and pinched his nose, but still sneezed . . . and it tore a hole in his THROAT. (!!!) He showed up at a hospital in severe pain, and a scan showed a two-millimeter tear in his windpipe.
The technical term is "spontaneous tracheal perforation." It rarely happens this way. Doctors could only find a handful of cases.
Thankfully, he's okay and didn't even need surgery. They gave him painkillers, and the tear healed itself within a few weeks.
Experts hope the story teaches people they should NEVER try to hold in a sneeze like that. If you plug your nose, the pressure in your upper airway can be 20 times what it normally is.
He was lucky it wasn't worse. It can also cause ruptured eardrums, broken ribs, or even an aneurysm.
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Photo: JIM WATSON / AFP / Getty Images