The Evil Monkey has a Ph.D. in Neuroscience from a southeastern U.S. university. After a postdoctoral nightmare of Inquisitorial proportions, he is currently working in a laboratory and an adjunct assistant professor at a nearby state university.
Scicurious is a graduate student wrestling with a PhD in Physiology at a southern institution. She is a nerd, a geek, and also a dork. And yes, that really is her brain.
NotoriousLTP is an MD-PhD student in New York City. After finishing (hopefully soon) his PhD in behavioral neuroscience, he will re-enter the fun vortex that is medical education.
Sci always has all these PLANS for weird science, all these THINGS she's going to blog about. Seriously, a post on Ritalin-induced stuttering priapism (heh...heh...) awaits! But then, Mo posts something like this on Twitter, and Sci just HAS to cover it. It's too weird! Though it's not ACTUAL science, it still qualifies. How many people freakin' die from sneezes?!
"Man died after sneeze, inquest told"
Ah, sneezes. You think they're totally safe...
So how does one die from a sneeze?
Well, you don't die FROM the sneeze. You die from complications of sneezing.
A sneeze is a violent expulsion of air from the lungs, This can occur because you're sick with something, or just because something tickles your nose. In this case, a 79-year-old man sneezed violently. He wasn't healthy, he has both diabetes and chronic heart conditions, and because of the heart condition, was being treated with Warfarin, a chemical which prevents blood from clotting. This is a good thing when you have a heart condition, you don't want any stray clots going anywhere. Clots in the lungs can cause pulmonary embolism, a very deadly condition. Clots in the brain can cause stroke, also potentially deadly. And of course a blood clot in one of the main arteries in the heart can cause a massive heart attack. So the doctors were doing the right thing, and preventing as many clots as possible.
So what happened? When the man sneezed, the violence of it, whether due to change in pressure or him throwing himself forward, resulted in something called a subdural hematoma. This is when a blood vessel on top of the brain, in the membranes surrounding it (specifically under the dura mater, the nice thick membrane closest to your skull), ruptures, and blood builds up in that area. Usually you have a clotting mechanism to stop you from losing too much blood, but because this patient was on warfarin for other reasons, his blood wasn't able to clot very well. This means that the hematoma spread, and with his coronary artery disease, the man died two days later.
Unfortunately, this means that nothing could really have been done for him. You can't stop a sneeze, and the possibility of the hematoma with sneeze was vanishingly low compared to the possibility of a blood clot, he HAD to be on that warfarin. But it's going to make Sci, for one, worry just a little bit every time she sneezes...
And on a curiosity note, is there any scientific evidence that holding sneezes back is BAD for you? Anyone? I've always wondered...
Medicine & Health
Comments
I don't have any scientific proof, but I've been told (because I hold back sneezes) that you could rupture your eardrum. I blame elementary school for my blocked-sneeze reflex. Allergies and not enough tissues in class. Make a mess, or pop my ears? Hmmm...
Posted by: ktbug ladydid | October 30, 2009 6:52 AM
Ever notice that some people always have big, violent sneezes and some people have these itty bitty, tweeny weeny, quiet sneezes that couldn't possibly be the least bit satisfying or productive...is it genetic or environmental?
Posted by: bravo the cat | October 30, 2009 1:17 PM
My mom always told me that if you stop sneezes, you will lose your sense of smell/taste. Apparently her mom stopped sneezes in church and temporarily lost her sense of smell.
Not sure if I believe the old wives' tale, though.
Posted by: SVP | October 30, 2009 2:16 PM
When I was in the third grade I had a teacher who would hold her nose when she sneezed. One day the particular practice caused her to pass out in class when she sneezed. That made for quite the exciting day.
Posted by: Rowan | November 7, 2009 1:09 AM