Intractable Sneezing Unfolding a Hideous Truth

Intractable sneezing is a diagnosis of exclusion and is mostly psychogenic. We reported a case of an 11-year-old girl who presented with uncontrollable bouts of sneezing for three weeks, which did not respond to conventional treatment. She was eventually diagnosed to have psychogenic intractable sne...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inCurēus (Palo Alto, CA) Vol. 13; no. 5
Main Authors Ng, Jia Ji, Husain, Salina, Ong, Hui Yan, Zahedi, Farah Dayana, Wan Hamizan, Aneeza Khairiyah
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Palo Alto (CA) Cureus 27.05.2021
Subjects
Otolaryngology
Psychiatry
Psychology
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Summary:Intractable sneezing is a diagnosis of exclusion and is mostly psychogenic. We reported a case of an 11-year-old girl who presented with uncontrollable bouts of sneezing for three weeks, which did not respond to conventional treatment. She was eventually diagnosed to have psychogenic intractable sneezing, which was triggered by an unfortunate family circumstance. She improved with psychotherapy and was discharged well. Literature review on intractable sneezing showed that patients were predominately female teenagers and mostly recovered after psychotherapy. Multidisciplinary team effort especially with a child psychiatrist is important for the treatment and follow-up of these patients. Imaging should also be routinely performed as some had underlying organic causes that presented as intractable sneezing.
ISSN:2168-8184
2168-8184
DOI:10.7759/cureus.15268