# Is it dangerous to sneeze inside your nose?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-dangerous-to-sneeze-inside-your-nose/591140>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [August 2, 2011, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-dangerous-to-sneeze-inside-your-nose/591140 "2011-08-02T03:02:58Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Mewl\_Dear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Mewl\_Dear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mewl_Dear)\
**Post date:** [August 3, 2011, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-dangerous-to-sneeze-inside-your-nose/591140/21 "2011-08-03T02:12:01Z")

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> [@punch\_line\_loser](#):
>
> Well said.
> 
> Moving on, I suppressed and sneeze at work a half hour ago and I can still feel it. Is that bad?

I believe your head is trying to find enough brain dynamite to blow your nose.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![punch\_line\_loser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8e7dd6/32.png) [@punch\_line\_loser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/punch_line_loser)\
**Post date:** [August 3, 2011, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-dangerous-to-sneeze-inside-your-nose/591140/22 "2011-08-03T02:19:45Z")

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> [@Mewl\_Dear](#):
>
> I believe your head is trying to find enough brain dynamite to blow your nose.

What?

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**Author:** ![OneMissedPost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8e7dd6/32.png) [@OneMissedPost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneMissedPost)\
**Post date:** [August 3, 2011, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-dangerous-to-sneeze-inside-your-nose/591140/23 "2011-08-03T02:40:52Z")

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> [@punch\_line\_loser](#):
>
> If proper capitalization and punctuation are what it will take to make you people listen to me, then I suppose I’ll have to swallow my pride. You’re all a bunch of tools, but hey, no hard feelings.
> 
> Anyway, the question. If I’m in a crowded elevator and feel a sneeze coming on, I try to keep it inside my face in the interest of avoiding spreading germs in a tight space, at least visibly. Other than a slight pain in my nose, this doesn’t seem to be much different than a normal explosive sneeze, but seeing as the action is designed to expel stuff I can’t help thinking it’s different somehow. Is there any danger associated with this practice, or any effects of any kind?

I don’t really like being called a tool.

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**Author:** ![punch\_line\_loser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8e7dd6/32.png) [@punch\_line\_loser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/punch_line_loser)\
**Post date:** [August 3, 2011, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-dangerous-to-sneeze-inside-your-nose/591140/24 "2011-08-03T02:46:56Z")

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This isn’t the debates forum, this is the questions forum. They tell you to ask it here before asking Cecil, right? I asked a question to which I got a very reasonable answer - that Cecil had already dealt with it, the implication being I should look into the questions I want to ask a bit more before posting them, a lesson I took in stride.

What I’ve ended up with is a bunch of cocky and/or over-sensitive types who, instead of ending the conversation when they should have, have tried to make all kinds of assertions about my personality based on my previous capitalization habits and a difficulty getting sarcasm across through plain text, along with the occasional honest answer or perhaps words of support or contrition.

The point was an offhand question about suppressing sneezes - leave it to you fellas to make it all about yourselves. I guess I did post this on the wrong forum!

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![OneMissedPost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8e7dd6/32.png) [@OneMissedPost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneMissedPost)\
**Post date:** [August 3, 2011, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-dangerous-to-sneeze-inside-your-nose/591140/25 "2011-08-03T02:51:25Z")

</div>

> [@punch\_line\_loser](#):
>
> This isn’t the debates forum, this is the questions forum. They tell you to ask it here before asking Cecil, right? I asked a question to which I got a very reasonable answer - that Cecil had already dealt with it, the implication being I should look into the questions I want to ask a bit more before posting them, a lesson I took in stride.

Sorry, you posted too quick for me. I quickly realized after posting that this was the General Questions Forum and had to edit my post accordingly.

As for your question, I wouldn’t start off a thread calling people tools. That’s not a good way to get an answer.

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**Author:** ![punch\_line\_loser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8e7dd6/32.png) [@punch\_line\_loser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/punch_line_loser)\
**Post date:** [August 3, 2011, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-dangerous-to-sneeze-inside-your-nose/591140/26 "2011-08-03T03:05:00Z")

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> [@OneMissedPost](#):
>
> Sorry, you posted too quick for me. I quickly realized after posting that this was the General Questions Forum and had to edit my post accordingly.
> 
> As for your question, I wouldn’t start off a thread calling people tools. That’s not a good way to get an answer.

How many times can I say this? It was a joke! I was **joking**! Are we not supposed to do that around here? I don’t actually think you guys are tools! (Well I didn’t, at any rate.)

See? Look! I did it again!

And don’t give me that nonsense about how it was a bad joke, because of course it was a bad joke. But how many times can I tell you what I actually meant before you stop jumping down my throat about how affronted you are?

Can we please just let this stupid thread die now?

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**Author:** ![Rachellelogram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rachellelogram/32/8689_2.png) [@Rachellelogram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachellelogram)\
**Post date:** [August 3, 2011, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-dangerous-to-sneeze-inside-your-nose/591140/27 "2011-08-03T04:02:49Z")

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“If I’d been serious, poindexters, you would know it! This is a messageboard, who takes those seriously?”

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**Author:** ![punch\_line\_loser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8e7dd6/32.png) [@punch\_line\_loser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/punch_line_loser)\
**Post date:** [August 3, 2011, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-dangerous-to-sneeze-inside-your-nose/591140/28 "2011-08-03T04:24:54Z")

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> [@rachelellogram](#):
>
> “If I’d been serious, poindexters, you would know it! This is a messageboard, who takes those seriously?”

Look, it’s easy to be self-righteous when you read selectively. I did have a serious question that asked for and received a serious answer. Why you guys choose to focus on an offhand joke so much is officially beyond me. What do you want me to say at this point?

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**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\
**Post date:** [August 3, 2011, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-dangerous-to-sneeze-inside-your-nose/591140/29 "2011-08-03T04:29:59Z")

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> [@punch\_line\_loser](#):
>
> Well said.
> 
> Moving on, I suppressed and sneeze at work a half hour ago and I can still feel it. Is that bad?

I think I may have heard that indicates brain cancer.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![punch\_line\_loser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8e7dd6/32.png) [@punch\_line\_loser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/punch_line_loser)\
**Post date:** [August 3, 2011, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-dangerous-to-sneeze-inside-your-nose/591140/30 "2011-08-03T04:32:02Z")

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I’ll look into that.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\
**Post date:** [August 3, 2011, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-dangerous-to-sneeze-inside-your-nose/591140/31 "2011-08-03T04:38:52Z")

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Ok, show of hands:

Does anyone here have “tool” in his name?

Now, does anyone here have “loser” in his name?

Just kidding, of course. 😉

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\
**Post date:** [August 3, 2011, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-dangerous-to-sneeze-inside-your-nose/591140/32 "2011-08-03T04:39:02Z")

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Really though, back stateside – no one says anything about it over here – people used always to tell me it was a bad thing. But not only, as I’ve said, has nothing bad happened to me in more than 50 years, the doctor treating my father when he did have an aneurysm, which he eventually died from, told us there were absolutely no known risk factors for them. If sneeze suppression had been a risk factor, he probably would have mentioned it. (As far as I know, my father was not a sneeze suppressor anyway.)

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![punch\_line\_loser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8e7dd6/32.png) [@punch\_line\_loser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/punch_line_loser)\
**Post date:** [August 3, 2011, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-dangerous-to-sneeze-inside-your-nose/591140/33 "2011-08-03T04:43:58Z")

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I wasn’t expecting to find it associated with anything really serious like an aneurysm, I figured it would be more like “risks of rupturing blood vessels in the nose” or “damage to the nasal lining” which, while nothing to sneeze at, are hardly life-threatening either. Though there doesn’t seem to be any evidence for either of those, either.

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**Author:** ![JBDivmstr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b4bc9f/32.png) [@JBDivmstr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JBDivmstr)\
**Post date:** [August 3, 2011, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-dangerous-to-sneeze-inside-your-nose/591140/34 "2011-08-03T04:56:12Z")

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I wouldn’t mind being called a tool, as long as I get to pick what _kind_ of tool. 😃

IMHO, you seem to have given a great deal of thought to your choice of user name though, or was that just a _cosmic coincidence_? 😛

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![fifty-six](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@fifty-six](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fifty-six)\
**Post date:** [August 3, 2011, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-dangerous-to-sneeze-inside-your-nose/591140/35 "2011-08-03T05:14:51Z")

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I probally have the abosulte worst grammar on the entire board. Sometimes I get called out on it other times nothing. I take it in stride, no big deal.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![JBDivmstr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b4bc9f/32.png) [@JBDivmstr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JBDivmstr)\
**Post date:** [August 3, 2011, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-dangerous-to-sneeze-inside-your-nose/591140/36 "2011-08-03T05:25:28Z")

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> [@fifty-six](#):
>
> I probally have the abosulte worst grammar on the entire board. Sometimes I get called out on it other times nothing. I take it in stride, no big deal.

In this instance, your grammar is not too bad, though might want to work on your spelling and punctuation a little. 😉

Sorry, I just couldn’t resist. 😛

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![pomallod](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/71c47a/32.png) [@pomallod](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pomallod)\
**Post date:** [August 3, 2011, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-dangerous-to-sneeze-inside-your-nose/591140/37 "2011-08-03T05:35:40Z")

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![pomallod](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/71c47a/32.png) [@pomallod](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pomallod)\
**Post date:** [August 3, 2011, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-dangerous-to-sneeze-inside-your-nose/591140/38 "2011-08-03T05:40:13Z")

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\
**Post date:** [August 3, 2011, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-dangerous-to-sneeze-inside-your-nose/591140/39 "2011-08-03T05:56:35Z")

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> [@JBDivmstr](#):
>
> In this instance, your grammar is not too bad, though might want to work on your spelling and punctuation a little. 😉

And some people even leave out entire words (like “you”). 😃

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![JBDivmstr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b4bc9f/32.png) [@JBDivmstr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JBDivmstr)\
**Post date:** [August 3, 2011, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-dangerous-to-sneeze-inside-your-nose/591140/40 "2011-08-03T17:44:39Z")

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> [@panache45](#):
>
> And some people even leave out entire words (like “you”). 😃

Touche’! And a fine example of Gaudere’s Law it is, isn’t it? :smack: 😛

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