Although PSR is a short term for this condition, it’s too easily lost in the alphabet soup of abbreviations that complicate our daily lives. The proper name for this reflex/condition, according to the medical dictionary at my public library, is “Photoptarmosis”.
Beyond that, although I am subject to photoptarmosis, I also have a similar (possibly related) condition: theosmoptarmosis. I sneeze when I eat mint. A friend suggested that this might be the origin of the name “peppermint”, i.e. mint that makes you sneeze, the way pepper does.
Sneezes: Usually double. I can bring on a sneeze by looking at a very bright wall or an interior light.
Eyes: Blue
Migraines: Never, and I haven’t had more than a half-dozen headaches in my life, including hangovers.
Internal Clock: I have always been an early riser (even as a teenager) - up and dressed before dawn.
My father and maternal grandfather had PSR too.
No sinus problems.
My sneezes are never sudden. There is almost always 10-20 seconds between the “sneezy feeling” and the actual sneeze.
Bah! Conjecture and obfuscation! The real reason for PSR has nothing to do with biology, heredity or the colour of your eyes…anything like that! It’s because of the light itself!
As many people know, light is bith a wave and a particle. Obviously, when you go out into the light, the increased numbers of light particles, or “protons,” get up your nose and make you sneeze. Kinda like pepper.
Label me a PSR. Only one sneeze usually pops out. And pretty immediate upon the light stimulus. AFAIK, neither of my parents react in the same way. Maybe the trait can skip a generation like so many other traits?
A little off topic but, I seem to remember that brain-chemically speaking, a sneeze was approx 1/4 of an orgasm. Maybe us PSRs are just extra talented! No site for this, just a fuzzy memory from college Psychology. Damn, I think they’re all a little fuzzy…
blessedwolf, I think maybe a few too many particles have went up your nose.
Anyways, as far as I remember, light ‘particles’ don’t have any mass. How would a particle without any mass tickle your nose hairs enough to make you sneeze?
I sneeze when I go from dark areas to bright areas, usually once, but sometimes more. The larger the difference in light levels, the more quickly the sneeze will come on. I have brown eyes. One of my sisters and my father also sneeze from the sun or other light sources (brown eyes and hazel eyes). I also sometimes sneeze from mint – Clorets gum, for example, or Altoids.
I find the eye-protection theory dubious – after I’ve sneezed, I can look at the sun all day long if I so desired. I don’t continue to sneeze. I think it’s just crossed nerves and reflexes.
I don’t understand why people would complain about this – I agree with akrako1 about the brain-chemical effect. I really like to sneeze (a clean, sun-induced sneeze, not a messy, sickness-induced sneeze). It’s especially useful with sneeze-us interruptus – I can always use a bright light to “finish up”.
I am not a photo sneezer but I had a GF that was…well actually she was only a summer fling.
Anyway, she sneezed any time she looked at the moon, or any time someone took her picture with a flash, but other bright lights didn’t effect her at all.
