Sneeze stifling leads to CSF leak: case study
Normally harmless, the practice increases intranasal pressure up to 20 times and, in rare cases, has serious outcomes, authors say.
A woman’s habit of stifling sneezes, especially in public, may have caused a spontaneous CSF leak, doctors report.
The 45-year-old presented to an ENT clinic in Saudi Arabia with a three-month history of holocephalic headaches and intermittent clear nasal discharge from the left side.
Her most recent episode, triggered by leaning forward, had occurred three weeks prior.
The woman’s headache symptoms were partly relieved by lying flat, and she had no history of trauma or surgery.
