Violent, uncontrollable sneezing

[RecordBreaker]

I have had allergies and asthma all my life.  When I have a sneezing/hay fever reaction, it's accompanied by the usual itching of palate and eyes, and my medications take care of it.  But once or twice a month, I sneeze uncontrollably, hundreds of times, all day long, and nothing, not Allegra-D, not Claritin, not Benadryl, will stop it.  And the weird thing is, this sneezing is NOT accompanied by the usual itching.  When I have a "sneezing day," I am nonfunctional.  All events are canceled. It is absolutely exhausting.  I sometimes  wonder if it has anything to do with weather or barometric changes; it seems like it rains or there's a temp. change the following day, and my symptoms are COMPLETELY gone.  Any guesses or similarities out there?

[sylviepajot]

I live in a valley and I have discovered that when I travel 30 minutes North, here there is better air circulation, my symptoms disappear. We have done the experiment twice now on days when I get a sneezing fit. In fact, we have decided to move. Not only will that help with these crazy sneezing fits, but I often feel light headed or headachy and we have found it helps with that as well.

[RainOnRoses]

MOLD! Do you live in a Hot and Humid climate? Check for mold Everywhere. Basements, bathrooms, closets. I moved from Wyoming (Very DRY) to the East coast and started uncontrollable sneezing in the summer. Found mold growing at the same time. Bleach will kill mold. And try to keep things dry as much as possible. Hopefully this will help at least Some of you.

[bleb671]

My sneezing fits are so violent and crippling I no longer can hold down a job. I have been disabled from sneezing to the point I cannot control my bladder or bowels. No friends, no help, no sympathy. Life is terrible all because of uncontrollable, violent drawn out sneezing fits that seem to have no cause.

[GenPopJon]

I'm so sorry you've had to endure such debilitating extremes of this. I've had to miss work or go home due to violent sneezing fits, and I wear bladder leakage liners. It's so hard that people don't get how severe allergic rhinitis can be. They laugh or think it's a made-up excuse. So sad!

[jacklong]

Me: sneezing all day, watery nose, closed nostrils (at least one all the time but sometimes both), and difficulty breathing and speaking. I never had this problem in the past. It started off mildly about 5 years ago and now it's severe sneezing. I'm trying to figure out what the problem could be and I'm not sure if it's fabric softener. This is just a suspicion, but could it be WATER SOFTENER? Do you guys have a water softener at your house?

It is really the only difference I can think of since this started happening and I know the water softener company has done a good job of marketing themselves and making just about every household get one ... so, what are all of your thoughts on this?

[ladygibbs]

I have sneezing episodes EVERYTIME it is about to rain..I literally could tell my family and coworkers its about to rain that day just from the sneezing..NODOUBT about it..Ithink the pollen in the air changes or something..as soon as the rain has passed and the air is cleaned again I am fine and the sneezing stops..

[GenPopJon]

I thought it was my own special talent! I have the same exact experience!

[ktbhoy]

Thanks bfineman for that great summary. I have been following this thread from the beginning in the hope that someone might have discovered something that works. My latest theory is that the culprit might be fabric softener. This is based on the fact that many of my attacks seem to happen soon after clean sheets have been put on the bed, or I have put on a newly laundered shirt. We are substituting baking soda which apparently does the same job as commercial fabric softeners minus the hazardous chemicals which are known to cause such things as skin reactions in many people. Too early to say if it's working as we still have some clothing that was laundered using fabric softeners, but I will update in a few weeks.

Most, but not all, of my attacks occur in the morning, or even overnight in bed, and can last anywhere from 3 to 12 hours of constant sneezing and running nose. Like everyone else I have found that once an attack starts antihistamines are useless, however if I remember to take a Reactine before going to bed I don't think I have ever had an attack the following morning. So in my case antihistamine seems to have a preventive effect. I just don't like the idea of taking them every day when I can sometimes go for a month without an attack. But then when I do get an attack I could kick myself for not taking a pre-emptive Reactine. Hope this helps someone.