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?

[Lanaspoone]

You all are not the only ones who suffer. Today is the second day of an attack which is rare for me. Years ago it would happen once every 3 or six months and now it's getting to once a week.  It completely incapacitates me. Help!

[sneezeking]

I too have this problem. it started about six or seven years ago. It's like clockwork every day. Soon as my alarm clock goes off I start with a persistent sneeze tickle..the tickle gains strength until it turns into a crazy sneeze attack. My first sneeze attack of the day will usually consist of between 100 and 300 sneezes.. they're very powerful. And extremely loud. To make it worse I'm very embarrassed by it..after the first sneeze attack of the day ends. It will usually be calm for an hour or two. But then sure enough the tickle comes back and I will start feeling the second sneeze attack of the day building up. then once it hits I go nuts. its funny it takes sometimes a little bit of time to get them going but then when it hits I will do hundreds in a row. it's made daily life routines very difficult. sometimes even getting on the highway during the day is a gamble because I never know how they will come. usually a couple of hours after the second sneeze attack the third one will start building up. it's really hard to explain the feeling. It's a very strong sneeze tickle. but usually when I feel like this I start getting very nervous and sometimes even a little shaky. the sneezes are so powerful and throw my back out, or hurt my neck and you see by the end of the day I lose my voice because the sneezes are so powerful and loud. I've seen doctors and allergist an acupuncturist but nobody can get her idea on what's going on. lately and my doctor is just saying and I'm just going to be a person that sneezes a lot. I'd love to get some feedback here and possibly even talked to a few of you that are dealing with the same thing. Thanks so much and God bless all the sneezes

[ColleeninSCV]

I have had violent sneezing attacks since October 2010. It's mostly when the weather changes, which happens a lot in L.A. And perfume and cologne is an instant irritant, but people get so offended when you say your allergic to perfume. I've seen almost 20 different doctors, had 2 sinus surgeries, and probably 50 different medications, including nasal sprays, and nothing works.  I also have non allergic vasomotor rhinitis; and have been told by doctors that went to Harvard, their's nothing they can really do for me.  The only thing that stops my sneezing attacks (100-300 sneezes) is prednisone, which has horrible long term side effects.  One treatment I did have that may help some of you if your symptoms are accompanied by asthma and aspirin allergy is an Aspirin challange, it's called samters triad.  It did not work for me, but as you know anything is worth a shot.  I feel like I've lost a part of my life and who I am.  The sneezing makes you so tired, foggy headed, headaches, no smell or taste and just generally miserable.  I always feel like no one understands.  I'm still searching for answers, I don't want to be like this the rest of my life.  I've tried homeopathic doctors, acupuncture, constitutional medicine, going vegan (removing dairy helps alot).  I'd love the name of the Facebook group dedicated to this, at least I'm not alone.

[ColleeninSCV]

Not sure why the #39 is all over the place...

[Neeqs]

I could cry reading all of this. I have felt as though I am the only person in the world suffering from this problem. My entire day has been a write off yet again because of my uncontrollable sneezing. I wake up in the middle of the night with the driest nostrils and I don't stop sneezing. Today it started at 7am and ended around 8pm. Its so exhausting just can't figure out what it is. Dust, mould, perfume, weather, god knows what does this. I try my best to avoid what I can but nothing helps :(

[sneezeking]

God bless you. I'm having a bad sneeze day also.

[sneezeking]

my boss built a support page on Facebook if your interested in joining

[SneezyClare]

I posted about 18 months ago in agreement with the original poster around sneezy days - I visited my doctor today (eventually, 6 years later) and she suggested non-allergic vasomotors rhinitis. I'd googled my symptoms before and had come across this, so am hopeful. It's a generic title for a still misunderstood thing, but she has prescribed Rinatec nasal spray (ipratropium bromide) which I'm only to use on my sneezy days. It's months since I had an attack, but when I next do, I'll check out the spray and report back.

[sneezeking]

definitely let us know. And I have my attacks daily

[vdouglas]

That really stinks. If things aren't bad enough already having to deal with sneezing fits that in itself makes life miserable or should I say more miserable.
Hope it quits for your sake, good luck, I know how bad they can be and I wish I had advice. I do use a HEPA (I think that's what it's called) filter. I'm sure it helps but doesn't cure the problem. Maybe worth a try for you?

[Sneezy13]

In the middle of one of my rainy-day sneezing fits right now! I used to get them much more often. Now I take fexo-fenadine in the morning and Singulair at night, and that has reduced at least the number of times I get the fit. I add Sudafed during a fit, and sometimes that helps (not today). I've also had some luck with ibuprofen to reduce the inflammation. Honestly, I think it's a buildup of a lot of different things mentioned here, not one single thing, which would explain why it's so difficult to diagnose.