I sneeze really loudly and powerful and often I can’t control it. What makes it worse is, its often sprays a lot of saliva as well. I’m safe most of the time if I can get to my handkerchief or tissue in time. But there are times I have no other option but to let it out. Has anyone found a way to tame it and make it milder or easier to control.

  • Maxnmy's@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    Breathe out before the sneeze. It will be much less powerful when you aren’t squeezing your maximum lung capacity out through your nose and mouth.

    • xi00@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      Thats a real pro tip right here Been doing it like that for years and I am a full time allergician

    • ccunning@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      That’s interesting. Never heard of this before. Gonna see if I’m actually able to next time I need to sneeze. I almost feel like the deep inhale before a sneeze is involuntary but we’ll see…

    • alphacyberranger@sh.itjust.worksOP
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      2 months ago

      Makes sense. Gonna try this the next time…

      Edit : Just sneezed. There’s a problem. Just as I’m about to sneeze I breath in. I’ll need to use a lot of force in a short time to exhale any air. Am I doing it wrong?

      • techt@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        I don’t exhale, rather I just close off my airway to stop the big inhale. It sounds super uncomfortable to try exhaling at that point, but with some practice I have been able to stop the inhale and that mutes the sneeze considerably. Also, I can plug my nose when I feel it start to tickle and stop the sneeze entirely.

  • ryan_@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    EVERYONE STOP TRYING TO HOLD IT IN!!! The scream is because you’re using your vocal cords. Stop using them when you sneeze.

    For example: -Say “ahhhhh” like a doctor is checking your throat. You’re using your vocal chords while exhaling

    -Okay now just exhale. Now you’re NOT using your vocal cords.

    That is the difference between using your vocal cords and not using them. You just have to not use your vocal cords when you sneeze to stop yelling.

    • HexagonSun@sh.itjust.works
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      2 months ago

      I find it insane that people somehow think they have to make that noise when they sneeze. It’s totally a learned and unnecessary behaviour. People who are born deaf don’t ever make that noise when they sneeze.

  • novibe
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    2 months ago

    My dad has the same issue and my girlfriend also had. I was able to help her, he is a lost cause.

    But honestly it’s really basic. Just don’t yell while sneezing. Sneeze without vocalising at all. Even if it’s “strong”, it won’t be nearly as loud.

    This is just like “muscle memory”. You one day started yelling while sneezing, and it became subconscious.

    If you consciously try to not do it every time you sneeze, that too will become subconscious and “muscle memory”.

    • Chee_Koala@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      I never thought about sneezing ‘culture’ or it being learned behavior, but my neighbor is deaf from birth and he sneezes VERY different from what I know and hear around me, so that got me wondering.

  • roofuskit@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    The way you sneeze is learned, so just make a conscious effort to change.

    Also cover with your arm so you’re sneezing into your elbow.

  • astrsk@fedia.io
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    2 months ago

    I’ve literally thrown my back out trying to suppress sneezes. I gave up trying years ago, I’m a scream sneezer through and through. Dracula barely helps but at least it’s more sanitary.

  • EvilBit@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    That thing you see in cartoons where they stop sneezes by putting a finger under the nose? Never seemed to work for me at first, but it turns out, it does work - you just have to push up against your septum, hard. It can at least diminish the urge slightly and maybe help you delay the sneeze so you can time it more conveniently.

  • ℕ𝕖𝕞𝕠@slrpnk.net
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    2 months ago

    I once sneezed so hard while lying down that my sock flew off.

    Like you, I use a handkerchief. If I’m wearing a T, I might instead lift up the collar and sneeze down the front of my shirt. More gross for me but more hygienic for everyone else around. The third option is to drop into a crouch and sneeze into my elbow between my knees, funnelling it towards the floor.

    I would rather do one big sneeze than lots of little sneezes, though.

  • Chris@feddit.uk
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    2 months ago

    Apparently deaf from birth people don’t make any noise when they sneeze, as they’ve not heard anybody else do it so don’t know they “should”.[1] I’m not a particularly loud sneezer but it strikes me as odd that any noise at all would be learned behaviour.

    Some people do make a lot of noise though, to the point where I’m thinking that it can’t all be involuntary.


    1. I heard this from years ago; don’t know how true it is ↩︎