Little 12-year-old Katelyn Thornley didn't have any allergies and lived a pretty healthy life. Then, just a few weeks ago, she was leaving her clarinet lesson when she began sneezing. Since that day, she hasn't stopped…
For three weeks now, she's been sneezing at a pace of around 20 times a minute, and up to 12,000 times a day. While doctors are still utterly baffled, they're starting to think it may be stress-related.
At the moment, she can only sleep when she takes Benadryl and passes out. “Sometimes I wish I could leave my body for a little while so I could watch myself sleep and be at peace because even in my dreams, I sneeze,” she said.
Some doctors think that she's actually not allergic to anything at all, but rather she's suffering from a tic. (Tics are brief repetitive movements or vocalizations.)
Most often, tics can be beaten back by overcoming the psychological causes of them. Sometimes tics get so bad that they have to be treated with medications that are very safe for children to help them have a much better quality of life.
We can only hope that Katelyn's affliction is nothing too serious, and that her and her family can find a quick solution to this odd medical mystery!
Please share any personal experience you might have with something similar to what Katelyn is going through. Who knows, you might have the information that she needs to make her life better!
And please SHARE her story if you think she's sneezed enough for one lifetime!
