‘I almost died holding in a sneeze’ says Scots dad after ripping hole in his throat in horrific freak accident

A DAD told how he almost died after he tried to hold in a SNEEZE.

Andrew McDougall, 29, ripped a 2mm hole in his throat in the freak accident when he pinched his nose while driving.

He had no idea how serious it was until he began coughing up blood and his concerned fiancee Kirstie Kay dialled 999.

Stunned doctors had never seen anything like it before and said he was lucky to be alive.

The incredible case has now made it into journals because it’s so unusual and Andrew’s been hailed as a medical marvel.

Andrew, from Blairgowrie, Perthshire, said: “I’ve become a kind of phenomenon. It’s all very strange.

“I’ve always held my sneezes in. I just don’t like it and always thought it was kind of horrible, especially since Covid.

“But I had no idea that it could lead to something as serious as this. The thought never, ever crossed my mind.”

Andrew issued a warning to anyone else who pinches their sneezes and urged them to stop.

He said: “Just let it go. That’s what I do all the time now.

“It’s easier to clean up after a sneeze than to not come home one day. That’s what nearly happened to me at the end of the day.

“Everyone should just let it out.”

Joiner Andrew has suffered from allergies and hayfever for years and is used to trying to stifle his sneezes.

He was behind the wheel last July when he felt one coming on and grabbed his nose to strangle it.

But this time everything went a bit weird.

He said: “I felt a pop and I knew straight away that something just wasn’t right.

“My neck was really stiff and sore and I couldn’t move it.

“Air had escaped into my neck tissue and you could feel what felt like bubbles popping under the skin.”

Andrew, dad to Ruaridh, two, and Ava, seven, powered on but Kirstie noticed that his voice was strange and laboured.

He was admitted to Ninewells Hospital in Dundee and they told him he needed to see a specialist.

Student doctors crowded round his bed when word spread of his bizarre injury.

He’s thought to be one of the few people in the world to ever hurt themselves by stifling a sneeze.

Andrew said: “All the staff in the hospital seemed to know about what I’d done.

“I thought I would just be in and out again but they kept me for three nights.

“It turned out to be a lot more serious than I thought. I couldn’t believe it.”

Docs wanted to keep Andrew for longer but he pleaded to get home to celebrate Ruaridh’s birthday. 

Five weeks on a CT scan revealed the tear had fully healed. But for weeks he was banned from exerting any pressure and had to take things easy.

And a fortnight later he faced a terrifying ordeal when he felt a sneeze coming on for the first time.

He said: “It was pretty scary. I just had to let it rip but I was worried I might end up doing some more damage to myself.

“Now I never stop a sneeze, but it can be tough. It’s like fighting an instinct.”

Andrew’s injury made it into the British Medical Journal and doctors warned others not to do what he did.

It’s thought clamping down on a sneeze can increase pressure in the airways by up to 20 times and could lead to injuries including ruptured ear drums and broken ribs.

Dr Rasads Misirovs wrote the report on Andrew.

He said: “It is like winning not the million pound lottery but the billion pound lottery.

“It’s extremely rare. I suppose we will not hear of a similar case in the next few years or decades potentially.”