The woman who suffered from a sneezing fit was diagnosed; a rare case.

Benazir Aydın, a mother of two living in Batman, started sneezing on September 18. After her sneezing did not stop, Aydın went to the hospital. She was discharged after receiving serum treatment. When Aydın continued to have sneezing fits, she was treated at Batman Education and Research Hospital. After her examinations in Batman, she was transferred to Ankara Bilkent City Hospital on October 2. Tests conducted in Ankara revealed that Benazir Aydın had an inflammatory condition in the nerves that trigger the sneezing reflex due to an excessive response of her immune system related to an 'autoimmunity' disease. Aydın, who recovered from her sneezing complaints with the treatment applied, was discharged today.

'WE ACHIEVED SUCCESS IN TREATMENT'

Associate Professor Dr. Enes Şahiner, the Clinical Responsible of Internal Medicine at Bilkent City Hospital, recalled that Benazir Aydın had been experiencing sneezing complaints in attacks for almost a month, stating, "This situation had severely disrupted our patient's nutritional status. When she came to us, there was also weight loss. As a result of the tests and imaging we performed, we detected an inflammatory condition in the nerves that trigger the sneezing reflex due to an excessive response of the patient's own immune system, which we call autoimmunity. We achieved success as a result of the oral medication treatments we applied for this reason, as well as the treatments we applied in our anesthesia clinic to eliminate the excessive hyperactivity of this nerve," he said.

'WE HAVE NOT SEEN SUCH A CASE IN OUR HOSPITAL SO FAR'

Dr. Şahiner stated that the patient's general condition is quite good, saying, "She can eat, and her sneezing complaints are almost nonexistent. Our patient will continue to receive medication treatment aimed at eliminating some of the conditions that caused this, along with injection therapy. In the ongoing process, there will be some oral medication treatments for our patient," he said.

Dr. Enes Şahiner mentioned that there is a risk of the disease recurring, albeit rarely, stating, "Bilkent City Hospital is a very experienced hospital, especially in rare diseases. However, despite that, we have not seen such a case in our clinic or hospital so far. Although a few cases have been reported in the world literature, they are not exactly the same, but this case is truly a rare case not only for our country but also on an international scale for the whole world," he said.

'WE ANESTHETIZED THE NERVES CAUSING SNEEZING'

Anesthesia Specialist Associate Professor Dr. Semih Başkan explained the treatment process, saying, "We anesthetized the nerves causing sneezing, and we achieved very good results. There are nerves in the human facial area that receive sensation. These nerves can sometimes cause sneezing reflexively. The resulting situation caused this to become a continuous issue. Therefore, a bad situation called automaticity emerged, which occurs spontaneously and continuously. To block that transmission and prevent automaticity, we located those nerves one by one under ultrasound guidance and anesthetized them with the anesthetic drugs we administered, which we call local anesthesia, and as a result, we eliminated that automaticity, the situation that creates spontaneous reflexes, and achieved a successful treatment," he said. Benazir Aydın, whose treatment was completed, was discharged.