NT & ASD people both! Tell me about your sneezing!

Post Reply New Topic

Are you a sun sneezer? Do you have the photic sneeze reflex?
I am curious if autistic people who often have different sensory processing are more or less likely to have the photic sneeze reflex. Here's a cool youtube video explaining what I mean by the photic sneeze reflex:

Yes, I'm a sun sneezer.

I also sneeze when I eat chocolate.

Interesting.

https://www.amanochocolate.com/faqs/why ... le-sneeze/

I have no idea. I do sneeze a lot, and warm weather does seem to make it worse. But is it the sun? Or just heat?

I do have seasonal allergies, and I think stuff does tend to float around more in the spring and summer than the winter, so that seems to be a more likely culprit than the sun.

In any case, I haven't yet voted yet because I'm not really sure of my answer.

I had enough with sneezing and sinuses in this whole lifetime already. Almost every damned day for most of my waking life. I won't be surprised if it screwed my head and it's anatomy.

The Sun and it's light, at least that it's always been clear, that it's not one of the vague reasons why I sneeze.


I don't only have chronic allergic reaction of sneezing, it may as well be at least 3 kinds of idiopathic allergy. It could be whenever I lay down, it could be some person on the same room, it could be my hormones. Or flat out no apparent reason.


And, it's inherited -- less likely from autism and it's sensory system, more like at my mom's dad's side of the family and being unlucky enough to be born with it.

If it relates to autism; my sense of smell is more sensitive than the average, just constantly muffled and rendered useless for reasons above.
Strong smells don't trigger sneezing, but 'sharp' and 'stinging' like smell does.


Anyway if one asks, I'd do everything just to get rid of it, even if it comes down to getting rid of autism would mean getting rid of the chronic sinusitis.

Gained Number Post Count (1).
Lose Time (n).

Lose more time here - Updates at least once a week.

I'm not sure how to vote on this one...I know I used to be able to sneeze by looking at bright lights, but it doesn't really work anymore. Perhaps it has to do with my vision having worsened as I aged?

Hmm, no, that can't be it, because bright light is still bright light, just a little softer in focus...

My husband and daughter have the sunshine sneeze reflex... but they're the ones who aren't on the spectrum!
So that's a "no" from me.

I picked option 4 but I hesitated, because "never" is a very strong word. I sneeze occasionally (like a few times in a year, maybe?), and as far as I am aware, there is no correlation with going out into the sun. But I couldn't swear that I have literally never, by coincidence, sneezed upon going out into the sun. I assumed that within the spirit of the survey, that meant i should say never. But it would have been easier to answer if you had not used such a strong word as never. "Often" and "never" are not opposites, and they don't cover all the possibilities.

I have an NT cousin that sneezes when he looks toward the sun. It was fun as kids to ask him to do it purposely. It doesn't affect me that way. I can curl my tongue into a tube though. I know some people can't.

I don't think it has anything to do with whether you're on the spectrum or not. Bright light makes me sneeze, but it does a lot of neurotypical people that I know.

I'm pretty sure I don't sneeze when I go into sunlight or any bright light source.

I do sneeze and get a runny nose quite a bit for no obvious reason. It seems most common after I get up and before I go to bed. I must be allergic to being awake.

When I sneeze, I am almost always indoors. I don't ever, as far as I know, sneeze when I'm out in the sun.

I'm like this. The sneezes usually come in three subsequent waves of diminishing potency. My grandmother was the same way, so I always assumed it was hereditary. I have a deviated septum, so they are always very hard sneezes. They used to embarrass me terribly when I was a small child, so I trained myself to hold them in. Definitely took a lot of practice, but now with a little jaw clinching and eye squinting it's barely noticeable to other people.

I used to joke that I was allergic to the sun, as it would happen every time I left a store and stepped into the parking lot. A girlfriend I had in the late 90s used to get irrationally angry with me over that joke saying it was impossible to be allergic to the sun. Like, yes, obviously nobody is allergic to the sun. Derp.

Semi-unrelated, but I have the exact same reaction to eating dark chocolate.