MIA...

Ok so I'm a bit behind. A full on weekend which involved the death of a beloved friend's beloved father. Needless to say I wasn't intent on counting my sneezing but, this is a blog about that so here we go...

Haven't been counting but in the last 5 days since I posted I've been sneezing at least 9 or 10 times a day. So there, I'll try and be more accurate from now on....

Questions raised this week:

Does having children make you sneeze?

Does having a dog make you sneeze?

Does booze make you sneeze?

(I know the answer to one of these, obviously....) I drink a fair amount, but always have so I don't think that's a factor. I do, however, seem to have been sneezing since I gave birth to my second son in April 2010. I developed hay fever after giving birth to my first son in February 2003. I didn't used to like olives until I was pregnant with first son though - it does strange things to you.... (edited to add... repeating myself, sorry)

An interesting thing occured to me on Monday, which may or may not be relevant, but I think to do with some strain of the synesthaesia (more to follow, I keep promising then keep getting sidetracked). On playing Guitar Hero with my lovely boyfriend, I realised that whenever I start to play (start, not finish, it's only at the beginning) I am reminded of the time my ex-husband and I had a (rather rubbish) evening meal in a pub during a holiday in Cornwall in 2002. I think there's a name for this phenomenon but I don't know what it is (I want to say zeitgeist - I know it's wrong but it's something like that).

It's similar to when I was married to said ex, and on quite a number of occasions when we were 'getting intimate' as they say, I was reminded of the corner shop on the corner of the traffic lights near my Uncle's house in the south of England. Weird, yes? Explainable? Probably. Who to explain it? No idea!!

Or do I? I haven't told you about the synesthaesia yet. I'm hopefully going to be taking part in some research soon which may shed some light. Hoorah!!!

Is it the dog?

Well there were 5 more sneezes when I got home last night, and 5 more this morning after I'd taken the dog out for her morning woo (I'll leave you to work it out).

So, the question I'm asking myself today is why, after years of being a normal sneezer (a sneeze once every few days or weeks? Probably about normal?) to sneezing at least 4 times EVERY DAY. At least I think so, hence this blog, a super duper idea planted in my head as a joke by a friend; what better way to chart my sneezing life daily whilst getting the opportunity to clear my head of the rubbish that lies within, and exploring the reasons behind my sneezing hatred? Some friends describe my weird reaction as a 'phobia'. I disagreed, on the basis that a phobia is:

pho·bi·a (fb-)
n.
1. A persistent, abnormal, and irrational fear of a specific thing or situation that compels one to avoid it, despite the awareness and reassurance that it is not dangerous.
2. A strong fear, dislike, or aversion.

and I maintain that I'm not frightened of sneezing, just that it evokes a real need to get away from it, to make it stop, to hurt the person doing it to make them stop....which thinking about it is a

2. A strong fear, dislike, or aversion

hmmmmmmmmmmmm, maybe I am sneeze phobic after all......



However does such a thing exist? A quick search of the good old tinternet revealed this:

There does not appear to be a scientific term to describe a fear of sneezing. Several sources refer to sternutaphobia as the correct term, but at least one other source claims this to be 'the fear of not being able to sneeze' or to 'bring a sneeze to fruition'. It is not confirmed that either definition is recognized by the medical community.

It's not everyone sneezing brings this out in me. Quite a few people can sneeze in front of me and just provoke a mild reaction, some the most severe reaction. It doesn't seem to relate to how well I know the person, the noise of sneeze, or the amount of times it happens; for example my Mum provokes the strongest reaction in me (quite loud sneezes quite similar to my own) but the same reaction can come about by a stranger sneezing quietly in a supermarket.

Anyhoo, I've digressed a bit. My musings this morning were prompted by wondering if I was allergic to our new dog (the daily sneezing possibly started since we've had her, which was also around the time my second son was born. I only developed hayfever after my first son was born, along with a love of olives) so that may be something to think about.

Said second son has just woken up, so I'm off :-)

Update: 10 more sneezes throughout the day.......

I've made it my mission....

.... to discover more about sneezing.

I'll try and explain why, and if you can follow to the end of this perhaps odd missive then you're more than welcome to follow me on my exciting journey of discover!! You'll soon learn to love my excessive use of the exclamation mark, possible CAPITAL LETTER overuse and almost certainly some rambling which will meander into subjects of no consequence....

Firstly, I LOVE SNEEZING!! Love it - feeling the tickle in the nose and the anticipation of the joy to come. The release of tension and, if I'm in the car or out of earshot of potential passers by, the primal noise which accompanies the all important moment.

But here comes my problem: I also HATE SNEEZING... when other people do it. And I'm not just talking about being mildly irritated by the noise or potential for passing on disease. I actually have an emotional and physical reaction to it which, on occasion, has caused me to physically harm myself (biting myself on the arm - more of this later...) and kicking a wall. This may seem excessive, until I confess that I'm much better off kicking a wall than punching the perpetrator in the face to try and cease the noise (which is what I really, genuinely want to do).

Okaaaay. So things I'm going to explore and think about over the coming months (days, years?) just to wet your appetite so to speak:

Scientology
Birth Experiences
The Dog
Synesthesia
How often does the average person sneeze each day?

Myself, I've done it 4 times so far today.