A 32-year-old teacher spent nine years having attacks that looked and sounded like sneezing but were not sneezes. Some lasted up to 10 minutes. On his worst days, he had 78 of them. Strong smells often set them off. The longest stretch he ever went without one was 10 days.
He saw three neurologists. His brain, cervical, and thoracic spine MRIs were normal. So were his somatosensory evoked potentials, electromyography and nerve conduction studies.
