Have you ever been able to mentally resist the urge to sneeze?

[retrofan191]

Have you ever been able to resist the urge to sneeze on sheer willpower alone. I sure can't. When I have to sneeze, the sneeze will win no matter what

[VoOs]

I can do this most of the time when I'm around other people. *shrug*

I sort of wish it was more difficult than it is, actually.

[Vetinari]

Unfortunately yes!

[Sneesee]

Unfortunately yes!

Ditto. Actually, I think I programmed my brain years ago to do this in public. Of course, nowadays I'd prefer to go ahead and sneeze, but my brain still stops it automatically a lot of the time. I'm working on it, though.

[Skiffy]

I can do this most of the time when I'm around other people. *shrug*

I sort of wish it was more difficult than it is, actually.

So...you guys can chose not to sneeze? This isn't stifling, just not sneezing at all? I didn't know people could do that. I definitely can't.

[Prodigy]

I can, for the most part. At the very least if it's one I can't outright get rid of, I can ignore it until I manage to get (far, far) away to stifle. But that's only in the most extreme of cases! On an everyday basis, I have nothing to worry about and can will it away whenever I wish!

[murphy dee]

I can do this most of the time. I can sorta scrunch my nose a little bit and will the tickle to go away with my mind. Sometimes I have to actually rub the bridge of my nose, though. And then sometimes nothing works and I end up having to stifle.

[SapphireSong]

I totally just did... first time ever O.o Lol I was carrying a little table and i didn't want to sneeze at the moment so somehow i just stopped it by... not wanting to? Afterwards i was a bit creeped lol I did NOT know I could do that!! haha... X)

[Skiffy]

I totally just did... first time ever O.o Lol I was carrying a little table and i didn't want to sneeze at the moment so somehow i just stopped it by... not wanting to? Afterwards i was a bit creeped lol I did NOT know I could do that!! haha... X)

Congratulations on acquiring your new super power. I experienced the same thing with the power of flight once.

[LoraLee2]

yes i can actually! works 99 of the time lol

[kilala]

I used to ba able to always do this no matter what, in fact I couldn't sneeze if I wanted to, but lately I've been sneezing a good bit more than usual and have been having a hard time not sneezing. Maybe I'm developing allergies to something, I'm not really complaining, If only I could make my sneezes quieter. I either sneeze quite loudly or I stifle and make absolutely no sound at all. I can't find an in between.

[retrofan191]

Wow. This is so strange to me. I could never do this. Am I just wierd lol? For me it's like purly a reflex. When somthing triggers it, it just happens.

[Sawyer]

I totally can. It's a lot less satisfying to stop it, but I've been able to do that for as long as I can remember. A good trick is to look at something really dark (probably black) and focus intensely on the color, as if you're getting sucked into it. Like the darkness is enveloping you. Kind of like the opposite of looking at the sun or any light source when you're trying to coax a sneeze out.

[Vetinari]

It does occasionally fail me though, if my nose is very irritated from a cold for example ... and then there's very little I can do.

[sillystarsmoons]

Yep, I can do this too.

[2NewGuy]

I used to ba able to always do this no matter what, in fact I couldn't sneeze if I wanted to, but lately I've been sneezing a good bit more than usual and have been having a hard time not sneezing. Maybe I'm developing allergies to something, I'm not really complaining, If only I could make my sneezes quieter. I either sneeze quite loudly or I stifle and make absolutely no sound at all. I can't find an in between.

I just started having same problem starting today. Weird.

[Chanel_no5]

Yeah, I can do that too. I don't bother when I'm alone, but around others, oh yes.

Edited April 29, 2011 by Chanel_no5

[NoV]

Yeah, I can usually do this - especially if I am in a situtation when I don't want anyone to make a comment about sneezing.

[retrofan191]

Isn't there ever times where your body just does it? Like complete reflex without no control? That's how it is with me.

[Chanel_no5]

Isn't there ever times where your body just does it? Like complete reflex without no control? That's how it is with me.

No, I only sneeze if I let myself do it. If I don't want to, I just don't do it. Hard to explain.

[Nicole]

I've had a pretty good mental block for about the past 15 or 16 years around my parents. I can only recall maybe 5 times that I actually had to physically stop myself from sneezing - rubbing or holding my nose, or what have you - and only twice that I sneezed in front of them. Both times the sneezes went undetected.

The mental block thing is saying a lot for me, because I have allergies year-round and don't make it through the day without having allergic fits. So I'm damn grateful for that mental block.

[Heathcliff]

Yes, I can certainly resist the urge to sneeze by willpower- in fact, even if I want to let the sneeze out, I often lose the urge anyway. Like others have said, it's part of a mental block- I dislike sneezing in public.

I'm getting a bit more relaxed now, for example I can sneeze around other people if they are not looking right at me. I do stifle the sneeze, but not completely silently.

I remember one sneeze I couldn't resist at all: (grossness warning!) something icky in my nostril became dislodged, so that when I breathed in it vibrated and caused an enormous tickle. Someone was talking to me at the time, and I would never usually have sneezed in that situation- but I felt myself inhaling for the sneeze before I could do anything else. Thankfully I managed to get a tissue out in time to catch it, or it would have been even more embarrassing than it was!

[retrofan191]

I would love to be able to do this. If there is a tickle in my nose my body just takes over 100% I have no control in the matter. I wonder why I'm different

[March Hare]

Not always by sheer willpower, but yes, I can do it. When I have to sneeze and don't want to, most of the time I can sort of squelch it into nonexistence by breathing in a certain way.

[Sitruuna]

Hmm... Sure! No touching my nose, no sniffing, nothing. Just thinking that it's not the right situation or simply ignoring the whole thing. It might come as an automatic reaction (for example: one day I was walking in the city center when my nose sstarted to tickle. First I though that sure, why not just let it loose because there's no one around... Well right before I would have sneezed I saw a woman somewhere far away from the place where I was and that made the tickle go away). Sometimes it's a conciuos choice...

Though this won't work always, sometimes I even need to rub my nose.