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andrea

Andrea.
And her cast of imaginary friends
Twitter @spacemalao
Monday, January 5, 2009
Another Andrea Malfunction

toothpaste for dinner


toothpastefordinner.com

I've told people that I have many strange gliches with my body, and also my less than normal character traits (like my liking for disinfectants). But everytime I tell them I sneeze when I look into the sun, they look at me like I'm a nutcase. Now I know there is a name for yet another of my malfunctions - Photic Sneeze Reflex.

According to Wikipedia:

Photic sneeze reflex is a genetic autosomal dominant trait, which causes sneezing when exposed suddenly to bright light, possibly many times consecutively. It is also referred to as photic sneeze response, sun sneezing, photogenic sneezing, the photosternutatory reflex, being photo sensitive, ACHOO syndrome, and "Achooism," with its related backronym Autosomal dominant Compelling Helio-Ophthalmic Outburst syndrome. The condition affects 17 to 35 percent of humans.
The first mention of the phenomenon is probably in the later work attributed to Aristotle (Problems, book XXXIII).

The probable cause is a congenital malfunction in nerve signals in the trigeminal nerve nuclei. The fifth cranial nerve, called the trigeminal nerve, is apparently responsible for sneezes. Research suggests that some people have an association between this nerve and the nerve that transmits visual impulses to the brain. Overstimulation of the optic nerve triggers the trigeminal nerve, and this causes the photic sneeze reflex.

At least now I know I'm not alone...