Gallbladder and the Nauseous Sneeze

After several years of progressively worsening symptoms, I finally had an ultrasound and was diagnosed with gallstones.  I am scheduled for surgery in two weeks.  My symptoms have been quite consistent with Keri's; however, I developed one symptom recently that my surgeon had not heard of.  I will have sudden onset severe nausea followed a few seconds later by a sneeze, then voila the nausea magically disapears.  This has happened several times since I found out about the gallstones.  I'm in my 40s and never had this before.  The whole nausea/sneeze episode lasts no more than 1 minute start to finish.  Funny thing is, when I get the nausea, I don't have any idea that I'm about to sneeze until I actually do it.  The nausea goes away the second I sneeze.  The doctor said he thought it was a vagal(?) symptom and suggested I take Prilosec for acid reflux.  I've never had reflux, although in the last couple weeks I have developed very uncomfortable fullness, pressure in my lower esophagus that feels like I've eaten too much even if I haven't eaten anything.  Prilosec does nothing.  Anyway, I'm just wondering if anyone else has experienced the nauseaus sneeze with gallbladder symptoms, or am I nuts? 

Just a quick comment.. I really didn't mean to have the little smiley devil face -up there. Please Excuse.
Thanks

I have been having these little attacks for a few months now. My gallbladder was removed several years ago so I don't think that's my problem. Just good to get on here and see I'm not going crazy!

Hiker said...
Just a quick comment.. I really didn't mean to have the little smiley devil face -up there. Please Excuse.
Thanks

Please update us if you have ANY new data!!

Johns Wife said...
I have been having these little attacks for a few months now. My gallbladder was removed several years ago so I don't think that's my problem. Just good to get on here and see I'm not going crazy!

Please update us if you have ANY new data!!

Okay, I know some of these posts are old, but some are recent. I just started having a similar issue but not sure if it's the same. I eat and then feel like I'm about to sneeze and then get nauseous along with the need-to-sneeze feeling (awful, really). This goes on for several minutes while I'm not sure if I need to sneeze or throw up or what's going to happen. Then I burp (gross, sorry) and seem to be okay for the most part... still a little scared to finish my meal, but hungry (sometimes feeling almost famished). It seems to take a few more minutes for me to be able to eat and then I'm okay. I don't have any other symptoms, never had any gallbladder issues, but I do have IBS (and see this seems to be in the chain of how I got here). I typically eat a very healthy Paleo diet and have no flare ups. Now that I'm thinking of it, however, these two episodes I've had (both in the last week) have come after a day of eating things I shouldn't, including dairy and wheat. Hmmm...

I can only offer a "me too" to the OP.

Very swift onset of nausea and by the time I think "OMG, I am going to vomit ... where", a sudden, en-expected and completely involuntary sneeze and then boom, no nausea. Mine is about 10 seconds start to finish.

It's infrequent, so always catches me unaware.

I do suffer from reflux from time to time, so this seems a plausible correlation. For years I have had less severe feelings of nausea without the sneeze, and they feel similar/related now I come to think of it.

Hello everyone! I am writing to say "me too" and to give a list of other health issues/imbalances I have so we can all compare and try to find a pattern. I too get the overwhelming wave of nausea that is very quickly and instantly relieved by a sneeze. I looked up why and was brought here.. Ive read some theories as to why this happens and the change in blood sugar or pressure theory makes sense with me. I am an herbalist so I tend to describe my body's imbalances as "too hot, too cold, too dry, too damp, constricted, relaxed, etc." I am a physically tense person with stagnant lymphatics. I have never been able to pull up mucus, my glands in my throat swell frequently, and I need to do lymphatic massage to relieve the pain in my collar bone and neck area. I also have chronic acne? Have been wondering if there is a connection here with the liver? maybe lymphatics?

Appreciate this post. I have had this problem for about 20 years. Every morning, an incredible feeling of nausea followed with one or two hard sneezes, then gone. I'm 45, exercise, and eat like crap - sure I eat veggies and fruits, but lots of red meat, pizza, fast food and crap too. I still get it when I eat breakfast, which I thought was the problem, not eating breakfast. But it does reduce it a bit. I drink lots of iced amercianos, little non fat. Every single Doctor I explained this to just looks at me like *** are you talking bout. Lots of Doctors. They have no freaking clue or link. Could be acid reflux I think. Woke up lots of times at night, with crap coming up out of my nose, jumping out of bed, scary AF. In the morning, I can feel my dinner from the night before churning and turning through my intestines - which they say is impossible but no, I feel a huge turd literally moving - and that too creates nausea. I also smoke lots of weed, a lot. Drink lots of coffee too - so Im thinking there is a link. Has to be diet.

Post Edited (SCOTT FISCHER) : 5/12/2018 2:24:22 AM (GMT-6)

I've had this very same problem for many many years. I used to think I was alone with this. My symptoms are this..I get extremely nauseated to the point that it will literally double me over and as I'm hanging myself over some railing trying to deal with it, I all of a sudden out of the blue start sneezing. For me it's 4 sneezes. As fast as they come out is as fast as the nausea goes away. Morning is probably my worst. I avoid drinking things, especially water first thing in the morning, because it really sets me off. Over the years I've come up with all kinds of reasons in my head as to what causes it and when I bring it up to the doctors I get the same reply...that's weird and nothings talked about. Usually I'm in for something else and then I bring it up but nobody hears me.
I'm also a lucid dreamer. I can control my dreams. There's been times in the morning when I wake my brain up but not my body. When I decide to wake my body I can feel my organs wake up and start to work. I can feel them coming out of a deep sleep. As soon as they start waking up I start getting nauseated. In my subconscious state I think to myself, oh boy, here it comes and I wake up and sneaze and then the nausea is gone. But it proves to me that it starts in my stomach.
I have a heart murmur and I used to think that maybe that had something to do with it. Like maybe when my heart flutters, which it will do occasionally, that maybe the sneezing is to kick it back into rhythm. When I get nauseated I feel like I'm literally being poisoned from the inside out. It's horrible. I'm to the point now, I'm 55, that this is just the way of life for me. I've had this for so many years it's just a part of me. I did have some test taken that determined that my stomach empty's slowly. Very slowly so that could be part of it. I have to be careful how I eat but even so I never have pinpointed what exactly causes this.

I have been experiencing something very close to what most of the post/replies have described here except a few differences though. First I have never had gallstones or chemotherapy or anything like that, the only major thing I have ever had wrong with me was and appendectomy when I was about 10 or 11. I am currently 41. Now to explain what happens with me to this very day. Sometimes I may have just woken up, or it could be in the middle of the day or even in the evening, but whatever time it is, it is sudden onset of nausea. Doesn't have the vomit sensation with it though. I just feel a nauseous feeling in my abdomen area. Here is where there is the first difference than others that have replied/posted, I do not have the involuntary sneezing those have described, what I do is I feel this nausea and start slightly coughing which in turn causes me to sneeze. If I don't do this then I won't sneeze and the nausea will continue. Now as with what others have said, once I "make" myself sneeze by coughing little short coughs, the nausea goes away almost instantly, there are times when I must do this a couple of times, but most usually it does cause the nausea to subside. The thing is, I know that the coughing causes sneezing because it causes droplets to leave the throat and enter the nasal area that in turns causes sneezing because of how sensitive the nasal cavity is. I have talked to many people and my doctors about this and none have even heard of it happening to anyone. Let alone anyone having the nausea subside immediately after sneezing. I heard this so many times that I almost started crying when I seen this forum as this lets me know I am not just totally fabricating the situation in my head when in reality it is something else entirely. I can cause myself to sneeze at any time I want, but would really like to know what medical reasoning there is for sneezing to cause nausea to subside. Is the sneeze causing a balance of the equilibrium in my system again or something similar? Thanks in advance to anyone with information. If anyone wants to directly email me my email is dryan_99@yahoo.com. Make sure to include that this is about my post on Healingwell.com in the subject line or I might never see it, lol.

Sincerely,
Dave Ryan

Ciao! I’ve also had these rare combo nausea/sneeze episodes for the past year. From reading the thread, the unbelievable nausea prior to the solution sneeze won’t scare me so much. I’ve never actually vomited and am sadly relieved that there are others out there. I’m 48 and have had many GI related surgeries to remove rare sarcoma from my GI system. I have my gallbladder, but other organs have been partly removed or resected. No reflux. Allergies yes. Recent significant weight loss through diet alone, over a year’s time under doctor care. I can say that I relate with others as far as being easily nauseated by other things, “easy queasy” often used to describe me. I have the ability to purposely sneeze if I scratch my nose near a specific spot. Other than that bizarre feature, this “episode” is sporadic and random throughout my day. My husband thought I was crazy until I told him that others exist! That vagas nerve seems to be greatly related with zero empirical evidence, in my opinion.

I too experience nausea before sneezing. It doesn't happen everytime I sneeze, but often enough to be very annoying. It started after I had emergency surgery to remove an ectopic pregenancy in 2010. I was also experiencing digestion issues then, but doctors couldn't figure it out then. Fast forward thru 8 years of funny looks when I explain this to a doctor...this year I ended up in the ER with flared up diverticulitis. I am a healthy 38 year old. Eat healthy, active, and not overweight. Since then I have had 11 CT scans of my abdominal area...no issues with my gallbladder, liver, kidneys, etc. I did have surgery to remove 12" of my colon and the surgery went horribly wrong, resulting in 3 more surgeries and almost death. Since then the nausea before sneezing has become worse and more frequent. I would love to understand how my various abdominal surgeries have played a part in this weird condition.