The Girl Who Can't Stop SNEEZING (Video): Lauren Johnson Interviewed

Lauren Johnson, a 12-year-old girl from Virginia, can't stop sneezing.

After catching a head cold a couple weeks ago, Johnson has developed an incredibly rare and mysterious condition which causes her to sneeze eight to twelve times a minute, all day long. Johnson has been to a fleet of doctors since her sneezes began, and no one has been able to pinpoint the problem.

Johnson and her mother talked with Ann Curry Wednesday morning on NBC's The Today Show.

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Comments

[KKL9999]

she is desparately attention starved and feigning sneezes. it is either a sad attempt for attention or, related to Tourette's (sp?) or a seizure.

my guess is - attention seeking only.

her sneezes do not look remotely genuine in any way shape or form...

[FINN76]

Some hyperbolic steroids and a nice steam bath ought to do the trick...

[RainDance33]

This is not a 'sneeze' as we know it.

Try sneezing with your eyes open. This girl sneezes with her eyes open most of the time. Something else going on here...

[usa loveit or changeit]

I was going to post the same thing. Closing your eyes is an involuntary muscular action when you sneeze, and she "sneezes" with her eyes open. You try that.

[ldillworth]

how does she sleep?

[7thCylon]

I had a friend that started doing the same thing years ago. It turned out to be epilepsy and the sneezes were actually small seizures. Once they put her on medication she was fine. I hope they figure out this little girl's problem. Poor thing.

[mmenglish]

I think that the poor girl cannot stop sneezing, but I think that she may have psychologically created this tic. Maybe it is for attention? Where id here father? There is more to this story. She is obviously miserable. Could it be an emotional or psych problem related to some trauma?

[jimmygee]

You've got a piece of pepper caught in your nose!

[SuperJeff08]

I feel her pain, having went through a similar problem when I was a teen. From ages 15 through 19 I masturbated like 3 or 4 times a day. It was terrible! The chafing, mostly.

[rjta]

They say sneezing is just like a (very short) orgasm. I wouldn't know, having never sneezed.

[jdw1981]

Those aren't sneezes. Quite obviously she's doing it on purpose.

[Cassandrawept]

These cases have happened before. One case went on for years and eventually a tiny bit of greenery was found, encased in mucus and still green after all the years. It's often a tiny foreign object or piece of hair. Perhaps some dried mucus. There are drugs that will give her a pronounced nasal drip and after a through nasal/sinus examination, that's her best bet.

[AbsolutDemocrat]

For God's sakes, somebody help her!

[blooddoc]

As. Dr. Nancy said during this interview, this is NOT a sneeze. Rather it is some form of "tic", probably psychogenic in nature, and therapy should be focused in this direction. The girl may have some type of secondary-gain issue which remains unresolved. She seems otherwise bright and healthy, and should get over it.

[sweetest escape]

yeah it seems to be coming primarily out of her mouth. weird.

[Gover]

She should just get blind-drunk. That always proved effective for shutting down my body's functions.

[SuperJeff08]

Oh Good Lord...excellent advice, Doctor.

[SusanStoHelit]

It's not a normal sneeze - but you can see her working to control it when she's on the TV set - and can't.

Hopefully being on TV will attract the attention of a doctor who might have a solution her doctors haven't found yet.

[Wisco12]

hmm, thinking this might be fake, notice how no snot ever comes out of her nose