A hundred moments in autism - Terrence Oblong's peculiar quirk

By Terrence Oblong

Sat, 05 Oct 2024
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4 comments
 

It’s morning. I crawl unenthusiastically out of bed, go downstairs to make toast and coffee, catch sight of the sun, which makes me sneeze. I sneeze quickly, three times in succession, though I know I am by no means finished.  

I have a quirk, a very peculiar little quirk.  The sun makes me sneeze. I sneeze about ten times every day in response to sunlight.  On cloudy days my body is oddly tense, until eventually a trickle of sunlight appears through the clouds and I finally get a sneeze out. 

This is called a photic sneeze, or more impressively, Autosomal Dominant Compelling Helioopthalmic Outburst (ACHOO) Syndrome. Upwards of 10% of the population have some form of photic sneeze reflex, however, for many this is just an occasional sneeze, not ten times daily.  

Though this isn’t a ‘symptom’ of autism, lots of autists have physical quirks and differences, and many autists are over-sensitive or under-sensitive to sights, sounds, smells or textures.   

Certificate 15
Biography
50 moments in autism
Autobiography

Comments

Submitted by HarryC on

I sneeze at sunlight, too.  In fact, I enjoy the sensation of sneezing so much that I deliberately blink at the sun in order to sneeze.  Sadly, this led to a tear in my left retina earlier in the year, resulting in a 'floater' in my eye that's really annoying.  So it isn't all good news.

I'm hypersensitive to sound.  I can filter out the ambient stuff at home, but anything 'odd' - even if it's tiny - I'll always pick up, and it becomes a focus and an irritation.  Sleepless nights, even.  Might even just be the sound of a spider scratching its abdomen three rooms away!

I often wonder what this common physical quirk is that makes men especially move their legs manically when they're sitting down - like they're using a drum pedal at 200 bpm.  I had to see a physiotherapist in the week, and he was doing it while he was explaining my ailment to me - and all I could focus on was this jack-hammer leg of his.

Submitted by Terrence Oblong on

Thanks Harry, although the 10% of the population figure is bandied about, I rarely meet anyone who sneezes to the extent I do, and I also look sunwards in order to get a sneeze out.  Even if you do it a dozen times a day, wanting to sneeze and not being able to is immensely frustrating

 

Submitted by Rhiannonw on

I didn't realise that the sunlight-induced sneezing was fairly common and had a name.

As for sound, my husband has to have earplugs, not just for if/when I snore, but when some factory nearby starts up a night-hum that I can hardly hear. Rhiannon

 

Submitted by HarryC on

I use earlplugs all the time now - just in case.  The woman next door can snore for England - even through a wall a foot thick.