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Photic Sneeze Reflex and Autism?

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I had part  of my autism assessment recently and have been reflecting on some questions about sensory issues.

One question was about any sensitivity to light which I answered no to, but I sometimes will sneeze in bright sunlight. This is called Photic Sneeze Reflex or ACHOO syndrome.

en.wikipedia.org/.../Photic_sneeze_reflex

I don't seem to get it all the time. Sometimes in bright light I will sneeze once or twice. But my dad who we now suspect is autistic will often go into sneezing fits if 5+ sneezes. I believe my sister also has it, but again, not as much as my dad.

I started wondering if it could be related to autism as either a partial cause or effect.

So just wondering if anyone has seen anything relating the two, or if there are others that have similar.

  • The Wikipedia link suggests it affects up to a third of the population, so would appear unrelated to autism since it affects many non-autistic people.

    Of course you can have both.

    I tend to sneeze if I look straight at the sun. Although it needs to be reasonably overhead, looking at sunrise or sunset does not do it. It must be related to light intensity.

  • in reply to TheCatWoman

    The health add on came with a seasonal package deal that at the time was cheaper than the usual price for ancestry only.

    The reports aren’t that accurate, although 23andme don’t put it like that. They talk about ‘likelihood’ of things like body weight, heart disease, immune response, colour of skin and hair etc. They were accurate about my hair and eye colour, but some things were so random that it would make me doubt any figures. For instance, if ‘likely to’ means an 80% chance of being a night person, they don’t know if you are in the 20% or whatever percentage it might be. In fact, they said I was more likely to be a morning person when I’m actually a night person.

  • in reply to ArchaeC

    I often sneeze in sunlight, but I suppose thats better than shrivelling up into a crisp.

    I didn't bother with the health report stuff on either of my DNA tests.

  • I don’t know if the sneeze reflex is related to autism but I know that a gene has been identified that makes some people susceptible to sneezing in sunlight. I don’t have the gene and sunlight doesn’t make me sneeze.

    One of the ancestry DNA companies lists the sneeze reflex in their add on health report.