Posted on 11/19/2007 11:42:01 AM PST by jdm
HORSHAM, England, Nov. 19 (UPI) -- A British man was rushed to the hospital after his monster yawn locked his jaw, blocking his ability to breathe or swallow.
Ben Shire, 34, was making a cup of tea to keep awake when he yawned, dislocating his jaw. He fell to the floor, unable to breathe or swallow, the Daily Telegraph reported. As he was choking on his own spit, Shire's wife called emergency services, which was able to resuscitate him by suctioning.
"We can laugh about it now, but it wasn't funny at the time," Shire, from Horsham, said. "I couldn't breathe because I was choking -- it felt like two fingers down my throat. The more I panicked, the more I struggled for breath."
Cases of jaws locking open mid-yawn are very rare, doctors said. Doctors advise people who do experience the problem to bend forward or lie on their side in the recovery position to let gravity ease the pressure, the British newspaper said.
Hate it when that happens.
There’s a Monty Python skit here somewhere.
Stranglely enough, I did this once at a traffic light in rush hour traffic. I was able to get myself unlocked in under a minute but it was freaky.
I didn’t have any trouble breathing and didn’t pool and saliva either. I was by myself so I wasn’t trying to talk either.
Reminds me of the motto of Gary Cole’s character in Babylon 5: Crusade:
“Never eat at a diner called Mom’s.”
“Never play pool at a bar called Pop’s.”
“And, never eat anything bigger than your head.”
Happened to me once. Scared the hell out of me, too. It is not cool!...............
If ever an FR thread needed the “yawn” keyword, this is it.
Good thing he wasn’t at church listening to a sermon.
Lucky for him he wasn’t sitting front row at a Clinton lecture. He wouldn’t live to tell the tale.
-eow, -eow!
Kitty's mouth is stuck.
Everybody should own a yawn-jaw key...
My wife tells me not to do that because my face might freeze. I thought she was kidding.
LOL
The way it happened in my case, the lower jaw pinned against my last teeth. It was a hard lock at what felt like a 90degree angle.
But I know my mouth is capable of opening that wide if I find the right burger...
Hitlery?
I gotta start getting more sleep.
Had this happen to me a couple of times, was able to shove my jaw closed. Judging by this story it can get a lot worse.
With my luck, if that happened to me behind the wheel of a car, that’s when I’d be pulled over by some cop.....and there I’d be, agape and wide-eyed and drooling at him, scaring the s**t out of the poor guy.
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