Breakfast caused 35-year sneeze

Allergy skin tests failed to reveal the problem

A man who sneezed continuously for more than three decades has solved the problem by discovering he is allergic to muesli.

He is also considering suing his health authority, claiming 60 doctors had failed to diagnose the cause of his complaint.

Patrick Webster, from Bournemouth, prepared his own muesli every morning without realising he had a mild oat allergy.

He then sneezed several hundred times each day, and doctors were unable to find the reason why.

Mr Webster, who started sneezing at the age of 17, said: "It was absolutely exhausting. I was so desperate to try to sort it out that I took six months off work and ended up in three different hospitals.

"I had skin tests for allergies but they were negative so the doctors wouldn't give me any other sort of allergy test.

Osteoporosis risk

"One doctor even said I was allergic to myself."

Instead, he took steroids to try to beat the sneezes, but the drugs have left him with long term side effects, such as a high risk of osteoporosis because his bones have a low mineral count.

Finally he took nutritional allergy tests which revealed the oat and egg yolk allergy.

As soon as these were removed from his diet, the sneezing stopped.